The 5 Releases That Could Challenge <em>GTA 6</em> for the 2026 Top Honor Award.

A year ago, we wondered if anything could possibly defeat Grand Theft Auto 6 for the 2025 Game of the Year award — "except for Rockstar's capability to finish it on time." As it turned out, it was exactly that that took Rockstar's blockbuster game from the running, with delays to May and, later, November 2026 paving the way for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's unprecedented dominance at The 2025 Game Awards.

Therefore, gazing forward to GOTY 2026, we find ourselves with a strong sense of déjà vu. For a second time, GTA 6 kicks off the year as the obvious top contender to win the ultimate prize. Once again, Rockstar's greatest adversary could be its own schedule. Even though another setback at this point is more improbable, it's certainly still conceivable, and with its current Nov. 19 release date just squeaking into The Game Awards' standard eligibility window, it would require just a slip of a couple of days or more to relegate GTA 6 into contention for the 2027 awards.

For a third time, GTA 6 looks extremely hard to overcome, but far from insurmountable. Rockstar's own Red Dead Redemption 2 was surpassed for GOTY by Sony Santa Monica's God of War in 2018, while GTA 5 was eclipsed in the majority of awards ceremonies and GOTY votes — except perhaps at the Game Awards' earlier incarnation, VGX — by The Last of Us. If anything, GTA 6's juggernaut status is a seemingly contradictory kind of vulnerability, as journalists and awards juries will be eagerly searching for an appealing alternative storyline to champion in order to prevent a foregone conclusion.

So what different releases could pose a challenge? Predicting nominees this so soon in the year is, to be honest, a something of a risky business: the terrain of indie and smaller releases is very unclear, while larger games commonly get pushed back or fail to meet expectations, and various publishers (like Nintendo) have still not unveil their lineup for the back end of the year. Still, there are even now a handful of 2026 releases that seem like they will be formidable contenders. Here are five that possess a strong chance of being shortlisted next to GTA 6.

1. Control Resonant

Remedy Entertainment's psychologically thrilling second installment is easily the strongest challenger to GTA 6's hegemony. Truly, Remedy could be the perfect Game Awards studio: It creates technically accomplished, graphically impressive, narratively sophisticated action-adventure games while operating just sufficiently outside the industry establishment to still be perceived as an underdog. The original Control earned eight nominations and one win in 2019, while Alan Wake 2 challenged Baldur's Gate 3 a close second in 2023, transforming three of its eight nods into wins in the coveted Game Direction, Narrative, and Art Direction categories. After a stunning trailer unveiling at the 2025 Awards, Control Resonant is not to be overlooked.

2. Resident Evil: Requiem

A latest (or, similarly) reimagined Resident Evil game is stands a better chance to be nominated for Game of the Year than to miss out. This venerable series has an excellent recent record at The Game Awards — Resident Evil 2 was nominated for the top honor in 2019, Village in 2021, and 4 in 2023 — plus a reputation for consistent quality. It must be said, a win would be a considerably more unlikely proposition, but you can count on Capcom ending up in the conversation.

3. Wolverine (Marvel)

The Wolverine game from Insomniac is one of the biggest commercial prospects of the year, and in terms of production cost and technical prowess, almost certainly one of the handful that will be able to give GTA 6 a serious competition. Similar to Resident Evil, Insomniac's slick Marvel games project is great at accumulating lots of nominations at The Game Awards, and not as successful at turning them into wins. Will the transition from Spider-Man to an more mature character and (significantly) more visceral action shift the odds in Wolverine's benefit? Maybe, and it will be Sony's primary contender for the year, which more or less secures it a spot at the GOTY discussion.

4. Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave

Nintendo is infrequently absent from the list of Game of the Year nominees. Lacking a definitive idea of what its major 2026 game will be (a new mainline Pokémon and a 3D Mario game are both options), Fortune’s Weave makes a strong placeholder. Fire Emblem is a niche series, it's true, but it has been building steadily in both appeal and critical reputation over the past few years, while its complex anime storytelling style and tactical combat get more fashionable and closer to the gaming establishment by the day. It would not be a surprise.

5. Dawnwalker's Blood

The increasingly influential European voting contingent on the jury is increasingly making its presence felt, especially when it comes to nominating epic, sprawling Euro role-playing games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. Rebel Wolves' inaugural title is an perfect game to attract those votes and fill this slot, especially given the Witcher 3 heritage of its developers — and its striking similarity to that 2015 GOTY winner.

And What Of the Indies?

The obvious gap in our list is that it lacks an indie contender. While The Game Awards jury generally only nominates one indie game for Game of the Year — 2025's trio of indie picks seems like a exception — it also seldom fails to nominate one. It's almost impossible to foresee what that game might be at this point, as the biggest indie games of each year often emerge unexpectedly, but a few likely candidates would be:

• Mixtape: a rhythm-based, sentimental road trip of a game supported by the curators at Annapurna Interactive.
• Replaced: a highly anticipated cyberpunk adventure with a lavishly detailed pixel-art visual style.
• Ontos: Frictional Games' enigmatic follow-up to the Amnesia series (assuming it's not too scary).
• Slay the Spire 2: follow-up to the wildly popular roguelike deckbuilder (but it could fail to make it out of early access in 2026).
• Mina the Hollower: Yacht Club Games' Shovel Knight next project, an charming retro Zelda homage (if the studio can succeed in finish it).

Additional Challengers

• Gears of War: E-Day: One of two massive franchise reboots from Xbox Game Studios in 2026, E-Day will have to prove that this very 2000s series is still pertinent.
• Fable: After