2026 is shaping up to be a great year for video game releases, and it's already delivered some amazing ones for us to get stuck into, from breeding cats for roguelike warfare to burning rubber on the streets of Tokyo.
So far, IGN has scored a total of 35 games 8/10 or higher this year, and awarded three 10/10 reviews. This collection covers a range of genres, from sporting highlights adventures to cinematic spycraft to open-world soulslike punishment. And if 2025 is anything to go by, which ended up with 89 high-scoring games, there’ll be plenty more added to this page as we progress through 2026. These are IGN's best video games of 2026.
This list will be updated as new releases receive qualifying review scores.
Review Score: 8 (“Great”)
These games leave us with something outstanding to remember them by, usually novel gameplay ideas for single-player or multiplayer, clever characters and writing, noteworthy graphics and sound, or some combination thereof. If we have major complaints, there are more than enough excellent qualities to cancel them out.
Star Fox
From our review: Despite knowing nearly all Star Fox 64’s shortcuts and secrets for close to 30 years now, this remake’s impressive coat of paint and compelling new cutscenes made me smile like I just did my very first barrel roll. Finding hidden routes to unlock different stages or small optimizations to push my score sky high is still much deeper than it first appears, keeping the brief campaign runs fun across multiple playthroughs. And while the new Challenge mode and revamped multiplayer don’t go quite as far as I’d like in terms of content or creativity, they are still amusing ways to shake things up once you’ve exhausted every alternate route. Given the decade-long drought since the disappointment that was Star Fox Zero in 2016, Nintendo was wise to return to Star Fox’s best game in order to revitalize this 33-year-old series, and has reached a new peak for it in doing so. Hopefully this is just the beginning for Fox McCloud, because Nintendo has proven the Arwing isn’t out of style quite yet. -- Jada Griffin
EA Sports UFC 6
From our review: EA Vancouver believes that every fighter has a story, and with EA Sports UFC 6, it has completely proven its point. Despite a few unnecessary additions, like Flow State and The Gym, slightly hindering its overall success, the heart of UFC 6 — two modes that pay supreme respect to the fighter’s journey in Hall of Legends and The Legacy — more than redeem it. Taken in its entirety, this game is very much like a fable itself; a violent one that’s split between fiction and reality, which typically isn’t a good thing. But ultimately, the care and attention given to the latter, to the sport’s history, culture, icons, and everything in between, helps it reach a satisfying end that any MMA fan should be proud of. -- Nico Vergara
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales
From our review: The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales isn’t without blemishes, but it’s still a great action-adventure game that continues to prove why the HD-2D art style is among the best around. Its interesting time travel concept doesn’t quite land, with not enough changing between the various time periods to keep its enemies and environments from getting a bit repetitive. But Elliot is a hero I wanted to cheer on, with a supporting cast of characters whose stories were more than worth seeing through to the end. Even without being a true RPG, the Magicite system gave me plenty to min-max as I messed around with different builds on the fly, and I can’t wait to see all the cool combinations people find – though I do wish it let me make more of its discoveries on my own when it came to stuff like finding collectibles. Still, I grew to love this world and the people who call its various ages home, and I truly hope this isn’t the last we see of Elliot the adventurer and his feathered red cap. -- Scott White
Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight
From our review: Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is a lovingly made, often hilarious take on both Batman’s movie and video game history alike. It remixes classic moments from almost every film, with deeper cuts from the Caped Crusader’s comic book beginnings, too. A largely successful attempt at sophisticating Lego combat that suffers a bit from repetitive, one-note encounter design, combined with a good mixture of puzzles, powers its homage-laden levels. But its open-world Gotham is where it truly comes to life, generously packing its gothic surroundings with hundreds of collectibles and pockets of opportunity. It might not tell a story that will sit alongside Batman’s best overall, but it delivers a fantastic plastic parody of his greatest hits. -- Simon Cardy
Call of the Elder Gods
From our review: Call of the Elder Gods wonderfully captures an otherworldly tone and the sense of mystery of its predecessor, which remains a hidden gem of this decade. While its ambitions chip away at feeling as captivating, it's an especially touching sequel to further explore the events of Call of the Sea while still having some rewarding Myst-style puzzle solving to complement a new story that's about finding a sense of closure. Developer Out of the Blue Games' follow-up nails the emotional core of its first-person adventure effort, all while giving its characters and puzzle design time to shine. -- Alessandro Fillari
Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes
From our review: Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes tests how well you hold up under the pressure of command by forcing you to play a game of whack-a-mole against endless waves of Cylon attacks, political crises, and ethical dilemmas that threaten to tear your fleet apart from within while you're simultaneously putting out both literal and metaphorical fires. Neither the pausable real-time combat nor the turn-based strategic management phases are about winning outright so much as they are about escaping without taking too many losses and making the best of bad situations, which keeps tensions high. It's not visually spectacular, but it does have a style that feels true to the BSG series. And like any great roguelike, its random upgrades and ever-escalating challenge modifiers have no trouble justifying another run even dozens of hours in, after you've seen each crisis story play out multiple times. -- Dan Stapleton
Directive 8020
From our review: I've been a big fan of The Dark Pictures since the very beginning, despite their quirks and shortcomings, and Directive 8020 is a chilling and impressive start to the second season of the anthology. The effective deep space setting, smart writing, strong performances from the main cast, and a tense – if a bit overused – new stealth mechanic are the highlights. I wish the ability to scroll through the scene trees hadn't been presented to me as so immediately and trivially accessible, since even casually pawing through it for a minute definitely ruins some of the magic and suspense on a first playthrough, even if it is a welcome tool on return visits. Either way, this is a step forward for the anthology in terms of spectacle and storytelling, which makes it more than worth the ride. -- Leana Hafer
Dead as Disco (Early Access)
From our review: Dead as Disco may be more EP than album at its Early Access debut, but it already proves that Brain Jar Games has everything it takes to top the charts one day. The cats on stage are electric, the set list is inspired, and there’s enough juice at the bar to keep you coming back for more. Ultimately, you kind of have to give yourself to the flow to see everything Dead as Disco has to offer. You have to be excited to practice, to explore technique. If you’re willing to dig into the act of making something, so much the better. You’ll get more out of it. That’s just how music is, how action games are – the good ones, anyway. Fall down seven times, get up eight, until the song that whooped your butt is a dance your fingers know all the moves to. Charlie’s only got one night to set things right, but Disco never dies. -- Will Borger
Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred
From our review: Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred offers a wonderfully satisfying conclusion to the Mephisto saga, with one of my favorite Diablo stories yet, some really compelling changes to buildcrafting, two equally interesting new classes, and an endgame that seems primed to be more accessible and life-devouring than ever before. There are a few missteps here and there, like the completely lame way the new endgame handles co-op progression, or the fewer than expected reasons to explore Skovos beyond the campaign missions – but the vast majority of changes, improvements, and additions are enough to convince me to sink even more time into this incredibly dense ARPG. -- Travis Northup
Pragmata
From our review: I know it’s a bit cliche to say at this point, but it certainly applies here: Pragmata is a video game-ass video game. Its old-school approach to level design and pacing provide a decent foundation for what it does best: heavy, satisfying shooting and a unique real-time puzzle system that deepens its action. It's not exactly concerned with being a storytelling powerhouse alongside that, however, and it can be a little disappointing to see the untapped potential as it relies on worn tropes even if its duo can be really charming at times. But Capcom focused on the best lessons of the action side of modern Resident Evil games and matched that with a fresh hacking mechanic we haven't seen before – and even with some small frustrations, that combo was so good that I naturally wanted to keep playing past the credits to complete every leftover challenge. Pragmata's hack-and-shoot formula absolutely rules, and I hope Capcom builds on those ideas in the future. -- Michael Higham
Life is Strange: Reunion
From our review: It’s not often the final game in a series, or in this case the ending chapter of the series' two most important characters, sticks the landing quite like Life is Strange: Reunion. While it has some flaws in its overall pacing and could have used a little more time expanding on Max and Chloe's lives post Arcadia Bay. It’s excellent writing, multiple gameplay styles, outstanding presentation, and return to form with the two characters that made the series so important for so many people over ten years ago. Life is Strange: Reunion is a fitting end to the decade-spanning Max and Chloe saga. -- Nick Maillet
Super Meat Boy 3D
From our review: Super Meat Boy 3D nails the spirit and soul of the 2010 indie darling, with an identical structure and controls that do a good job of replicating the unique speed and mobility of Meat Boy and his friends in 3D. There is certainly no shortage of high moments when you’re able to enter that sort of flow state and just fly through a level without hesitation, slipping through hazards, bouncing between walls, and making daring leaps across huge gaps on your way to an A+ ranking on the level. But those moments are often bookended by frustrating perspective woes that can take all of the wind out of the sails of an otherwise good run. -- Mitchell Saltzman
Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection Review
From our review: The Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection is quite literally the definition of “more than the sum of its parts.” Playing the trilogy back-to-back puts Geo Stelar’s coming-of-age arc into a heartwarming perspective that left me emotional at the end. The way you get to watch the gameplay gradually evolve with new ideas and additions feels natural, even if the middle chapter is still the weakest of the bunch, and quality-of-life improvements and restored content help make the package feel modern and complete. Despite some story lulls and a few online feature omissions, this is the best way to play as the most underrated version of the Blue Bomber. -- George Yang
Super Mario Bros. Wonder - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park
From our review: Super Mario Bros. Wonder - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park should be the blueprint moving forward for these enhanced rereleases. It sands off the rough edges of the original version while adding a fantastic lineup of boss battles, endgame challenges, and cooperative levels that each make use of Wonder’s excellent platforming in entirely different ways. The local and online competitive minigames are pretty bland, and I wish it’d gone just a bit further in getting the most out of its exciting new Dual Badge idea, but the rest of this expansion is so polished and inspired that it more than makes up for any shortcomings. Whether you’re planning to revisit Super Mario Bros. Wonder or pick it up for the first time, the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition is clearly the definitive way to play. -- Logan Plant
Screamer
From our review: A blazing, tumbling, and anime-infused collision of weapons-based racing and drift-happy driving, Screamer is potentially what you’d get if you locked Blur in a room for 12 months with nothing but a Crunchyroll subscription. Fabulous to look at and confidently assembled, it’s a challenging arcade racer with a clear identity to call its own. It’s true that Screamer’s high-speed thrills might be mostly neutered on its twistiest tracks, several of the cars feel more sloppy to drive than others, the central tournament mode makes some noticeable missteps with its difficulty curve, and its cast of emotional anime dandies do quickly get pretty tedious. However, with a nuanced, twin-stick control scheme and a surprisingly involved combat system to juggle, it’s a satisfyingly busy and demanding racer, and its extremely customisable quick races and four-player split screen make it a great racing option to have in your back pocket for playing with friends around. -- Luke Reilly
Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake
From our review: On the surface, Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake is everything a fan like me could want. It’s artistically stunning, its world and character designs are remarkable, it is memorable and terrifying, it does not hold your hand, and many of its gameplay additions are welcome. But by making a version of Crimson Butterfly that offers you more choice and makes you more powerful – that bends to the modern need for More™ in general – Team Ninja has also made it feel more artificial, and less intimate in its horror. The end result is still a great game, but a slightly different one than I remember. Video game remakes are almost always an attempt to recapture a specific feeling, like a photo captures a single moment in time. They seek to replicate that moment, to turn a work of art from what it is to the way we remember it. That Crimson Butterfly Remake succeeds probably as well as it could have is nothing short of miraculous. But as any photographer will tell you, a flawless photograph is rare. If Mio and Mayu’s story has any lesson, it’s that sometimes you have to be unafraid, raise the camera again, and aim for the perfect shot, knowing it may be forever out of reach, but that the attempt matters all the same, and that a beautiful but imperfect picture is still worthwhile. -- Will Borger
Scott Pilgrim EX
From our review: Scott Pilgrim EX is the latest in a long line of retro revivals from Tribute Games, and like all of its previous works, the developer has done an admirable job of producing a beat ‘em up that builds on its predecessor while adding much-appreciated gameplay depth and plenty of replayability. I love EX’s RPG systems (simple as they are), its world, and how there is always another interesting character to try when I get bored. But it’s also a game that grapples with the passage of time, even if it perhaps doesn’t mean to. The modern beat ‘em up exists because of the games that came before, but they were often far more limited. With the passage of time, we’ve returned to those ideas and refined them. Like Scott Pilgrim itself, those games have gone from something that was new to something that is now referenced. Nostalgia is a powerful drug, but a bittersweet one, and Scott Pilgrim EX understands that. You can go back in time, but you can’t go back to the way things were. All that’s left is to appreciate where you’ve been and enjoy what’s here now. And you know what? What’s here is pretty fun. -- Will Borger
Menace (Early Access)
From our review: Menace is off to more than a running start already. The turn-based tactical action is some of the best I've played lately, and I love the distinct, voiced squad leaders, as well as both the variety of missions and enemy factions. The biggest missing piece is really story and context. It's hard to get too invested in what's going on in the Wayback when I'm not even really sure why we're here yet. But for Early Access, this is a truly impressive effort, and there's plenty of fun to be had already. -- Leana Hafer
The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon
From our review: After its predecessor took a detour from advancing the Calvard saga in favor of a more interpersonal story, The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon almost feels like an overcorrection as it weaves the plot-heavy stories of three different protagonists into a single adventure. However, splitting it into three distinct routes makes it all much easier to digest. While our main hero is overshadowed by the other protagonists early on, the story eventually finds a satisfying way to weave its paths together, and ultimately sticks the landing. The new mechanics in both the turn-based and real-time combat are welcome additions that continue to refine a battle system that was already a lot of fun. And while its cliffhanger ending will likely be divisive, Trails Beyond the Horizon has certainly built an exciting launchpad for what comes next. -- George Yang
Review Score: 9 (“Amazing”)
We enthusiastically recommend that you add these games to your to-play list. If we call a game Amazing, that means something about it seriously impressed us, whether it’s an inspired new idea or an exceptional take on an old one. We expect to look back at it as one of the highlights of its time and genre.
007 First Light
From our review: While it’s impossible to argue that 007 First Light shares the seismic importance of 1997’s GoldenEye 007, it is nonetheless the best Bond game I’ve ever played. Demonstrably obsessed with bringing the Bond fantasy to life in a way no game has ever managed before, developer IO Interactive has found a highly successful home for the more curated action-stealth formula of 2012’s Hitman: Absolution. Patiently paced, First Light is brimming with Bond’s trinity of gadgets, guns, and girls in a way that feels fresh but reverent, and never like parody. The evolution of this risky, young Bond over the course of the story also feels logical and earned, to the point where the final moments before the credits left me literally cheering at the screen. Take a bow, IO, and put your clothes on – because I’m buying you all an ice cream. -- Luke Reilly
Marathon
From our review: Marathon is unapproachable, unforgiving, offputtingly creepy, and has a playerbase of violent goblins who exist solely to bash your face in with a brick, and for all of these reasons it's become my favorite extraction shooter of all time. The gunplay is everything you’d hope for from a Bungie game, the loot and progression systems have got me completely hooked, the maps continue to surprise me after dozens of hours, and the endgame activity and process of unraveling the unsettling lore has been absolutely worth sticking around for. There’s still plenty of room for improvement, like the onboarding and UI that’s honestly pretty awful – plus we could already use some more maps and a few balancing passes to shake up the meta – but these issues feel pretty minor compared to what Bungie has been able to pull off. Marathon is, quite frankly, sick as hell and has become my latest PvP obsession. -- Travis Northup
World of Warcraft: Midnight Review
From our review: I spent more time with The War Within than I have any era of WoW since Vanilla, and while there are a handful of places in which World of Warcraft: Midnight feels a bit samey at first, it's only because so many of the best features it's carried forward aren't brand new anymore. And while you can't make a first impression twice, everything from Delves to endgame currencies has been improved upon. Housing by itself is a massive, welcome addition that hasn't exceeded all of my wildest dreams just yet, but lays a robust foundation to build on. Enthralling new and revamped zones and a satisfying endgame loop with lots of options carry the story from high point to high point, even if there is some sag in the middle. As far as I'm concerned, we are living in a second Golden Age of WoW. And not even the Voidstorm on the horizon can bring me down. -- Leana Hafer
Slay the Spire 2 (Early Access)
From our review: There has been a towering pile of praise heaped upon Slay the Spire since it popularized the deck-building roguelike genre in 2017, and virtually all of it applies to the Early Access version of Slay the Spire 2, word for word. That might make it easy to dismiss as retreading the same ground, but while the broad strokes of its turn-based combat and how you choose your risks and rewards on the map are the same, the details have major, game-changing differences and expansions on the original's ideas. Some of those forced me to rethink my strategies and approaches to the three returning characters, and made wrapping my head around the new pair a tough challenge. The ability to play in co-op is also a brand-new way to experience a classic game, and the relatively polished state it's been released in make it one of those Early Access gems you don't need to wait on. -- Dan Stapleton
Minishoot' Adventures
From our review: Minishoot’ Adventures may just be a Zelda game with twin-stick combat, but that description sells it short. It’s obvious SoulGame Studio has put an enormous amount of care and consideration into every detail, from upgrade frequency and enemy placement to boss behavior and world design. It takes all the right lessons from Nintendo’s beloved franchise and puts them to good use in a new package. Sure, the enemies might be forgettable visually and some of the upgrade paths might be a little slow, but this is a minimalist action-adventure game very much by design. It’s how that unique mix of formulas is combined that keeps Minishoot’ Adventures fun all the way until the credits roll and beyond. -- Chris Reed
Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection
From our review: I loved every step of my obsessive, Monstie-collecting journey in Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection. It smooths over the mild frustrations and complaints I had with its already great predecessors, leaving only a finely-tuned loop of hunting, hatching, restoring, and upgrading that perfectly feeds into itself every step of the way. The joy of finding a new cool monster, figuring out how to build its stats and skills to best fit it into my team, and finally riding off into the sunset with it is unmatched. Twisted Reflection shines as another excellent spin off of one of my favorite series, but it also just stands as a fantastic monster-collecting RPG all on its own. -- Casey DeFreitas
Pokémon Pokopia
From our review: Pokémon Pokopia is a real treat: an enjoyable building and town simulator that capitalizes on the charming personalities of its monsters in a way that appeals to both the creative and collector alike. It's packed with fun things to do and worthy rewards for doing them, and strikes a healthy balance between freedom and suggestion in its building mechanics (despite a few precision nitpicks). All of this is housed in an adorable adventure through an interesting and surprisingly deep setting that presses all the nostalgia buttons for longtime fans. And it all shines especially bright in its lovable protagonist's blobby pink hands. -- Rebekah Valentine
Under Night In-Birth 2 Sys:Celes
From our review: Under Night In-Birth 2 Sys:Celes is a 2D fighter for people who love 2D Fighters, myself included. It’s incredibly deep, has a rich and well-rounded roster with some of the coolest looking characters around, features excellent teaching tools to give you everything you need to improve, and even comes with replay takeover for the truly hardcore that intend to watch their matches back and learn from their mistakes. A lot of those excellent features (as well as its great rollback netcode) may go completely unnoticed for the more casual audience, and the lack of context in story mode will no doubt make newcomers feel lost without a flashlight when it comes to navigating its dense lore. But as far as the most important aspects of a 2D fighter go, Under Night In-Birth 2 ranks up there with the best of them. -- Mitchell Saltzman
Resident Evil Requiem
From our review: Like the result of an experiment conducted in an underground Umbrella Corporation lab, Resident Evil Requiem successfully splices two separate strains of survival horror together into the one highly infectious new mutation. It signals the return of a series legend and the arrival of a likeable new lead, amps up the gore to a new stomach-turning standard, and unleashes a scarier breed of zombie alongside some truly beastly boss fights. The lack of any meaningful side content like The Mercenaries mode is a touch disappointing, and I do wonder if a slightly more consistent balance could have been struck with the ebb and flow from jaw-clenching moments of tension to all-out assault, rather than frontloading the story with frights before giving way to a more bullet-riddled back half. Even so, from my first trembling steps into its shadows all the way to the tremendous, titan-sized takedown at its climax, Resident Evil Requiem kept me completely absorbed and consistently entertained whether it was all hair-raising or all guns blazing. -- Tristan Ogilvie
Reanimal
From our review: Remember this, Reanimal says as it shows you something. All the pieces matter. It is a horror story, a journey through hell made up of the simple, elegant gameplay that Tarsier has honed to a feather's edge over the last decade. There are occasional frustrations: a chase where the way forward is not obvious, a path that is easy to miss. What will keep you going is the story, the world, the characters, the sense that beyond all of this lies answers, the act of working together in a world where the scariest things are often not monsters, but other people, and what we are capable of inflicting on one another. What kept me going was playing it with another person, sharing that experience, and working together to discover what was at the bottom of that hole, and how that boy ended up in a boat, and his sister nearly drowned at sea. Going through hell together, wondering if it was something that happened to them, or the world they – we – had made. -- Will Borger
Mewgenics
From our review: More than once, I've looked up from playing Mewgenics and realized that it's 1:30AM. It's that kind of tactical turn-based roguelike, where every new run with a new set of mutant feline adventurers is full of potential for something you didn't know could happen, even after dozens of hours of runs. Maybe you'll earn a new ability for a character class you've used many times, or see some new devious enemies that never appeared in a zone before, or you'll get a new piece of gear that completely upends the rules and chaos will ensue. You'll definitely see something hilariously gross. There will almost certainly be times you'll be sent back to your house with your tail between your legs and have to breed a new batch of cats to avenge their mulched predecessors, but you'll do it to the tune of some outstanding original songs. -- Dan Stapleton
Nioh 3
From our review: Even in a genre that’s become as saturated as the soulslike, there’s still nothing that hits quite like the Nioh series, and Nioh 3 stands out as the best of the trilogy. The move to an open world structure isn’t perfect, but the rewarding exploration, gorgeous landscapes, and thrilling optional boss battles mostly cover any minor issues. Strap on top of that best-in-class combat, hugely customizable build crafting, a lengthy campaign with a deep New Game+ mode where the loot system actually shines, and a godsend of an auto-equip feature before you get there, and you’ve got yet another Team Ninja banger that sits at the top of the soulslike genre. -- Mitchell Saltzman
Cairn
From our review: Cairn would mean nothing without the journey, without the climb, without the moments where I faced everything Kami had to throw at me, from sheer cliffs to bad weather to climbing at night. Each time I was close to the top, I discovered the peak was farther off. And each time, I would tape up Aava’s hands, cook whatever I had, and keep going. I knew what she could handle, what she needed, how strong her grip would be, where I could take my chances. My reward was always something wondrous, and by the end I was as attuned to Aava’s body as my own. But what I’ll remember is the story of the mountain and the people on it. I’ll remember the climb. I’ll remember Aava. Kami asks Aava two questions: “Who are you? Why are you here?” Her answers are simple: “I’m a climber. I came here to live.” And through her, so could I. -- Will Borger
Review Score: 10 (“Masterpiece”)
Simply put: this is our highest recommendation. There’s no such thing as a truly perfect game, but those that earn a Masterpiece label from IGN come as close as we could reasonably hope for. These are classics in the making that we hope and expect will influence game design for years to come, as other developers learn from their shining examples.
Mina the Hollower
From our review: Mina the Hollower will burrow into your brain and set up a cozy little house there. I couldn’t let it go: Clues to unsolved puzzles pop into my brain before bed; a corner high out of reach that I never set foot on beckons me every time I pass it on my way to the shops in Ossex; the math tells me maxing out my attack power would just take one really good grinding spot, and then I could beat that secret boss that destroyed me. Mina achieves the same heights in both action and style that its impressive inspirations – Zelda, Castlevania, and FromSoft RPGs – reach on a regular basis, and with far fewer resources. Even if all you’ve played is Breath of the Wild and Elden Ring, don’t let the retro look fool you: Mina the Hollower will scratch the same itch, with an open world that’s crammed with mysteries worth finding and lively, clever combat I couldn’t get enough of. It’s a big game in a small package, and an absolute masterpiece of an adventure. -- Samuel Claiborn
Forza Horizon 6
From our review: Technically, Forza Horizon 6 has not skipped a beat, and it runs like a titan. Aesthetically, it’s the best-looking and best-sounding game Playground has produced to date, set in the most wonderfully realised map it’s ever crafted – full of dense, authentic details and stunning driving roads. It’s rewarding to explore, the campaign is well-paced with a great payoff, and I simply cannot stop playing. I’ll always concede Forza Horizon 3 may forever be my favourite open-world racer, because who doesn’t love driving around their own backyard, but make no mistake: Forza Horizon 6 is unequivocally the best. The new standard in open-world racing is here, and it’s a gundamn masterpiece. -- Luke Reilly
Mixtape
From our review: Nostalgia is a bittersweet feeling, but one we can’t help but fall into the clutches of, whether by choice or not. It's a sensation immaculately captured by Mixtape, a soulful journey that creates new memories you've felt like you've had for years at every turn. Each song choice is perfectly matched to the novel vignette it backs, delivering a new fleeting joy with every chapter as surprising gameplay twists are woven throughout its funny, yet touching campaign. A musical delight from start to finish, Mixtape sets a new standard for coming-of-age stories in video games and does so with a masterful sense of style. -- Simon Cardy
