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Drafting Our Most Anticipated Games Of 2026 | The Game Informer Show

Game Informer

Game Informer

A new year is here, and that means an entirely new slate of games to look forward to! Polygon editor-at-large Giovanni Colantonio joins Marcus, Charles and Eric to discuss what they played over the holidays, as they picked at their backlogs and indulged their guiltiest pleasures. 

Then, we roll some dice for a snake-style draft and each pick our five most anticipated games of 2026. From the big games like Grand Theft Auto and Resident Evil to the hidden gems you should keep an eye out for, there's a little bit of everything in this week. Let us know in the comments who you think won the draft!

The Game Informer Show is a weekly podcast covering the video game industry. Join us every Friday for chats about your favorite titles – past and present – alongside Game Informer staff and special guests from around the industry.

Podcast: Drafting Our Most Anticipated 2026 Games

Listen to "Drafting Our Most Anticipated Games Of 2026" on Spreaker.

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Jump ahead to a specific segment: 

  • 00:00 - Intro
  • 07:11 - What We Played Over The Holidays
  • 41:33 - Drafting Our Most Anticipated Games Of 2026

This Week On GI: Code Vein II Preview, Death Howl Review, Lies Of P Interview, And More

Game Informer

This Week On GI

It's Friday – congratulations, reader, you made it to the end of the traditional work week! Here at Game Informer, we've been hard at work publishing stories each and every day, from previews to reviews to exclusive interviews and the daily onslaught of gaming news, to behind-the-scenes proofing and editing on the next issue of our magazine. Speaking of, it features [REDACTED] on the cover and wowsers, it's a beaut (and the story is fantastic and packed with the kind of game development details you won't find anywhere else). 

Also, hey, this is the first This Week On GI story we've made for the site! Newsletter subscribers are familiar with our weekly round-up of stories, but fret not – this is its own thing. Now, as the Newsletter writer, I highly recommend subscribing to it because I bring a more laid-back, casual vibe to it that's not befitting of the CMS here. What I want This Week On GI to be is a post you can look forward to every Friday that not only catches you up on the latest Game Informer housekeeping, but will also neatly organize all the stories we published this week. We know life can get busy, and you might not be able to refresh the greatest video game website ever made hourly; this article is for you. 

Below, you'll find our general Game Informer housekeeping section followed by the article round-up underneath it: 

Game Informer Housekeeping

Game Informer

We've seen that many of you have already received our latest magazine issue, which features World of Warcraft: Midnight on the cover and is extra-large due to our extensive Game of the Year coverage, Editor's Top 10s, and more. If you've already received it, I hope you love and appreciate it as much as we did creating it – if you haven't yet, don't worry because it's in the mail and on the way to your mailbox. 

We're aware of shipping hiccups that occurred in 2025 and continue to do our best to remedy any situation where someone didn't receive an issue they should have. If you missed it, the government shutdown affected postal services across the country last year, and that heavily affected our shipping processors; that's not your fault, though, and we apologize for any inconvenience or stress this may have caused you. With the World of Warcraft: Midnight issue, we're seeing that our shipping is seemingly back to normal, and people are receiving issues in a timely manner. 

As for what's in the pipeline, we can't quite share what game is gracing the next edition of Game Informer, but trust me: you don't want to miss it. Plus, it features a massive round-up of our most anticipated games of 2026 and beyond, making it the perfect issue for those of you who like to plan out your year of gaming (like me). If you aren't already a Game Informer subscriber, there's still time to become one and receive this awesome issue – you can subscribe here. 

Story Round-Up

Game Informer

Below, I've divided up the various sections of Game Informer's published stories, (hopefully) making it easy to check out the articles you might have missed. 

Reviews

Previews

Features

News

Video

And that's what happened... This Week On GI!

If you have thoughts, suggestions, or anything else you want to share about This Week On GI, please do drop a comment below!

The Video Games You Should Play This Weekend – January 9

Game Informer

Game Informer

The holidays are officially behind us and now represents a rare window (for Game Informer writers anway) where we can basically play what we want. We don't have to worry about new releases too much because so few have released this early in the year. As a result, we're playing random games from our backlog and we're ready to tell you all about them

It's Friday and it's time for the weekend and our usual recommendation of games and things you should check out! But before that, here's a recap of the biggest stories of the week:

The Games You Should Check Out This Weekend

Game Informer

Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora's From The Ashes Expansion

Kyle Hilliard

 Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora released in 2023 (and was a Game Informer cover game), but I only spent about an hour with it around launch, even though I have to admit to myself that I am an Avatar fan. I was turned off by the first-person perspective, but thought the game looked great and I like the conceptual idea of Far Cry: Avatar, though I admit there is more nuance than that. With the release of Avatar: Fire and Ash, I was eager to spend just a little more time on Pandora after leaving the theater, but rather than start from the beginning (or near-beginning), I decided to jump straight to the DLC, which I am grateful was an option.

Narratively, it places you after the events of the main game, which means you do not need to unlock your flying steed. It does, however, strip you of your weapons, so you do have to rebuild your arsenal. That's a good thing. You are incentivized to unlock new attacks and find new things. There is an upward ramp, which is exactly what I wanted. Also, a recent update allows you to play in third-person, so you can finally see your Na'vi leaping between floating tree limbs, which makes a big difference.

Ultimately, finally spending time with the game didn't convince me I had missed out on some phenomenal 2023 experience, but as an extension of the film and a chance to explore more of that world, I had a good time. And if you liked the film, I recommend you do the same. Wes is right though in that the game is missing one crucial detail from the film.

Game Informer

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

Eric Van Allen

Nintendo added another game to its Switch Online retro offerings this week, and it's a big one. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance is on its GameCube services, meaning you won't have to pay $300+ just to experience the first 3D Fire Emblem.

This Fire Emblem's notable for quite a few reasons, though. Notably, it's just a darn good Fire Emblem. For as big of a shift as moving to 3D and the GameCube was, Intelligent Systems managed to transpose the tiles and tactics to a new production quite well. Riding the surging wave of international visibility thanks to the GBA entries and – oddly enough – two Fire Emblem fighters in Super Smash Bros. Melee, Path of Radiance quickly became a prized addition to GameCube libraries.

Personally, I can't wait to dip back in. I've always liked this shift towards the mercenary Ike for Path of Radiance's story, and characters like Soren and Titania were fast favorites, alongside the neat designs around the Laguz animal-warriors. This is a classically styled Fire Emblem that I'm hoping stands the test of time, and worth dipping back into if you've ever been interested in the history of the franchise.

Game Informer

Fear Effect

Kyle Hilliard

If you're unfamiliar, Fear Effect is a 2000 PlayStation 1 game from the height of competing developers trying their best to make their own Resident Evil. It was ported to contemporary platforms with only a handful of added frills back in September, but I was happy to make some time for it recently.

This particular flavor of Resident Evil-like came from Eidos and it is a weird one. It's less a horror game (though there are demons and zombies if you make it far enough) and more of a cyberpunk, noir thriller with some misguided attempts to also be sexy and adult. I have fond memories of playing it, though only after finding it in a discount bin in the mid-2000s. It was an early example of cel-shading and it sets itself apart from Resident Evil by making all of its pre-rendered backgrounds dynamic and moving. It is a game that absolutely looks old by today's standards, but even playing it again now on my Switch 2, it feels like it cost a lot of money at the time with its impressive production value. It also lets you shoot in two directions at once, which was unheard of for the genre.

I love it as a bizarre time capsule of the year 2000. It's a game that was shooting for the moon, and did not hit it (though it did well enough to receive a sequel, which will also be ported soon). If you miss the days of classic Resident Evil gameplay, and happened to miss Fear Effect, I would give it a look.

Game Informer

Metroid Prime Remastered

Wesley LeBlanc

I finished Death Stranding 2 during my holiday break after 66 hours (absolutely loved it, especially that bonkers ending and also, maybe one of my favorite performances from Troy Baker and proof we need him as a villain in more games). Looking ahead to January, I realized I had the rare opportunity to dive into my backlog because the month is so chill for new releases. I whittled my options down to Yakuza 0, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, and Metroid Prime Remastered… and Samus Aran’s big round shoulders won.

I’m roughly halfway through it now, and I am enjoying it, but I’m not so sure it works as well for someone who hasn’t played the original. Of course, this game originally launched more than two decades ago and this is not a remake; it’s a remaster. Its visuals hold up well, especially given the remastering work that has upgraded what I’m seeing on screen. I can’t lie, though – the 2002 of it all is making it an annoying experience to interact with. Fortunately, I’m enjoying it more than I am becoming frustrated by it but, man, I would have killed for some quality-of-life updates like auto-save and reworked controls.

I don’t mind visiting save points to save my progress, but sometimes, the sequences I must endure are extensive and packed with enemies, making it easy to die and lose upwards of 45 minutes of progress (looking at you, Thermal Visor runback). It’s also frustrating switching between visors, weapon types, and more using Remastered’s control scheme. I can’t point to a specific aspect I dislike, but it just doesn’t feel great when I’m pressing buttons, doubly so when playing handheld on Switch 2 with Joy-Cons.

Anyway, I’m fresh off losing 45 minutes of progress this morning because of that dang Thermal Visor, so I’m feeling more jaded on it than not, but I do think it’s a great game. It’s nice to revisit a classic and experience where a game that has so clearly inspired countless others began; I’m just not so sure it holds up as well as other classics, especially as a first-time player.

Towerborne, The Action RPG By The Makers Of The Banner Saga, Launches Out Of Early Access Next Month

Game Informer

Game Informer

Side-scrolling co-op action RPG Towerborne is winding down its Early Access period and will launch in 1.0 next month. Towerborne comes from Stoic, the studio behind The Banner Saga series.

The news was announced during yesterday's New Game+ Showcase. Towerborne first entered Steam Early Access in September 2024 and Xbox Game Preview in April 2025. It is a co-op fantasy action RPG in the vein of a classic beat ‘em up. Players control an immortal warrior named Ace who must defend the land against a deadly corruption while solving the mystery of a crumbling city. The side-scrolling combat emphasizes combo-heavy melee action, and Ace can be customized with gear that alters your playstyle.

When Towerborne first launched in Early Access, it was billed as a free-to-play, always-online title. Stoic has since reworked the game into a traditional paid experience that can be played offline, though it supports online co-op. Additionally, paid cosmetics have been removed; players now unlock cosmetics for free by playing, and new items will be added in the 1.0 version.

The 1.0 update also features a completed main story, two new bosses, new gear/player abilities, a reworked difficulty system including a new Brutal difficulty setting, and an updated world map. The final version of Towerborne also boasts new music from famed composer Austin Wintory

Towerborne launches in full on February 26, and it will debut on PlayStation 5 alongside Xbox Series X/S and PC. The Standard Edition is $24.99. The Deluxe Edition, which includes two cosmetic sets, crafting materials, and more, is $29.99. 

Sonic And The Black Knight - Part 2 | Super Replay

Game Informer

Game Informer

Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the most iconic characters in all of video games, but not all of his games were hits. Sonic and the Black Knight is allegedly one of those games, but associate editor Charles Harte remembers playing it as a nine-year-old and feeling like it might be the coolest game of all time. Nearly 17 years later, we're revisiting this medieval adventure to see whether or not he was correct.

Originally released on March 13, 2009, Sonic and the Black Knight is the second and final game in the now-abandoned Sonic Storybook Series, which began in 2007 with Sonic and the Secret Rings. Both games see Sonic get sucked into the worlds of classic folklore, with Black Knight whisking him into the world of Arthurian legend. Armed with the legendary blade Caliburn, he embarks on a quest to save the kingdom. Critics at the time of release were less than enthusiastic about the outing; Sonic and the Black Knight was released to mostly poor reviews, including a 5/10 on page 87 of issue 193 of Game Informer.

Join Charles Harte and Marcus Stewart as they wield a Wii remote and travel back in time to the mythical days of 2009. You can check out today's episode live on Twitch or YouTube at 12 pm PT/3 pm ET, or check out past episodes below:

Sonic And The Black Knight - Part 1 | Super Replay