Game Awards 2026: All Game of the Year Front-Runners and Predictions

What’s in pole position for gaming’s top prize? Let’s make some predictions

We are getting to the business end of the competition for Game of the Year at the 13th Game Awards, set for Dec. 10; with only a couple of exceptions, most of the key competitors are out there. And it has to be said that the likelihood of anything emerging to stop Grand Theft Auto 6 from sweeping the night looks increasingly slim in what is turning out to be a much weaker year than it looked on paper.

At this point, we have a clear idea of what games will be favored by The Game Awards' voting body: A high Metacritic rating (preferably over 90) is a must; role-playing games and action-adventures are strongly favored, as are games with strong narrative elements; indie and multiplayer games struggle harder for recognition than AAA single-player adventures. We used these metrics to correctly predict last year's winner, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and the 2024 winner, Astro Bot. In 2025, we also predicted all six GOTY nominees and correctly called 20 other categories.

Below, you'll find our predictions for the most likely nominees, of which there are six each year, for Game of the Year 2026 — taken only from games that have already been released (or made available for review). We'll update these rankings throughout the year as new games are released. We'll also list some likely upcoming contenders and some of the 2026 GOTY race's dark horses, too.

Update (Oct. 27): We've reached the end of October, but two key competitors are still yet to come: Grand Theft Auto 6 and Nintendo's remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Phantom Blade Zero has made a minor splash and shaken up the rankings; it seems like the final in the coffin of Crimson Desert's hopes. And nominations for the Golden Joystick Awards' Ultimate Game of the Year award have been revealed — never a strong predictor for The Game Awards, but indicative of a few titles' momentum.

1 Resident Evil Requiem

Why it could win: Resident Evil is a reliable contender at The Game Awards, with three GOTY nominations since 2019, and many more in other categories. Requiem combines the fan appeal of the remakes with the freshness of a new entry, and blends their gameplay successfully, too. It's slickly produced, digestible, thrilling, with both global appeal and a serious side: a perfect Game Awards GOTY contender.

Weaknesses: Requiem's critical reception was very good overall, but perhaps a tiny bit soft to be a true GOTY contender — it sits in the high 80s on Metacritic and OpenCritic. How well it fares in the long run will depend on the strength of the competition, but for now, it's in the lead.

Momentum (holding steady): Potential challengers to Requiem's status as pack leader just keep falling by the wayside. Nothing else released this year combines critical acclaim with a perfect Game Awards genre profile so effectively, and nothing else will until GTA 6 comes out. It's a lock for a nomination.

Read Giovanni Colantonio's full review of Resident Evil Requiem.

2 Phantom Blade Zero

Why it could win: Phantom Blade Zero is this year's Black Myth: Wukong, a visually spectacular action game from an exciting new Chinese studio that muscled its way into the GOTY race. Unlike Black Myth, and unlike this year's Korean competitor Crimson Desert, it's got strong reviews (88 on Metacritic, 90 on OpenCritic).

Weaknesses: While it has reviewed well, Phantom Blade hasn't quite pulled away from a crowded action-adventure field that will be competing for the last couple of nominations, including Control Resonant and 007 First Light.

Momentum (new entry): Games like Phantom Blade Zero's fortunes are powered by fan response; much depends on how it's received when it goes on general release.

Read Paulo Kawanishi's full review of Phantom Blade Zero.

3 Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave

Why it could win: Reviews are very strong, at 89 on Metacritic. Critics love that Fortune's Weave has united strong storytelling with refined combat in a Fire Emblem game for the first time in a long time, and it helps that it's done so on an epic canvas. There's growing recognition at the TGAs for deep and authentic Japanese-developed RPGs like Metaphor: ReFantazio, and there's big fan support too: Fire Emblem: Three Houses was an unlikely winner of the Player's Voice award.

Weaknesses: Fortune's Weave is a tactics RPG, but the Game Awards jury always nominates Fire Emblem games in the Sim/Strategy category, which never overlaps with Game of the Year. If it is nominated, it will be the first strategy game ever to break into GOTY consideration. And as a Nintendo release, it may be eclipsed by the Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake.

Momentum (📉 from No. 2): Fortune's Weave still looks like the best-positioned RPG (or RPG-adjaccent game) of 2026. But missing out on a Golden Joystick Awards GOTY nomination is a surprise that weakens its case somewhat.

Read Josh Broadwell's full review of Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave.

4 Big Walk

Why it could win: House House's co-op puzzle adventure has a fantastic critical reputation — it currently sits at 91 on Metacritic, higher than any other game on this list. The developer has pedigree: Untitled Goose Game was a dark horse GOTY contender in 2019, and even won the overall award at DICE. It's a refined design in a currently voguish genre. Co-op games go down well at The Game Awards (It Takes Two won in 2021). And there's a good chance jury members have had a good time playing it together.

Weaknesses: As an online multiplayer game, best experienced with a group of friends, Big Walk requires time and social organization to experience properly, which may be tricky for many jury members.

Momentum (📈 from No. 5): Big Walk's strength in the race and status as the top indie contender has been confirmed by a raft of Golden Joystick Awards nominations, including Ultimate Game of the Year.

Read Giovanni Colantonio, Julia Lee, and Johnny Yu's full review of Big Walk.

5 007 First Light

Why it could win: IO Interactive's debut James Bond game has made a confident splash with critics, earning a decent 87 Metascore. This kind of slick, cinematic action-adventure usually goes down well with the jury, while the inclusion of some of Hitman developer IO's trademark "social stealth" gameplay lends it additional gamer cred.

Weaknesses: Licensed games very rarely get nominated for Game of the Year, and First Light's critical reception is a little soft, with some reviewers unimpressed by IO's shift in a more commercial direction.

Momentum (📉 from No. 3): With very strong representation in the Golden Joystick Awards nominations, First Light is hanging in there, although Phantom Blade Zero has stepped in as the new action-adventure favorite.

Read Ford James' full review of 007 First Light.

6 Control Resonant

Why it could win: Developer Remedy gets to have its cake and eat it at The Game Awards: It's a purveyor of mainstream, cinematic action-adventures that retains a level of indie authenticity and cool. It's usually rewarded with plenty of nominations, and both the first Control and Alan Wake 2 were GOTY nominees.

Weaknesses: A genre switch from tight shooter to open-world action-RPG has met with a pretty mixed response, and although Resonant's Metacritic rating is actually higher than the original Control's (83 to 82), the sentiment seems decidedly cooler — perhaps because, as a sequel, it has lost the element of surprise.

Momentum (📉 from No. 4): Unlike its predecessor, Control Resonant seems to have slipped out of the conversation quickly, and a patch addressing its combat grind only received a muted response.

Read Willa Rowe's full review of Control Resonant.

GOTY 2026 dark horses

The Blood of Dawnwalker: This vampire RPG from key talent behind The Witcher 3 underwhelmed a little on release, and lives deep in its big brother's shadow, but it's going to be a Best Narrative contender and is a perfect Game Awards game in many ways.

Star Wars Zero Company: It would be unprecedented for one strategy game to breach the GOTY field, never mind two, but jury members who have stuck with Bit Reactor's tactics game have universally fallen in love with it, and will be strong advocates for it.

Pragmata: Capcom's endearingly old-school sci-fi action game has some strong sentiment behind it, and gameplay that's innovative enough to register.

Pokémon Pokopia: On review sentiment alone, Pokopia would be a lock for a nomination, but as a life sim and a Pokémon game, it isn't what we usually think of as GOTY material. Nevertheless, it remains in the conversation.

Crimson Desert: Pearl Abyss' much-hyped everything game never gathered the critical support necessary to compete, and yet it remains on the fringes of the competition through sheer tenacity.

Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve: Bandai Namco's aerial combat sim is the wildest of wild cards, but there's a surprisingly strong groundswell of fan support for it.

Upcoming GOTY 2026 contenders

Grand Theft Auto 6: The presumptive Game of the Year looks like a dead cert… as long as it makes its release date, which is only days before The Game Awards' eligibility deadline.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Remakes are rarely considered worthy by the jury, but Nintendo's lavish remounting of what many consider to be the greatest game of all time will surely be the exception that proves the rule.