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With Forza Horizon 6, Playground Games has finally brought the Horizon Festival to one of the most requested destinations: Japan. It serves as an excellent setting for a Forza Horizon game that’s as gorgeous as ever, with new additions that’ll keep players behind the wheel for hours on end.
After a near four-year hiatus, The Dark Pictures Anthology is back with a creepy new tale. In Directive 8020, Supermassive Games leans on classic sci-fi horror concepts as it delivers one of the series’ most polished entries.
Coming-of-age films have been a mainstay since they first emerged over five decades ago. I attribute this to the universal experience of growing up and all the mixed emotions and bittersweetness that come with it. With Mixtape, Beethoven and Dinosaur weave a coming-of-age story that’s bolstered by a killer soundtrack, stunning artwork, and moments that’ll take you back to when life was just a little simpler.
In Xbox’s sea of acquired game studios, Double Fine Productions has emerged as one of its most unique. A studio always excited to offer something new, Double Fine’s latest game, Kiln, is about possessed pottery doing battle.
Recent years have seen Don’t Nod Entertainment make a more concerted effort to create games that offer a more enriching gameplay experience in addition to its trademark narrative design. The studio’s newest title, Aphelion, falls short of delivering compelling gameplay, but its story and characters are a strong suit.
With 2021’s Returnal, Housemarque reintroduced itself as a studio ready to shake up the modern AAA landscape. Returnal instantly placed them on my shortlist of studios to watch, its balance of traditional action and roguelite elements making for a challenging sci-fi experience like no other. Five years and one PlayStation acquisition later, Housemarque has returned to the world of sci-fi bullet hells with Saros, a game that smartly iterates on its spiritual predecessor.
Capcom’s busy start to 2026 continues with Pragmata, a fresh story that’s grounded in the developer’s favorite tropes and themes. With an emotionally compelling story wrapped around satisfying gameplay, Pragmata will undoubtedly go down as one of the year’s best games.
The annualized nature of sports video games means that there’s a lot carried over between games, and it’s only every few years that fans notice major improvements or changes. With MLB The Show 26, San Diego Studio is getting dangerously close to creating another frustrating annualized sports franchise, but there’s still plenty of fun to be had here.
John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando, as the name implies, looks to put a unique spin on the zombie genre with the help of one of horror’s greatest directors. While it doesn’t do much to separate itself from what came before, there’s fun to be had in Toxic Commando, especially if you’ve got some friends to play it with.
Mario Tennis Fever kicks off the Switch 2 era of Mario sports games with a fresh take on the long-running series. This time, Fever Rackets are the hot new feature, spicing up gameplay with unique effects that can be dealt to either side of the court. Beneath all that, though, is a competent tennis game with plenty of variation and a high skill ceiling.