Now that we’re in to February, what are some games you’ve been eyeing up with a 2026 release date that you’re excited to pick up? Are you planning to pick them up on release, or are you going to wait until a sale?
Me personally, I’ve got three titles I’m actually feeling quite excited for: Hela, Paralives and the Gothic 1 Remake. I’ve been waiting for Hela and Paralives for years because they look like fun, cozy games built by passionate devs - and the Gothic 1 Remake just popped up in my feed one day and I’m itching to get a chance to have my first Gothic experience!
THE GAME Mankind has expanded its reach beyond the Sol System. Factions, corporations and syndicates are locked in a political and economic strife. The inevitable destruction and decay of a colonized exoplanet is imminent.
beta decay is a dark, dystopian RPG where you can build spaceships, join factions, and fight for territory in a newly discovered star system. Live amongst the colonists as a citizen of the new frontier. Be an engineer repairing starships, to a syndicate leader, executing raids deep within a labyrinthic neon city.
Was meant to hit early access late last year, but the (pretty sure?) solo dev decided to hold off until they had hit all of their EA Roadmap goals. I have, like a lot of people, been burned by The Hype Machine™…but I can’t help but be almost unbearably stoked for this.
Ticks sooo many of my personal boxes:
Massive world, built with intent ✅
Dystopian far futurey shit ✅
Grimey PS2-esque graphics ✅
Customise everything ✅
Big fuck off mechs that I’m positive will be personally incredibly frustrating to figure out how to operate ✅
Actions have actual consequences and players have a meaningful impact on the world state ✅
The vibes are just…😘🤌 Fucking chefs kiss. I’m almost definitely getting it as soon as Early Access drops… I’ve been burnt, but I can’t help but hope this gets seen all the way through, and will happily buy it in EA.
I actually have had this one on my Steam wishlist for a while, and I’m so excited for it as well! That crisp PS2 graphics vibe with such an in-depth world and systems has me really excited to get my hands on it when it comes out. This is one of those ones that I agree, even though I’ve been burnt by EA and preordering in the past, I’ve gotta be there for this one!
My wife and I have been trying to rein in our spending, get ourselves into a stable space and get proper savings going.
… that’s literally the only thing that stopped me from pledging on the patreon and begging for access to the alpha testing…I am so so so soooooo psyched for it! And those graphics… fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck 🥵 PS2 crusty enough to bring back memories of great games from my youth, but with a bit of extra that shows it’s an intentional choice. Like yeah, it looks like they’re all cubist renditions of people…but then there’s volumetric fog, and systems for how windy interacts with individual leaves on the trees… Shutupandtakemymoney.jpg
I would say if you enjoy fun little 2D Souls-like games and you have them in your backlog, Tails of Iron and its sequel, Tails of Iron 2 are both really enjoyable games that don’t take too long to finish. Not as difficult as Blasphemous or the other 2D souls-likes either, really just enjoyable games with well-written stories.
Probably the only new game i’ll play this year will be Slay the Spire 2. It’s out in “Early Access” in March but if it’s anything like the first one it’ll be worth buying before full release (fingers crossed).
My list of games to play will take me longer than this year to finish! Having played MMOs almost exclusively for 15 years, I have so many good games to play that I got on sale prices.
Sorry to say that’s not really a question that I can answer. I think MMOs are predatory addiction mechanisms both in terms of how they keep you playing and in how they keep you paying. That goes for many other online only games too, not just MMOs, and I wouldn’t recommend any of them.
I’m nearly 3 years clean from MMOs and don’t plan on ever going back!
How’d you like the first Slay the Spire? I’ve never played it but I’ve heard good things.
I’m with you though - the list of games I want to play is so long, it’s going to be a major time investment to get to them! I’ve been actually finishing up Oblivion Remastered (trying to 100% all the achievements) and that’s already taken a good chunk of my time 😅
It’s really excellent. Well worth buying even just to finish a run with each character then quit. They all have unique mechanics and cool builds you can make that are pretty game breaking. It does have daily challenges and an ascension system which makes things harder if you want more.
While you’re finishing Oblivion, I haven’t even started Skyrim 😂! I’m 40hrs into The Witcher 3 and have a bunch of other RPGs/JRPGs/Shooters to play after that.
If you’re looking for another roguelike deckbuilder while you’re waiting for STS2, may I recommend Chrono Ark? I am finally playing it right now after having it heavily recommended to me for a while, and it’s really excellent. Very fun gameplay and a surprisingly interesting story, once it gets going.
I’m actually really excited for the new Forza Horizon game, but not for the reason most people would be. My gamer group has been struggling to find a game that we can all play together again that we actually want to play. I’m the only PC gamer of the group, so it’s gotta be cross platform. So while I’ve had good fun playing previous Horizon games, I’m mostly looking forward to who I get to play it with.
Major respect for your group eyeing up the new Forza game as a potential group game. I’m also somewhat in that boat - our group used to all be Destiny 2, but since we moved on we haven’t found anything that really fits for us. Good luck, hoping it’s a solid game 🫡
Funnily enough we all met playing Destiny 1, then continued playing Destiny 2 till Final Shape. There really isn’t anything like it out there and it’s a crying shame Bungo had to be like this. They’re the ones who turned me onto Forza, so I’m lucky it all just clicked. I think it also helps that it’s a completely different genre
It’s a shame Bungie dropped the ball on Destiny - though I’ve been seeing some good things coming from their new game Marathon, so might give it a shot on a free weekend to see how it is.
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Into the Unwell
There are a few games I am interested in.
Early Access updates for Assetto Corsa Rally
Marvel Tokon
The Expanse
Over the Hill
Densha Attack
Forza Horizon 6
I also super happy with Super Woden Rally Edge that came out this year, absolutely fantastic start to my year.
Mars Tactics is probably top now that Cairn was released last week. Actually honestly I’m most excited for the Coaches DLC for ETS2 :D
Oh man, this looks SICK! Going to have to check these out!
No anticipation for me. I only buy games when they’re minus 50% on Steam because that’s the point when the full price beta testers are done with QA.
Totally get it - it’s a rare day nowadays where I’ll pick up anything on Steam for full price.
Squadron 42.
I’m not really interested in playing it, but I want to see how it does because that will be an indicator of how Star Citizen will perform.
Beta Decay!
https://www.rotoscopestudios.com/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1416070/beta_decay/
Was meant to hit early access late last year, but the (pretty sure?) solo dev decided to hold off until they had hit all of their EA Roadmap goals. I have, like a lot of people, been burned by The Hype Machine™…but I can’t help but be almost unbearably stoked for this.
Ticks sooo many of my personal boxes:
YouTube video by JakeyPants about impending early access.
The vibes are just…😘🤌 Fucking chefs kiss. I’m almost definitely getting it as soon as Early Access drops… I’ve been burnt, but I can’t help but hope this gets seen all the way through, and will happily buy it in EA.
I actually have had this one on my Steam wishlist for a while, and I’m so excited for it as well! That crisp PS2 graphics vibe with such an in-depth world and systems has me really excited to get my hands on it when it comes out. This is one of those ones that I agree, even though I’ve been burnt by EA and preordering in the past, I’ve gotta be there for this one!
My wife and I have been trying to rein in our spending, get ourselves into a stable space and get proper savings going.
… that’s literally the only thing that stopped me from pledging on the patreon and begging for access to the alpha testing…I am so so so soooooo psyched for it! And those graphics… fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck 🥵 PS2 crusty enough to bring back memories of great games from my youth, but with a bit of extra that shows it’s an intentional choice. Like yeah, it looks like they’re all cubist renditions of people…but then there’s volumetric fog, and systems for how windy interacts with individual leaves on the trees…
Shutupandtakemymoney.jpg
Something from my backlog, probably. Can’t justify buying new games when I have over 1k I haven’t looked at.
Plus, fuck buying games when they first come out.
I would say if you enjoy fun little 2D Souls-like games and you have them in your backlog, Tails of Iron and its sequel, Tails of Iron 2 are both really enjoyable games that don’t take too long to finish. Not as difficult as Blasphemous or the other 2D souls-likes either, really just enjoyable games with well-written stories.
How much does a game having a rodent protagonist increase your likelihood of playing it?
Thanks for the recommendation! Sadly it’s not in my library, but it’s now on my wishlist
HL3, we must believe
I never thought that Half-Life 3 would come out before GTA 6. But here we are.
I’ve been burned too many times, I don’t anticipate on release any more. :|
I am hoping for a good sale for “Hades 2”, “Little Rocket Lab”, and “Baba is You” though… :)
Baba Is You is in the No ICE in Minnesota itch.io bundle if that’s your jam
https://itch.io/b/3484/no-ice-in-minnesota
Probably the only new game i’ll play this year will be Slay the Spire 2. It’s out in “Early Access” in March but if it’s anything like the first one it’ll be worth buying before full release (fingers crossed).
My list of games to play will take me longer than this year to finish! Having played MMOs almost exclusively for 15 years, I have so many good games to play that I got on sale prices.
What’s your favorite MMO ever? What’s your favorite that’s still active?
Sorry to say that’s not really a question that I can answer. I think MMOs are predatory addiction mechanisms both in terms of how they keep you playing and in how they keep you paying. That goes for many other online only games too, not just MMOs, and I wouldn’t recommend any of them.
I’m nearly 3 years clean from MMOs and don’t plan on ever going back!
How’d you like the first Slay the Spire? I’ve never played it but I’ve heard good things.
I’m with you though - the list of games I want to play is so long, it’s going to be a major time investment to get to them! I’ve been actually finishing up Oblivion Remastered (trying to 100% all the achievements) and that’s already taken a good chunk of my time 😅
It’s really excellent. Well worth buying even just to finish a run with each character then quit. They all have unique mechanics and cool builds you can make that are pretty game breaking. It does have daily challenges and an ascension system which makes things harder if you want more.
While you’re finishing Oblivion, I haven’t even started Skyrim 😂! I’m 40hrs into The Witcher 3 and have a bunch of other RPGs/JRPGs/Shooters to play after that.
If you’re looking for another roguelike deckbuilder while you’re waiting for STS2, may I recommend Chrono Ark? I am finally playing it right now after having it heavily recommended to me for a while, and it’s really excellent. Very fun gameplay and a surprisingly interesting story, once it gets going.
Sigh, onto the
wishlistbacklog it goes!It looks pretty cool. It’s the anime/JRPG x roguelike deckbuilder crossover I didn’t know I needed :D
Yeah, that’s pretty much exactly it. It’s very good, and I say that as someone not really all that into anime.
Timberborn coming out of early access, can’t wait.
Tbh… gta6
But to be more honest
I have absolutely no idea what games will come out this year
I’m actually really excited for the new Forza Horizon game, but not for the reason most people would be. My gamer group has been struggling to find a game that we can all play together again that we actually want to play. I’m the only PC gamer of the group, so it’s gotta be cross platform. So while I’ve had good fun playing previous Horizon games, I’m mostly looking forward to who I get to play it with.
Major respect for your group eyeing up the new Forza game as a potential group game. I’m also somewhat in that boat - our group used to all be Destiny 2, but since we moved on we haven’t found anything that really fits for us. Good luck, hoping it’s a solid game 🫡
Funnily enough we all met playing Destiny 1, then continued playing Destiny 2 till Final Shape. There really isn’t anything like it out there and it’s a crying shame Bungo had to be like this. They’re the ones who turned me onto Forza, so I’m lucky it all just clicked. I think it also helps that it’s a completely different genre
It’s a shame Bungie dropped the ball on Destiny - though I’ve been seeing some good things coming from their new game Marathon, so might give it a shot on a free weekend to see how it is.
I will not even mention GTA 6 or Half-Life 3 in this reply.