I’ll be real with you — I spend a good chunk of my time criticizing big-budget games. There’s usually plenty of ammunition. But right now, the upcoming release calendar is genuinely stacked, and I find myself actually excited rather than just cautiously skeptical. Here are 10 AAA games I keep coming back to, ranked from least to most anticipated.
10. Grand Theft Auto 6
I know, I know — obvious pick. But hear me out. The open-world crime genre has been in a genuine drought, and Rockstar is the only studio that ever really mastered it. The setting looks immersive, the story direction feels promising, and honestly? Just having a new GTA is exciting on its own terms.
My only real concern is the leadership changes since Red Dead Redemption 2. A lot of key creative people have moved on, and that signature Rockstar writing quality isn’t guaranteed anymore. Still, if even half the leaked content makes it into the final game, this could be something historic.
9. 007 First Light
There’s never been a truly great Bond game, which is insane given how perfectly the character suits the medium. IO Interactive — the Hitman people — are now handling it, and that pairing makes complete sense. Bond should be about using your brain, not just shooting everyone in the room. That’s exactly what IO does best.
| What We Know | What I’m Hoping For |
|---|---|
| Young Bond origin story | Social stealth and espionage depth |
| Action-forward trailers | Brain-over-brawn gameplay moments |
| IO Interactive developing | Hitman-style creative problem solving |
| No release date confirmed | Polished pacing throughout |
8. Gears of War E-Day
Gears 2 and 3 are games I still go back to. The cover shooting feels old-fashioned on paper but plays like absolute butter in practice. E-Day is a prequel set on Emergence Day — the Locust invasion — with original Marcus and Dom front and center. They’re stripping away all the convoluted later-series drama and going back to the dark, grim, almost horror-flavored atmosphere of the original. That’s exactly what this franchise needed.
My one outstanding question is multiplayer. Gears multiplayer is still being played today and leaving it out would be a serious mistake — but they’ve said absolutely nothing about it yet.
7. Crimson Desert
For a long time this felt like a game that would never live up to its own trailers. Now that full deep dives are out and a release window is actually closing in, I’m starting to believe it might be the real deal. The boss fights look spectacular. The world scale is jaw-dropping. The combat has a genuinely head-spinning amount of depth and options.
My only hesitation is the story — it really does seem gameplay-first with narrative taking a back seat. But even if the story ends up middling, the sheer mechanical ambition here might be more than enough to carry it.
6. Control Resonant
This announcement genuinely shocked me. The obvious move after the first Control was to bring back Jesse, keep the third-person shooting, and play it safe. Instead Remedy announced a melee-focused action RPG starring Jesse’s brother Dylan in a semi-open world. A massive departure.
| Element | First Control | Control Resonant |
|---|---|---|
| Protagonist | Jesse Faden | Dylan Faden |
| Combat | Third-person shooter | Melee action RPG |
| World | Linear with exploration | Open-ish world |
| Tone | Fish out of water | Already knows the weirdness |
Once the shock wore off, the direction made total sense. Dylan is already peering outside the veil of reality — there’s no slow introduction needed. The weirdness just explodes outward into the world. My concern is whether Remedy can nail that Devil May Cry style character action combat, because that genre demands precision. But I’ll always bet on Remedy to do something genuinely interesting.
5. Fable
Announced in 2018 and looking like a Microsoft cancellation for years, Fable finally got a proper showing — and it looks surprisingly great. Playground Games clearly understand what made the originals charming: that quirky, distinctly English humor, moral choices with real consequences, and a world that feels alive.
The ambition around NPCs alone is impressive — a thousand unique characters each with their own daily routines. That lived-in quality is something most modern open world games completely abandon. My disappointment is the toned-down good vs. evil system and the missing dog, but if the world actually reacts to your choices in meaningful ways, I can live with those trade-offs.
4. The Elder Scrolls 6
Eight years since announcement. Zero confirmed details. I don’t even know what province it’s set in. And I am still genuinely hyped — which tells you everything about what Skyrim meant.
Starfield was a stumble, mostly because it stripped away that immersive simulation quality that makes Bethesda worlds feel real. Every NPC with a home and a schedule. Every building you can enter. Little interconnected stories hiding in every corner. That’s the soul of an Elder Scrolls game. As long as Bethesda learned from the Starfield feedback and brings all of that back — and then builds on it — Elder Scrolls 6 will be worth every single year of waiting.
3. Marvel’s Blade
On paper, Arcane Studios making a Marvel licensed game sounds like a step down. In reality it might be a dream match. Blade is a vampire hunter with gadgets, weapons, tools and his own supernatural powers — and giving that character to the people who built the immersive sim genre is genuinely inspired.
Think Dishonored meets Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines, set in Paris, with a full AAA budget. Yes, Redfall happened. But this feels like Arcane’s full redemption arc — finally getting to make the moody, atmospheric, tool-driven game they’ve been building toward. I’m betting on them heavily here.
2. Marvel’s Wolverine
| Aspect | What’s Expected |
|---|---|
| Developer | Insomniac Games |
| Rating | M for Mature |
| World Structure | Hub connected to large levels |
| Combat Focus | Brutal close-range brawling |
| Tone | Dark and visceral — no holding back |
Insomniac has been one of the most consistently excellent studios of the past decade. Their Spider-Man games are genuinely great. Now they’re tackling Wolverine — and not the safe sanitized version. The trailer makes absolutely zero attempt to hide how brutal this is going to be. Mortal Kombat levels of violence on a character who has literally never gotten the game he deserves. The hub-plus-large-levels structure makes sense too since Wolverine isn’t a traversal character — he’s a brawler, and keeping things focused around combat is the right call.
1. Resident Evil Requiem
Every mainline Resident Evil since RE7 has felt like an event. Requiem is no different — and right now it sits comfortably at the top of my list.
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Leon’s Gameplay | RE4 Remake style with parries — action focused |
| Grace’s Gameplay | First-person survival horror, inventory management |
| New Mechanics | Blood infusion crafting system |
| Enemy Behavior | Unpredictable new zombie AI |
| Lore | Raccoon City references, Leon returns, new and old characters |
The dual protagonist structure is genuinely exciting — two completely different gameplay styles in one package. Leon plays like a refined RE4 Remake version of himself. Grace offers that tight claustrophobic survival horror that RE7 and RE8 nailed so well. Add in new crafting systems, smarter zombies, and Capcom weaving new characters into the existing lore rather than ignoring it — this has everything. There’s always some wild twist hidden in a Resident Evil game and I genuinely have no idea what it is this time. That mystery alone makes this my most anticipated game right now.