The 7 Most-Anticipated Games at Gamescom 2026, the Show's Biggest Year Yet

Polygon RSS Feed✍ Giovanni Colantonio📅 August 23, 2026⏱ 4 min read(about 5 hours ago)

Overview & Key Takeaways

This year’s Gamescom is going to be a significant one, as several big games are already confirmed for the show.

It feels like only yesterday we were drowning in game reveals at Summer Game Fest. Well, it kind of was only yesterday considering that happened back in June, but the summer’s true main event is almost here. Gamescom has slowly transformed into the top dog gaming expo following E3’s demise, thanks in part to its robust public component. (Summer Game Fest’s Play Days event is only open to press and creators.) It’s the summer show to watch, starting with the Opening Night Live showcase, if you love game reveals.

What’s in store for this year’s show? A whole lot! Gamescom has already revealed a ton of games that are set to appear at the show, including some serious heavy hitters. And that’s before taking into account any surprises, of which there are sure to be many based on previous events. Here’s a quick rundown of the seven most-anticipated games at Gamescom 2026.

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation

If you were worried that we wouldn’t see Final Fantasy 7 Revelation for a long time following its Summer Game Fest reveal, you can breathe easy. The upcoming RPG will grace the stage at Opening Night Live, as director Naoki Hamaguchi will reveal more about the trilogy’s grand finale. Fans have also speculated that there may be a playable demo on the show floor, though that has yet to be confirmed. Keep your fingers crossed that we get a firm 2027 release date at the show.

The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past

The Witcher 3 Songs of the Past key art cropped showing Geralt holding a new sword in front of some sort of monster Image: CD Projekt Red

I’m still in disbelief that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, a decade-old RPG, is getting a surprise DLC next year. That was not some fever dream I made up, it turns out, because CD Projekt Red confirmed that it will reveal more about Songs of the Past at Opening Night Live. Of course, that opens a much bigger question: Will we get a new look at The Witcher 4, too? That doesn’t seem too likely, but never count out a teaser.

Fable

Xbox is in desperate need of a win right now following a chaotic summer defined by mass layoffs and studio departures. That means that there’s a whole lot riding on Fable, which was supposed to launch this year but will instead land on Feb. 23. We’ll get to see our first look at live gameplay during the show, which should give us a better sense of how Playground Games’ RPG revival is looking. Microsoft will also bring Gears of War: E-Day, Minecraft Dungeons 2, Alien Isolation 2, and more heavy hitters to the show as it tries to reinvigorate fans.

Metro 2039

After a brief detour into VR, the Metro series is making its grand return in February. Metro 2039 will bring the series’ brand of post-apocalyptic shooting to modern consoles next year. Developer 4A Games will bring the project to Gamescom, and you can expect it to be one of the bigger games on display at the show. The game will even have a dedicated booth on the show floor, complete with hands-on demo stations and photo ops.

Persona 4 Revival

While all eyes are on Persona 6 after its teaser reveal earlier this summer, Persona 4 Revival is just as much of a big deal. The remake looks to follow in Persona 3 Reloaded’s footsteps by giving one of the series’ best games a modernization that brings it in line with Persona 5. We’ll get a fresh glimpse of it during Xbox’s annual Gamescom stream on Aug. 26, so mark your calendar accordingly.

Pony Island 2: Panda Circus

After 2021's fantastic Inscryption, I'll play anything developer Daniel Mullins makes. It's not like I needed that motivation to play his next game, though; I would have lined up for Pony Island 2: Panda Circus even without Inscryption. We know next to nothing about the sequel to Mullin's mystifying cult classic, but that's for the best. The screenshots we have seen are enough to tell us that we're in for another weird, genre-bending game with meta twists in tow. We'll learn more about it at Gamescom, but who knows if that will clear anything up.

Game of Thrones: War for Westeros

It’s kind of wild that we’ve never gotten a big budget Game of Thrones game, but that’s going to be partially rectified next year. Game of Thrones: War for Westeros promises an epic real-time strategy game that focuses on the book and show’s large-scale battles over its interpersonal drama. We’ll finally get to see it in action at Gamescom, where we’ll get a glimpse at its gameplay.

✈ Read Original at Polygon RSS Feed ← Back to All News

More in PlayStation, Xbox, PC, Multi-platform

🖥 PlayStation, Xbox, PC, Multi-platform

Mortal Shell 2’s Latest Update Alleviates One Of The Game’s Biggest Headaches

Developer Cold Symmetry has released its latest souls-like action-RPG, Mortal Shell 2(https://www.gamespot.com/games/mortal-shell-ii/), on August 20 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. And not even a day after launch, the studio already dropped a patch that makes some welcome tweaks, including addressing one of the game's most annoying issues: gold farming. On August 20, Cold Symmetry shared a breakdown on the game's subreddit(https://www.reddit.com/r/MortalShell/comments/1vttz2d/balancepatch1/) and Steam page(https://steamcommunity.com/app/2584270/discussions/0/582805931178489108/) of what Balance Patch 1 does. A welcome adjustment is a refund of the Glimpses--a rare currency used to bond with and unlock memories of your shell--you might've spent to discover a shell's location(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/mortal-shell-2-all-shell-locations/). You get whatever you spent back, and now, instead of costing that rare currency, buying a shell map costs Gloom, this game's version of Runes or Souls. A big change is a nerf to a handful of bosses and enemies. As Cold Symmetry put it, "all enemies featured in the beta were restored to their beta HP values." This means that the starting area of Mortal Shell 2(https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/mortal-shell-2-is-a-fresh-and-exciting-shake-up-of-the-souls-like-formula/) has been tuned down to match what was in the beta, which I found quite easy when compared to the full release. Maybe the most major tweak, however, is an increase to the amount of gold you find now. As a result of this patch, gold drops from enemies have been "significantly increased," especially in the second zone. This lets you upgrade your weapons more often, as gold discovery should be in line with the materials you find everywhere. There are a handful of other changes that came with Balance Patch 1. This includes Tarstones--items that grant passive bonuses or modify melee attacks--and weapons(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/mortal-shell-2-tarforge-weapons-tarstones-upgrades/) getting buffed, addressing crashes and fixing bugs, and reducing the cost to unlevel your weapons via smelting. Balance Patch 1 is available now for PC. There's no release date for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions yet, but Cold Symmetry said it'll arrive on those platforms "shortly." For now, check out the update notes for Balance Patch 1 below. Mortal Shell 2 Balance Patch 1 Economy - Shell map locations now cost Gloom, and we’re refunding any Glimpses spent on shell maps. Refunded Glimpses are found in the Shell Keeper’s alcove in Blackmarrow. “Finding your favorite shell shouldn’t cost you the ability to bond with them.” - Gold drops from enemies have been significantly increased. Notably, enemies in Mammon now drop double the gold. “This brings the gold economy more in line with the weapon crafting item discovery.” - Smelting a weapon at the Tarforge costs 75% less gloom. “Our goal with the smelt capability was to enable switching weapons without the need to spend hours grinding through NG+ runs, but the Gloom costs were set exorbitantly high.” Enemies & Bosses All enemies featured in the beta were restored to their beta HP values, except the Caerinid (Spider) in Magdalena’s area, which we wanted to retain its role as a threatening enemy which doesn’t respawn once defeated. - Bosses - The Lost Child - Base Damage: (-10%) - Max Health: (-15%) - Monolith - Base Damage: (-19%) - Max Health: (-10%) - Some Monolith Attacks were retimed to be more fair, as well. - Enemies - Cultist (mace) - Max Health: (-21.1%) - Caerinid Spider - Max Health: (-33.3%) - Infested Stalker - Max Health: (-52.4%) - Rusted Knave (Halberd) - Max Health: (-20.8%) - Fixed hit detection for overhead strike. Weapons - Great Martyr’s Blade Attack Damage +20% - Troubadour's Lute Attack Damage +100% - Caged Hystrix and Triarch Repeater no longer have minimum resolve requirements to fire. - Improved tracking for Axatana, Black Needle, and Clockwork Scythe light attacks. Seals - Guard can now be used while walking. Tarstones - Parasitic Stone Buffed - Grudge Stone Buffed - Bulwark Stone Damage Reduction Increased Significantly - Clerik's Stone Buffed - Squall Stone Buffed Miscellaneous - Misc. Crash Fixes, Bug Fixes & Performance Updates

🎮 s Latest

GameSpotNews2 days ago

🖥 PlayStation, Xbox, PC, Multi-platform

Mortal Shell 2 Reviews Say It's One of 2026's Best New Soulslikes

Mortal Shell 2 is a hit with critics, as the Soulslike sequel is reviewing much better than its predecessor.

🎮 Mortal Shell 2

PolygonNews6 days ago

🖥 PlayStation, Xbox, PC, Multi-platform

Halo: Campaign Evolved’s Biggest Competition Might Be Halo

Halo Campaign Evolved(https://www.gamespot.com/games/halo-campaign-evolved/) is a celebration of the franchise, but not many people are attending that party. New estimates peg sales at 1.2 million copies sold across PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5 so far, around $67 million in revenue, which isn't the best start for this remake of the original Halo campaign. Also available via Xbox Game Pass, the game is estimated to have 2.1 million players through the subscription service. According to Alinea Analytics' head of market analysis, Rhys Elliott(https://alineaanalytics.substack.com/), there are several reasons for this. Sales are split almost down the middle between Xbox Series X|S and PS5 at 42% and 41%, respectively, while Steam accounts for 17% of sales. This is up from its launch-week sales(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/halo-on-ps5-is-off-to-a-slow-start-expert-says/), but not by much. So what's the reason behind the lukewarm sales of the classic first-person shooter, which has gotten a new coat of paint and some fine-tuning under the gameplay hood? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LimYD3Ycwo As Elliott noted, Halo: Campaign Evolved's biggest competition on PC might be another Halo--specifically, Halo: The Master Chief Collection. The Halo game compilation offers better value for money and includes Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, a 2015 remake that's pretty solid in its own right. Throw in options for multiplayer and more Halo games to the mix, and the $40 price tag makes it a much more tempting offer compared to the $50 required for Halo: Campaign Evolved, which is more barebones in comparison. Shinier graphics, extra co-op missions, and the ability to sprint in that game just aren't enough, it seems. "The price is too high for a port like this one, and the Halo brand--candidly--has lost a lot of cache, Elliot wrote(https://x.com/superhys/status/2087224210296893632). "A lot of Steam users already own Master Chief Collection--8.5 million copies sold on Steam, as per our estimates--which offers more content for less. On PS5, Halo: Campaign Evolved is estimated to have sold 544,000 copies so far, neck and neck with Xbox despite the Sony platform having a larger userbase than its Microsoft rival. Elliot explained that while plenty of PS5 owners jumped in thanks to the nostalgia factor of Halo, sales were driven by an "older, nostalgia-driven crowd" that encompasses players who are roughly 32-40 years old. Many of these people were likely former Xbox 360 owners who had since moved to PlayStation hardware, but the game didn't make a big dent with a "fresh" PlayStation audience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woUnTCVv9JU Shooters, remakes, and legacy-leaning titles still sell well on the platform, as the audience overlap skews heavily toward the late PS2, Xbox 360, and early PS4 eras, Elliot explained. While Halo: Campaign Evolved didn't achieve the same velocity as several other Xbox ports did on PlayStation, bringing the Master Chief Collection with its multiplayer suite to that platform would have "certainly" done better, Elliot wrote. "At the very least, if the rumored Halo 2 remake ships with online multiplayer, it’ll sell a great deal more, assuming it comes to PlayStation at all." The co-creator of Halo and designer of Master Chief, Marcus Lehto, also shared his opinion on the remake recently, saying that he has a few issues(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/halo-co-creator-calls-out-remake-for-pandering-to-new-era-of-players-with-0-attention-span/) with it but is generally happy with how it came out. Following the final update for Halo: Infinite(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/halo-infinites-last-update-arrives-this-month-as-devs-move-to-other-halo-projects/1100-6536070/) in November 2025, Halo Studios has now begun work on new Halo projects.

🎮 Halo

GameSpotNews12 days ago

← Back to GameSky Home