The Five Games That May Rival <em>GTA 6</em> for the 2026's Top Honor Prize.

A year ago, we wondered if any title could possibly defeat Grand Theft Auto 6 for the 2025 Game of the Year award — "barring Rockstar's capability to finish it on time." Ultimately, it was precisely that that removed Rockstar's blockbuster game from the race, with pushbacks to May and, afterwards, November 2026 clearing the path for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's unprecedented dominance at The 2025 Game Awards.

As a result, looking ahead to GOTY 2026, we are situated with a powerful sense of repetition. Yet again, GTA 6 begins the year as the clear favorite to claim the ultimate prize. Once again, Rockstar's greatest challenge may prove to be its own schedule. Even though another setback at this juncture is more improbable, it's undoubtedly still possible, and with its announced Nov. 19 release date only narrowly fitting into The Game Awards' standard eligibility window, it would need merely a slip of two days or more to push GTA 6 into the running for the 2027 awards.

Once more, GTA 6 looks remarkably hard to beat, but not entirely 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' predecessor, VGX — by The Last of Us. If anything, GTA 6's juggernaut status is a seemingly contradictory kind of liability, as critics and awards panels will be eagerly looking for an compelling alternative storyline to champion in order to maintain suspense.

So what alternative releases may be in contention? Forecasting nominees this early in the year is, to be honest, a something of a fool's errand: the terrain of indie and smaller releases is mostly murky, while bigger games often get delayed or don't pan out, and certain publishers (like Nintendo) have still not unveil their games for the second half of the year. However, there are at present a handful of 2026 releases that look like they will be formidable contenders. Below are five that possess a strong chance of being nominated together with GTA 6.

1. Control Resonant

Remedy Entertainment's psychologically thrilling follow-up is arguably the strongest challenger to GTA 6's dominance. In fact, Remedy may well be the quintessential Game Awards studio: It produces highly polished, visually striking, narratively sophisticated action-adventure games while working just far enough outside the industry center to still be perceived as an dark horse. The original Control secured eight nominations and one win in 2019, while Alan Wake 2 pushed Baldur's Gate 3 a close second in 2023, turning three of its eight selections into wins in the prestigious Game Direction, Narrative, and Art Direction categories. After a spectacular trailer reveal at the 2025 Awards, Control Resonant is not to be underestimated.

2. Resident Evil Requiem

A fresh (or, for that matter) remastered Resident Evil game is has a higher probability to be nominated for Game of the Year than to be absent. This long-running series has an excellent recent history at The Game Awards — Resident Evil 2 was nominated for the highest award in 2019, Village in 2021, and 4 in 2023 — coupled with a reputation for reliable quality. Granted, a win would be a much more far-fetched proposition, but you can count on Capcom being in the conversation.

3. Marvel’s Wolverine

The Wolverine game from Insomniac is one of the biggest blockbuster prospects of the year, and in terms of scale and polish, probably one of the select group that will be able to give GTA 6 a run for its money. Like Resident Evil, Insomniac's polished Marvel games series is excellent at garnering lots of nominations at The Game Awards, and not as successful at converting them into wins. Will the transition from Spider-Man to an more mature character and (far) more brutal action shift the odds in Wolverine's favour? Maybe, and it will be Sony's primary contender for the year, which virtually secures it a place at the table.

4. Fortune's Weave (Fire Emblem)

Nintendo is seldom absent from the list of Game of the Year nominees. Without a clear idea of what its holiday 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 building steadily in both fanbase and regard over the past few years, while its complex anime storytelling style and turn-based combat get more fashionable and closer to the gaming mainstream by the day. It wouldn't be a surprise.

5. Blood of the Dawnwalker

The expanding European voting bloc on the jury is more and more making its presence felt, notably when it comes to nominating epic, sprawling Euro role-playing games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. Rebel Wolves' first game is an perfect game to draw those votes and occupy this slot, particularly given the Witcher 3 lineage of its developers — and its strong resemblance to that 2015 GOTY winner.

What About the Indies?

The flaw in our list is that it lacks 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 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 appear from nowhere, but a few potential candidates would be:

• Mixtape: a rhythm-based, nostalgic road trip of a game published by the tastemakers at Annapurna Interactive.
• Replaced: a long-awaited cyberpunk adventure with a exquisitely detailed pixel-art look.
• Ontos: Frictional Games' secretive follow-up to the Amnesia series (assuming it's not overly horrifying).
• Slay the Spire 2: sequel to the hugely popular roguelike deckbuilder (but it might not make it out of early access in 2026).
• Mina the Hollower: Yacht Club Games' Shovel Knight follow-up, an charming retro Zelda love letter (provided that the studio can finally finish it).

Additional Challengers

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