Game of the Year 2026 frontrunners ahead of The Game Awards

The Game Awards 2026 streams live on Thursday, December 10, from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. To be eligible, a game has to be on sale by Friday, November 20, at 9 p.m. PT. The official nominees haven't been announced yet. Last year they arrived on November 17, a few days before the cutoff.

On reviews alone, there is no single runaway favourite this year. Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter, Forza Horizon 6, Mina the Hollower and Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave sit at or near the top of both Metacritic and OpenCritic. Resident Evil Requiem and Pokémon Pokopia are close behind with even bigger review counts. And Grand Theft Auto VI, out on November 19, lands one day inside the cutoff with no reviews yet.

Scores below were taken at the time of writing and are still moving.

When is The Game Awards 2026?

These are the dates that matter, all from the official FAQ unless noted.

Expansions, DLC, remakes and remasters are all eligible across categories, according to Wikipedia's summary of the rules. That matters this year, because several of the highest-scoring 2026 releases are remakes or new editions.

How The Game Awards voting works

The Game Awards isn't a public vote with a jury on the side. It's mostly the other way round.

1. The jury picks the nominees. The FAQ describes "an international jury of over 100 global media and influencer outlets," chosen for their history of reviewing games. Last year's jury had 154 outlets, up from 134 in 2024.
2. Each outlet votes for five. Every jury outlet sends a confidential, unranked ballot with its top five picks in each category. The five games that appear on the most ballots become the nominees. A tie can mean six or more.
3. Winners are a blended vote. The jury counts for 90% of the result and public fan voting for 10%.
4. Some categories have their own juries. Esports, accessibility and best adaptation are judged by specialist panels.

The jury outlets are selected by an advisory committee that includes Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, AMD and several publishers. The committee doesn't nominate or vote.

In practice, the 10% fan share rarely changes much on its own. The nominee list is pure jury, and winners lean heavily on the same critics. So the review scores below are a fair guide to what the jury already thinks. For a refresher on what those numbers mean, see how Metacritic and OpenCritic scores work.

The best-reviewed games of 2026 so far

This table covers new 2026 releases with large review counts on both aggregators. Metacritic shows the Metascore and number of critic reviews. OpenCritic shows the Top Critic Average, the share of critics recommending it, and its total review count.

A few things the table leaves out. Metacritic's 2026 chart is currently led by Sektori (93) and OpenCritic's by Mythmatch (93), both smaller releases. Re-releases also score very well: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Remastered sits at 92 on Metacritic and 91 on OpenCritic, and Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition on Switch 2 is at 90 on Metacritic. They are eligible, but a new game will usually get more attention from jurors than a re-release.

Some of the year's biggest launches sit lower. Saros and Gears of War: E-Day are both at 87 on Metacritic (from 144 and 81 critics). Marvel's Wolverine is at 75 from 153 critics, which likely rules it out of the main category.

The main Game of the Year 2026 contenders

Forza Horizon 6: the most agreed-upon hit

Forza Horizon 6 has the broadest consensus of any big 2026 game: 99% of OpenCritic's 167 reviews recommend it. IGN's Luke Reilly gave it a 10 and called it "the new standard in open-world racing." Game Informer's Brian Shea calls it "one of the greatest racing games of this generation."

The case against it is ambition, not quality. PC Gamer's Phil Savage (84) says it "isn't an ambitious sequel," though its Japan setting is "still a joy to race through." Our Forza Horizon 6 review roundup has the full breakdown.

Mina the Hollower: the indie with the best reviews

Yacht Club Games' gothic action adventure has 133 reviews on OpenCritic and a 97% recommend rate. IGN's Samuel Claiborn (10/10) calls it "an absolute masterpiece of an adventure." GameSpot's Steve Watts says Shovel Knight was a strong debut, but "Mina the Hollower may be its masterpiece."

The dissent is small but specific. Giant Bomb's Mike Minotti (3.5/5) argues that mixing Zelda and Soulslike ideas keeps it from being the best version of either. A debut game won last year, so an indie winning outright isn't far-fetched. See our Mina the Hollower review deep dive.

Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave: Nintendo's strongest candidate

Fortune's Weave pairs a high score with a big sample: 89 from 109 Metacritic critics and 90 on OpenCritic. GameSpot's Steve Watts calls it "a sprawling masterpiece of a strategy RPG." Eurogamer's Dom Peppiatt (5/5) says it "hits the pinnacle of combat design."

Its weak spot is the writing. Giant Bomb's Jeff Grubb says "the only major problem is vacuous writing," and its size can get between you and the tactics. More in our Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave review deep dive.

Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter: top score, smaller sample

Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter has the highest OpenCritic score of the year at 92, with 99% recommending it. Push Square's Robert Ramsey says "direct sequels simply don't get much better." Game Informer's Hayes Madsen (9.5) says it "can stand alongside the genre's greats."

Two things work against it. It's a remake of an older game, and it has far fewer reviews than the other contenders (27 on Metacritic). Shacknews' Lucas White (8/10) calls it "very much an iterative sequel to the first remake." Read our Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter review deep dive.

Resident Evil Requiem: the most reviewed

No 2026 game on this list has more reviews than Resident Evil Requiem: 239 on OpenCritic, 95% recommending it. Game Informer's Wesley LeBlanc (9.8) calls it "my favorite Resident Evil." Eurogamer's Matt Wales (5/5) calls it "a stellar return" for the series' 30th anniversary.

It came out in February, which can be a disadvantage by December. But a large, positive jury of reviewers is exactly what puts a game on five-pick ballots. Our Resident Evil Requiem review deep dive covers why critics praise Grace and debate Leon.

The outside picks: Pokopia, Big Walk, Mewgenics and Phantom Blade Zero

Pokémon Pokopia has a 98% recommend rate from 131 reviews. Eurogamer's Lottie Lynn calls it "one of the best spin-offs the franchise has ever seen," though TheGamer's Stacey Henley found it repetitive early on. Big Walk has the highest Metascore of the group at 91, but from only 30 critics. Mewgenics earned a 10 from Nintendo Life, whose reviewer called it "my favourite game of 2026."

Phantom Blade Zero is the newest arrival, out on October 29. IGN's Travis Northup (9/10) calls it "an unbelievably smooth action game." Eurogamer's Emma Kent (3/5) is the main dissent, citing "balance and quality issues." Its timing is good: jurors will have played it recently.

For more on each, see our deep dives on Pokémon Pokopia, Big Walk and Mewgenics.

Is GTA 6 eligible for Game of the Year?

Yes. Grand Theft Auto VI launches on November 19, 2026, on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, one day before the November 20 cutoff. Insider Gaming confirmed it meets the published eligibility rules. It has already won Most Anticipated Game at The Game Awards in both 2024 and 2025.

Eligible isn't the same as nominated, though. If nominees arrive in mid-November again, the jury will be voting before most people have played it, unless outlets get review copies early. We don't know yet when Rockstar's review embargo lifts. Until reviews land, any GTA VI prediction is a guess. If you're getting ready for it, here's what to play while you wait for GTA 6.

The other late arrival to watch is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on November 5, listed on OpenCritic's upcoming releases. As a remake it's eligible, but it faces the same question as Trails.

So who is the Game of the Year 2026 favourite?

Based on reviews alone, Forza Horizon 6, Mina the Hollower and Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave have the strongest combined case: very high scores, large review counts and few real dissenters. Resident Evil Requiem is the safest bet for a nomination because so many outlets reviewed it well. Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter has the best score, but a smaller sample and a remake label.

The jury needs only five slots per ballot, so a game that's on most critics' shortlists matters more than a game a few critics adore. Expect the nominee list to look a lot like the table above, with one GTA-shaped question mark.

If you want to play the contenders before December 10, a backlog tracker like Perthro makes it easier to line them up and log what you thought of each one.

Sources

• The Game Awards FAQ (date, venue, eligibility, jury, 90/10 voting)
• The Game Awards 2025, Wikipedia (2025 nominee date, 154-outlet jury, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 result)
• The Game Awards 2026, Wikipedia (advisory committee, eligibility of remakes and DLC)
• Grand Theft Auto VI, Wikipedia (release date, platforms, Most Anticipated wins)
• Insider Gaming: GTA 6 is officially eligible for The Game Awards 2026
• Metacritic: best games of 2026
• OpenCritic: best games of 2026
• Metacritic pages: Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter, Forza Horizon 6, Mina the Hollower, Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave, Big Walk, Resident Evil Requiem, Pokémon Pokopia, Mewgenics, Phantom Blade Zero, Saros, Gears of War: E-Day, Marvel's Wolverine
• OpenCritic pages (scores and critic quotes): Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter, Forza Horizon 6, Mina the Hollower, Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave, Big Walk, Resident Evil Requiem, Pokémon Pokopia, Mewgenics, Phantom Blade Zero