These Five Games That Might Challenge <em>GTA 6</em> for the 2026 Top Honor Title.

The previous year, we wondered if any title could potentially outshine Grand Theft Auto 6 for the 2025's Game of the Year honor — "except for Rockstar's capacity to complete it on target." Ultimately, it was precisely that that excluded Rockstar's highly-anticipated game from the running, with delays to May and, subsequently, November 2026 clearing the path for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's remarkable clean sweep at The 2025 Game Awards.

As a result, peering into the future to GOTY 2026, we are left with a distinct sense of familiarity. Yet again, GTA 6 starts the year as the obvious frontrunner to win the highest honor. Once again, Rockstar's greatest adversary could be its own punctuality. Although another delay at this stage is more improbable, it's definitely still possible, and with its current Nov. 19 release date only narrowly fitting into The Game Awards' typical eligibility window, it would require just a slide of a couple of days or more to relegate GTA 6 into competition for the 2027 awards.

For a third time, GTA 6 appears incredibly difficult to overcome, but not impossible. 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 outshone in most awards ceremonies and GOTY votes — although not the Game Awards' forerunner, VGX — by The Last of Us. Paradoxically, GTA 6's colossal status is a ironic kind of liability, as journalists and awards panels will be keenly searching for an compelling alternative storyline to champion in order to keep things interesting.

So what different games might pose a challenge? Predicting nominees this so soon in the year is, admittedly, a rather a fool's errand: the terrain of indie and smaller releases is very murky, while AAA games often get delayed or fail to meet expectations, and various publishers (such as Nintendo) have still not unveil their titles for the back end of the year. However, there are even now a small group of 2026 releases that look like they will be strong contenders. Below are five that have a good chance of being nominated next to 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 ideal Game Awards studio: It produces technically accomplished, visually striking, story-rich action-adventure games while working just far enough outside the industry center to still feel like an underdog. The original Control garnered eight nominations and one win in 2019, while Alan Wake 2 challenged Baldur's Gate 3 a tight second in 2023, turning three of its eight nominations into wins in the coveted Game Direction, Narrative, and Art Direction categories. After a breathtaking trailer unveiling at the 2025 Awards, Control Resonant is not to be overlooked.

2. Resident Evil: Requiem

A new (or, similarly) 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 history at The Game Awards — Resident Evil 2 was nominated for the top honor in 2019, Village in 2021, and 4 in 2023 — in addition to a reputation for reliable quality. Granted, a win would be a much more unlikely proposition, but you can count on Capcom finding itself in the mix.

3. Wolverine (Marvel)

The Wolverine game from Insomniac is one of the largest sales prospects of the year, and in terms of production cost and polish, almost certainly 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 franchise is great at garnering lots of nominations at The Game Awards, and weaker at transforming them into wins. Will the move from Spider-Man to an edgier character and (significantly) more brutal action shift the odds in Wolverine's benefit? Possibly, and it will be Sony's flagship contender for the year, which virtually ensures it a place at the GOTY discussion.

4. Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave

Nintendo is rarely absent from the list of Game of the Year nominees. Without a definitive idea of what its major 2026 game will be (a new core Pokémon and a 3D Mario game are both options), Fortune’s Weave makes a viable placeholder. Fire Emblem is a niche series, it's true, but it has been expanding consistently in both appeal and acclaim over the past few years, while its complex anime storytelling style and tactical combat get more popular and closer to the gaming mainstream by the day. It wouldn't be a revelation.

5. Blood of the Dawnwalker

The expanding European voting contingent on the jury is increasingly making its weight felt, particularly when it comes to nominating epic, sprawling Euro role-playing games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. Rebel Wolves' debut is an prime game to attract those votes and occupy this slot, particularly given the Witcher 3 lineage of its developers — and its striking similarity to that 2015 GOTY winner.

Concerning the Indies?

The obvious gap in our list is that it doesn't feature an indie contender. While The Game Awards jury generally only nominates one indie game for Game of the Year — 2025's three of indie picks looks like a exception — it also rarely fails to nominate one. It's virtually impossible to guess what that game might be at this point, as the biggest indie games of each year often come out of the blue, but a few probable candidates would be:

• Mixtape: a rhythm-based, sentimental road trip of a game supported by the curators at Annapurna Interactive.
• Replaced: a much-anticipated cyberpunk adventure with a lavishly detailed pixel-art aesthetic.
• Ontos: Frictional Games' enigmatic follow-up to the Amnesia series (if it's not overly horrifying).
• Slay the Spire 2: sequel 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 tribute (assuming the studio can finally finish it).

Additional Challengers

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