Some upcoming games have us setting countdown timers, canceling plans, mentally prepping our excuses to call in sick. Games we hope live up to the hype.
Hi folks, it’s Zaid, and today on Aura Riot, 10 of the most anticipated AAA games we can’t wait to play.
10. Resident Evil Requiem
Basically “Resident Evil 9,” basically set 30 years after the city was nuked to shut down the zombie outbreak from Umbrella Corporation. We’re returning to a Raccoon City as an FBI analyst who decided, “Hey, investigating a haunted hotel where my mom died, that sounds like a solid weekend plan.”
Obviously, there would not be a game if it was a solid weekend plan, so we know that it’s not a solid weekend plan. (laughs) A solid weekend plan for you is catching up on old “Gameranx” videos you haven’t watched because statistically you’re probably not subscribed. So, first, hit the Subscribe button, and second, check up on what you missed. We’ve put out some pretty good stuff lately. We’re pretty proud of it.
So “Resident Evil Requiem.” This one’s not actually that far off. We’re gonna see the release of “Resident Evil Requiem” next year, in February, on the 27th. It’s coming to PS5, Xbox Series, and PC, and I cannot wait to play it.
9. Grand Theft Auto VI
Let’s cut to the chase. This is not just a game; this is the game. We’re talking multi-billion dollar budget and enough hype to have everybody trembling. Nobody’s gonna wanna release the same day as “Grand Theft Auto VI.”
We’re headed back to Vice City, but this is a little bit different. It’s not the ’80s. It’s present times set in Leonida, which is basically a pretend Florida in the “Grand Theft Auto” universe. It looks like we’ve got dual protagonists, probably swappable in the same way the “GTA V” ones were, but also it seems like they’re gonna be together a lot of the time because they are together. That’s a Bonnie and Clyde thing that there’s been a lot made about that.
But what matters to me more is just the gaming cultural juggernaut in the, I guess, near-term future, but it’s a ways off. It’s not a massive ways off. Rockstar told us it’s coming May 26th, 2026, and it’s gonna hit midnight local time worldwide. So whatever your midnight is, that’s when it’s launching for you. Unless, ahem, you set the time and date and, ahem, ahem, maybe use the VPN.
It is gonna be landing on PS5 and Xbox Series. No last generation stuff, and we don’t see Switch as what I would say a definite. Even though the Switch 2 is infinitely more powerful than the original switch, it’s still at a much lower level than the other consoles. We don’t have PC information. Leaks indicate it may not arrive until late in the year, 2026, maybe even 2027 or 2028, depending on probably a lot of different factors. But yeah, it’s “GTA VI,” and it’s finally gonna come out.
8. Crimson Desert
You thought the hype train had completely derailed after “GTA VI.” Think again. Basically, this looks to me like they’re trying to combine “Dragon’s Dogma” and “The Witcher 3.” It’s Pearl Abyss’s “Black Desert Online” follow-up, was originally going to be an add-on or something. I can’t remember the story at the moment, but it’s become this big, old, crazy-looking open world project that actually is really impressive because it looks ambitious, and it looks like they’ve actually, like, delivered on it.
Takes place in the continent of Pywel, if I’m saying that right. P-Y-W-E-L. So the king is in a coma, so things are not great, and you are the leader of a mercenary gang called the Greymanes.
There’s horseback duels, combo heavy combat, grappling hooks, climbing, crafting, managing, pet dogs. It’s a really cool-looking game, and it’s coming not this year. It was gonna be this year, but they delayed it to quarter 1, 2026 to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series. I’m really looking forward to this one.
7. 007 First Light
The IO-developed, not “Hitman” game. So this is going to be an origin story for Bond. He’s 26, he’s just about to earn his 00 license, and it’s not a Bond we’ve seen before. Originally, this was going to be “Hitman” with Daniel Craig’s face, but IO went full-blown world building and made their own Bond, probably their own Bond world, ’cause I have to imagine this is something they want to do, sequels.
You could definitely see the “Hitman” influence, but there’s way more going on here. You’re not restricted to stealth or just brawling. You can even bluff. You can sweet-talk your way through situations. It’s definitely got more possibilities than the basically mute Agent 47.
This one looks fantastic. Like, everything I have seen about it makes me want to play it, and that’s great. “First Light” is going to come to PS5, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC March 27th, 2026.
6. Gears of War: E-Day
Set 13, possibly more years before the original game. But this is the origin story. This is Emergence Day, the day the Locust Horde appears. So you got Marcus, you got dumb, youthful, vulnerable, inexperienced and not wearing chainsaws, (chuckles) literally wearing chainsaws.
So The Coalition and People Can Fly co-developing this. This is not an open-world game like “Gears 5.” They are doing a linear story, and they are very clearly trying to harken back to the original game. The trailer literally has “MadWorld” in it.
We don’t have an exact day, but we know that it’s coming in 2026 to align with “Gears'” 20th anniversary, and it’s coming to Xbox Series and PC. No PlayStation and no Switch, but the word yet comes to mind ’cause it will be there.
5. Fable
The “Fable” reboot, the first mainline “Fable” game since 2012. It’s being developed by Playground Games, who we know from “Forza Horizon,” and it is running on the ultra-polished Forzatech engine.
Now in many ways, this is a bizarre choice, but it also seems like, I mean, this is a team that doesn’t release stuff that doesn’t work. Honestly, what I’m gonna say is this is probably going to be a game that feels like old “Fable” with modern controls and looks like something you’ve never seen before. That seems to be what they’re going for, and I would guess they’ll accomplish it, because it’s not like “Fable” is some impossible game by today’s standards.
And to be frank, the level of interactivity that they achieved in “Fable,” although not quite up to what it promised by Peter Molyneux when it was originally unveiled, is actually a lot more interactivity than a lot of the stuff that we see today, because, let’s be frank, a lot of games have achieved much higher fidelity but at the sacrifice of interactivity.
So I have a feeling that’s what this is about, and I also obviously have my fingers crossed. This one is coming out possibly next year, but there are rumors that it is going to be delayed to 2027, not due to problems but because this is a very large project. So hopefully next year, but either way, it’s gonna land on Xbox Series and PC.
4. The Elder Scrolls VI
We don’t have a lot on this one. As of mid-2025, we know it has exited pre-production and entered active development on the Creation Engine 2, which, eh, longtime “Gameranx” viewers would know my opinion on that.
People have been piecing together rumors, ’cause that’s really all we have. The front runner for where this one is going to take place is Hammerfell. There’s apparently going to be a “Skyrim” grandma cameo, which is really cool.
I would like to give you a lot more information than that, but it would just be speculation at this point. And, honestly, I don’t know what I could speculate on in terms of Bethesda Game that doesn’t seem either really obvious or impossible to guess.
In all likelihood, we know it’s confirmed for Xbox Series and PC. We do not know for when. I’m guessing it’s also probably going to be a “Starfield”-style launch, where they were exclusive on the Xbox platform for a while and we’ll probably see it on PS5 after. When? No idea. Probably 2027, 2028.
3. Marvel’s Blade
Being developed by Arkane Studios, here’s the thing with Arkane: they’re fantastic. They know what they’re doing. They gave us “Dishonored” and “Deathloop,” and, I mean, Arkane Austin is who gave us “Prey” specifically, but obviously they’re following the template that Arkane Lyon, the one that’s still around, created.
And to be frank, I don’t really want to get into how disappointed I am that Arkane Austin doesn’t exist anymore, so I’m just gonna talk about how cool this game could potentially be in Arkane’s hands.
So you don’t have Blink. You don’t have the outsider to give you any other powers, no runes, et cetera, et cetera, but you’re a vampire, and you’re like the coolest vampire that’s ever existed.
So I think we’re gonna see a lot of very interesting stuff in terms of story, ’cause these guys are great storytellers. I think they don’t get enough credit for that. “Dishonored” gets a lot of praise for its mechanics, but I like the story a whole lot in both of them. It’s not revolutionary or anything. I’ve said this in many other videos. There’s seven types of stories that exist, and it’s one of them. It’s how, and man do they do how good.
I’m super excited for the “Blade” game. I love the idea that it’s basically going to be probably an immersive sim Marvel game. Marvel has a lot of great IP, but I think a lot of the time what it actually is, which is narrative storytelling, isn’t really taken into very much account with the video games. But that’s literally what these things are, like comic books, which have existed for many, many decades. It’s narrative storytelling.
So I think Arkane is probably a better fit for a Marvel game than a lot of other ones. And a lot of the reason that the “Spider-Man” games, for instance, are great is that they treat that element of the story with respect and put the amount of effort into it that makes sense to do if you’re actually thinking about what these things are.
“Marvel’s Blade” is coming to PC and Xbox Series, but we do not know when because it entered full production at the end of 2024, so we’re not even a year in.
2. Wolverine
Insomniac’s “Wolverine.” I actually refrained from mentioning this in the previous point because, like I said, Insomniac’s “Spider-Man” games worked, I think, partly because they respect what comic book stories actually are, which is stories, and they’re making a “Wolverine” game.
Now, because we don’t really have any information on this game, all we have to go on is the fact that Insomniac made the “Spider-Man” games and said this one is going to be more, quote, unquote, “mature.” What we have to think about is how well Insomniac utilized the Spider-Man character, which is very well. Mechanically speaking, the web-slinging is incredibly enjoyable in the two Insomniac’s “Spider-Man” games, so they care about making the power of the hero work.
Now, I hope that means they are taking notes on that old “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” game because that game took the Wolverine mechanic very seriously, and if they know what’s good for ’em, they’ll use that as a template, because although there’s a lot of things about that game that aren’t really that great, the gameplay itself is.
That’s, of course, not really anything official about the game. It’s speculation. But I would also say I would bet it’s not absurd speculation. That is a very well-revered game, and it provides a decent template. Obviously, a lot more is possible now than was then, so there’s a lot that could be done.
We don’t have a date, but we know it’s not going to happen till at very least, March 2026. I wouldn’t be shocked if it’s quite a bit later, but whenever it does come out, it is coming as a PlayStation 5 exclusive, though I would imagine that like the “Spider-Man” games, it will come to PC later.
1. Witcher 4
It has been a long time since “The Witcher 3,” and to me, the game still holds up. I absolutely love “The Witcher 3.” There’s graphically some definite old stuff there. It’s shown its age, but in every other way, that is a game that was way ahead of its time. It feels very cinematic even now.
And this is kicking off a Ciri trilogy. Honestly, I’m pretty happy about that. I love the character of Ciri. I know that it’s caused some controversy, but, I mean, can we play the game before we start with that kind of crap? Ciri is a great character. Geralt’s not gone, but what is gone is the CDPR tech. They’ve moved over to Unreal Engine 5, and honestly, I think that was the right move because remember “Cyberpunk’s” Launch?
These are talented developers that really know what they’re doing. Let’s just use the really high-quality engine that everybody knows how to use, and it’s easy to get support for. They’re doing what they need to be doing in terms of what everything looks like. They have an absolutely beautiful 60 frames per second tech demo running on a standard PS5 with nanite foliage, crowd simulations, and just crazy environmental detail. Absolutely beautiful.
Apparently, the best-case scenario for launch, though, is 2027 or possibly even later. “Witcher 4” is confirmed for PS5, PC, and Xbox Series though, and there’s a reason we put this at number one. It’s gonna be a hell of a game.
Bonus: Battlefield 6
I do have a quick bonus game for you, and it’s “Battlefield 6,” which, as you know, we’ve lamented that series a lot, and apparently this is going to be a return to form with destructible stuff in particular. It seems like they’ve taken some influence from “The Finals” in terms of destruction.
They’re talking about doing macro and micro destruction, which can, and this is a quote from them, “redefine play spaces mid-match.” I like that a lot because I like me “The Finals” a lot. Anybody who watches knows how much I like “The Finals.”
Did I bring up “Battlefield 6” because I wanted to say, “I hope it’s like ‘The Finals'”? I don’t know. It’s a massive upcoming AAA game that I do want to play a lot, though. This one we don’t have to wait as long for. It’s coming October 10th to PS5, Xbox Series, and PC.
Leave us a comment. Let us know what you think. And as always, we thank you very much for reading this blog. I’m Zaid. We’ll see you next time right here on Aura Riot.