These Five Games That Might Contend With <em>GTA 6</em> for the 2026 Game of the Year Title.

A year ago, we wondered if any title could potentially beat Grand Theft Auto 6 for the 2025's Game of the Year award — "except for Rockstar's ability to ship it on time." In the end, it was exactly that that removed Rockstar's blockbuster game from the equation, with delays to May and, subsequently, November 2026 opening the door for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's historic sweep at The 2025 Game Awards.

As a result, gazing forward to GOTY 2026, we are left with a powerful sense of familiarity. For a second time, GTA 6 kicks off the year as the presumptive top contender to secure the ultimate prize. Again, Rockstar's biggest challenge might be its own timeliness. Although another delay at this point is not as probable, it's undoubtedly still plausible, and with its present Nov. 19 release date only narrowly fitting into The Game Awards' usual eligibility window, it would require just a slide of 48 hours or more to push GTA 6 into competition for the 2027 awards.

For a third time, GTA 6 appears incredibly hard to beat, 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 overshadowed in numerous awards ceremonies and GOTY votes — if not the Game Awards' predecessor, VGX — by The Last of Us. In fact, GTA 6's behemoth status is a seemingly contradictory kind of liability, as critics and awards juries will be eagerly looking for an attractive alternative narrative to latch onto in order to prevent a foregone conclusion.

So what different titles could stand a chance? Predicting nominees this so soon in the year is, to be honest, a rather a fool's errand: the ecosystem of indie and smaller releases is largely unclear, while AAA games commonly get pushed back or underwhelm, and various publishers (like Nintendo) have yet to unveil their lineup for the back end of the year. Still, there are at present a small group of 2026 releases that seem like they will be serious contenders. Here are five that possess a strong chance of being selected alongside GTA 6.

1. Control Resonant

Remedy Entertainment's psychologically thrilling second installment is without a doubt the top challenger to GTA 6's supremacy. Truly, Remedy might be the quintessential Game Awards studio: It produces technically accomplished, graphically impressive, narratively sophisticated action-adventure games while working just sufficiently outside the industry center to still be perceived as an outsider. The original Control garnered eight nominations and one win in 2019, while Alan Wake 2 ran Baldur's Gate 3 a very near second in 2023, transforming three of its eight nominations into wins in the prestigious Game Direction, Narrative, and Art Direction categories. After a spectacular trailer reveal at the 2025 Awards, Control Resonant is not to be dismissed.

2. Resident Evil Requiem

A new (or, for that matter) remastered Resident Evil game is more likely to be nominated for Game of the Year than to be absent. This venerable series has an outstanding recent track record at The Game Awards — Resident Evil 2 was nominated for the highest award in 2019, Village in 2021, and 4 in 2023 — plus a reputation for reliable quality. Granted, a win would be a far more far-fetched proposition, but you can rely on Capcom ending up in the conversation.

3. Wolverine (Marvel)

The Wolverine game from Insomniac is one of the biggest sales prospects of the year, and in terms of production cost and polish, probably one of the handful that will be able to give GTA 6 a run for its money. Like Resident Evil, Insomniac's slick Marvel games project is great at garnering lots of nominations at The Game Awards, and not as successful at turning them into wins. Will the transition from Spider-Man to an edgier character and (significantly) more brutal action shift the odds in Wolverine's favour? Perhaps, and it will be Sony's primary contender for the year, which virtually guarantees it a seat at the GOTY discussion.

4. Fortune's Weave (Fire Emblem)

Nintendo is rarely absent from the list of Game of the Year nominees. Lacking a clear idea of what its major 2026 game will be (a new core Pokémon and a 3D Mario game are both rumored), Fortune’s Weave makes a strong placeholder. Fire Emblem is a niche series, it's true, but it has been building gradually in both appeal and regard over the past few years, while its detailed anime storytelling style and strategic combat get more fashionable and closer to the gaming mainstream by the day. It would not be a surprise.

5. Dawnwalker's Blood

The increasingly influential European voting group on the jury is increasingly making its influence felt, particularly when it comes to nominating big, ambitious Euro role-playing games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. Rebel Wolves' first game is an prime game to draw those votes and fill this slot, especially given the Witcher 3 heritage of its developers — and its noticeable resemblance to that 2015 GOTY winner.

And What Of the Indies?

The flaw 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 group of indie picks looks like a exception — it also rarely fails to nominate one. It's nearly impossible to foresee what that game might be at this point, as the biggest indie games of each year often appear from nowhere, but a few potential candidates would be:

• Mixtape: a music-centric, retro road trip of a game published by the curators at Annapurna Interactive.
• Replaced: a much-anticipated cyberpunk adventure with a beautifully detailed pixel-art aesthetic.
• Ontos: Frictional Games' enigmatic follow-up to the Amnesia series (assuming it's not excessively frightening).
• Slay the Spire 2: follow-up to the immensely popular roguelike deckbuilder (but it may not make it out of early access in 2026).
• Mina the Hollower: Yacht Club Games' Shovel Knight successor, an enchanting-looking retro Zelda love letter (if the studio can succeed in finish it).

Further Challengers

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