These Five Games That Could Contend With <em>GTA 6</em> for the 2026 Top Honor Prize.

The previous year, we pondered if anything could realistically defeat Grand Theft Auto 6 for the 2025's Game of the Year crown — "aside from Rockstar's capability to ship it on target." Ultimately, it was precisely that that took Rockstar's blockbuster game from the running, with postponements to May and, afterwards, November 2026 paving the way for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's remarkable clean sweep at The 2025 Game Awards.

Consequently, looking ahead to GOTY 2026, we find ourselves with a distinct sense of familiarity. Once again, GTA 6 starts the year as the obvious frontrunner to claim the highest honor. Once again, Rockstar's primary challenge might be its own punctuality. Even though another delay at this juncture is not as probable, it's definitely still possible, and with its current Nov. 19 release date just squeaking into The Game Awards' usual eligibility window, it would only take a slide of a couple of days or more to relegate GTA 6 into competition for the 2027 awards.

Yet again, GTA 6 seems extremely hard to overcome, but not impossible. Rockstar's own Red Dead Redemption 2 was edged out for GOTY by Sony Santa Monica's God of War in 2018, while GTA 5 was overshadowed in the majority of awards ceremonies and GOTY votes — except perhaps at the Game Awards' forerunner, VGX — by The Last of Us. Paradoxically, GTA 6's juggernaut status is a seemingly contradictory kind of liability, as journalists and awards panels will be actively searching for an appealing alternative angle to latch onto in order to maintain suspense.

So what other releases might pose a challenge? Predicting nominees this so soon in the year is, frankly, a rather a speculative endeavor: the terrain of indie and smaller releases is largely unclear, while larger games frequently get pushed back or fail to meet expectations, and some publishers (including Nintendo) have still not announce their lineup for the latter part of the year. Nevertheless, there are at present a small group of 2026 releases that appear to be they will be serious contenders. Here are five that possess a strong chance of being nominated alongside GTA 6.

1. Control: Resonant

Remedy Entertainment's psychologically thrilling second installment is easily the strongest challenger to GTA 6's hegemony. Truly, Remedy might be the quintessential Game Awards studio: It crafts technically accomplished, aesthetically stunning, complexly plotted action-adventure games while working just sufficiently outside the industry establishment to still be perceived as an outsider. The original Control secured eight nominations and one win in 2019, while Alan Wake 2 pushed Baldur's Gate 3 a tight second in 2023, turning three of its eight nods into wins in the coveted Game Direction, Narrative, and Art Direction categories. After a spectacular trailer unveiling at the 2025 Awards, Control Resonant is far from being underestimated.

2. Resident Evil Requiem

A fresh (or, for that matter) remade 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 track record at The Game Awards — Resident Evil 2 was nominated for the main prize in 2019, Village in 2021, and 4 in 2023 — plus a reputation for dependable quality. It must be said, a win would be a far more unlikely proposition, but you can bet on Capcom ending up in the conversation.

3. Marvel's Wolverine

The Wolverine game from Insomniac is one of the most significant sales prospects of the year, and in terms of production cost and polish, probably one of the select group that will be able to give GTA 6 a run for its money. Similar to Resident Evil, Insomniac's polished Marvel games series is prolific at picking up 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 (much) more violent action change things in Wolverine's favor? Maybe, and it will be Sony's primary contender for the year, which more or less ensures it a seat at the GOTY discussion.

4. Fire Emblem - Fortune's Weave

Nintendo is rarely absent from the list of Game of the Year nominees. In the absence of a clear idea of what its big 2026 game will be (a new core Pokémon and a 3D Mario game are both possibilities), Fortune’s Weave makes a viable placeholder. Fire Emblem is a cult series, it's true, but it has been growing steadily in both popularity 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 center by the day. It wouldn't be a shock.

5. Blood of the Dawnwalker

The ever-growing European voting group on the jury is increasingly making its presence felt, particularly when it comes to nominating big, ambitious Euro role-playing games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. Rebel Wolves' debut is an prime game to capture those votes and fill this slot, notably given the Witcher 3 lineage of its developers — and its noticeable similarity to that 2015 GOTY winner.

And What Of the Indies?

The obvious gap in our list is that it omits an indie contender. While The Game Awards jury typically only nominates one indie game for Game of the Year — 2025's group of indie picks looks like a fluke — it also hardly ever fails to nominate one. It's almost impossible to predict what that game might be at this point, as the most successful indie games of each year often appear from nowhere, but a few likely candidates would be:

• Mixtape: a music-driven, nostalgic road trip of a game backed by the influential publishers at Annapurna Interactive.
• Replaced: a much-anticipated cyberpunk adventure with a lavishly detailed pixel-art look.
• Ontos: Frictional Games' enigmatic follow-up to the Amnesia series (if it's not excessively frightening).
• Slay the Spire 2: follow-up to the hugely 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 whimsical retro Zelda homage (assuming the studio can finally finish it).

Other Challengers

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