My Favorite Games 2026
Hopefully this will be the start of a yearly tradition for me. Listed in no particular order, these are the games that loosely released in 2026 that I loved the most with an emphasis on smaller releases (with some notable exceptions)
Games I loved but not reviewed here: 007: First Light, Deadlock, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, Space Warlord Baby Trading Simulator, Titanium Court.
Sun Rot
Matt Ross
Sun Rot is a game deeply ingrained in the Inq28 community. A narrative GM-led skirmish miniatures agnostic game. Where you will travel through 3 boards escorting The Oracle whom is needed to open the portals to the boards and eventually escape the death of the sun.
The rules fit in a single card but what I really stood out for me was how tightly designed the 250+ cards of which you draw one of everytime you succeed in an action agaisnt a 10 minute timer where every tick an event happpens. Magic becomes chaotic and outside the players control, which allowed my sessions to lean toward belief in magic rather than attempting to rule out magic into a hard science which is not something I thought possible in such a satisfying way before. As excarcerbated by the timer, it truly felt like everything was collapsing and my players fully fell into the world of Sun Rot.
Every encounter was deadly, agaisnt a rulebook that knows and explains where it is being vague, I have never been more excited to work on rulings with my players. I am very excited for the future of this game.
I just wish I could get all the cards without paying the full 99 dollars!
Pokopia
Megumi Sawada
Pokemon Pokopia is probably the most popular game in this list, it is the largest franchise in the world. This one is a sequel to the Dragon Quest Builders games. Sitting somewhere between Minecraft, Animal Crossing and a Dragon Quest JRPG. It succeeded in making the towns I was making lived in more than any game I've played.
A large part of the coverage of this game emphasizes how "cozy" this game is, and to a degree yes! it is quite cozy. But it is also one of the most heartfelt stories about community and recovery I've encountered in games. Dragon Quest Buiders 2 was already an incredibly generous game, giving the player thousands of tools to create their town. A very specific set of villager/pokemon requirements elevate your towns beyond sculptures.
We have all seen those gigantic masterpieces people build in Minecraft and that is possible in this game too! But as someone who does not have the time to develop that skill I always wished I had more motivation to create in these games, when I created a large building in Minecraft, it really just felt like that, just a sculpture to be ogled at. Villagers are relegated to farms for their direct mechanical use and almost never make your cities lived in. Pokopia addresses that directly and talks about how we build community for each other in a manner more serious than you would expect if you are not familiar with Dragon Quest storytelling.
This is a game about creating for lived in spaces, in conversation with the people who are to live there. Vernacular Architecture, Generosity and an optimism after disaster. This game made me cry.
Fall 2026 Strategy Jam
Webgoatguy
Now this one has not quite happened yet but it already is something to be on the lookout for and it means you could participate!. It takes a concept that originated in Chicago, The Mystery Tournament, where every round you will be given a new game and have to play your opponent with minimal preparation. This one applies that classic fighting game concept that emphasizes exploration of off-beat systems and applies it to abstract strategy where all the games are wholly new. I am uncertain if it will replicate the magic of its FGC equivalent with local metas quickly developing but I am very excited for the effect it could have in the space, allowing more players to engage in "broken" experiences will always be a good thing to me.
Cataphract
Sam Sorensen
Cataphract is a game I discovered through a friend. I quickly discovered a vast community of practical mega games and much smaller games, both wildly divergent and very close to the source. I have played as a jester, a old judgy cat, a member of FML (Factory Manufacturing Limited.) and now as a mob boss for a news organization in a mecha world. I credit it for opening my eyes to a whole new space I was much less aware of. It is a real time to varying degrees roleplaying wargame about pre-modern war. Mostly played in something approximating real time. I have been involved in some of the most lived in worlds and determined goals ever. I was not in Over/Under, I did not even know about Mothership yet.
Officephracts, Haruspex, Clanaphract, Vanguard, Solar and Rooks as rulesets and settings in the phract space have influenced me greatly. Creators are designing really cool experiences pulling from all sorts of sources. LARP, OSR, Free Kriegspiel, Modern TTRPGS, Mega Games. Hell I have brought my own gonzo influences and designed Trout 1 which was a massive success I am told was very special and influenced others! I am grateful to have gotten to influence the space with my own biases and mechanics and to be received so positively.
I cannot wait to see what else comes from the people creating for this space and I hope others in the space are excited for what I will create for it too. (Afterglow coming soon!). This is one of the spaces I think you should give a shot no matter what
The Majors
regularbird
I have run this game at my fighting game locals 5 times now and it has always been a hit. 3d6 and a deck of cards to play a really accurate and satisfying version of Baseball. This played super lightly and I can see it easily inserted into some LTRPGs in the Cataphract space or simply a game to create for! I am working out a small module for this game that emerged from play with my community.
It is very easy to pick up and probably my new default dice rolling game for the forseeable future.
Hyperfight 2
Studio joh
Hyperfight 2 is my favorite fighting game and maybe game of the year. After Hyperfight came out in 2019 to be called one of the sleekest and cerebral games in the scene, I knew I had to keep tabs on this team. I became aware of the sequel through Andrea "Jens" Demetrio's coverage on Supercombo.com (which if you don't read, you should for the best coverage in indie fighters). It charmed me over Generic Fighter, Maybe with its combination of Guilty Gear +R type movement with extremely inspired kits like Rivals Of Aether.
It effortlessly sits in the middle of a traditional anime fighter with its combo system adding Platform fighter appropriate consequences, all the while it maintains its most unique mechanic.
Your meter is also health bar, you can either win by ring-out, or by filling out your meter and getting that last hit. It is hard to explain over text how intuitive and dynamic this system is but it has quickly become one of my favorite meters in fighting game history. I sincerely hope this game influences more fighting games.
Out of all the games in this list I think this is the one you should try out the most, even if the word "FG" puts you off. It really is quite special.
Trout
Saoirse Asfour
That's right I am pulling a Tim Rogers and putting my own game on this list. My reasons are simple. It played wonderfully and it inspired me to keep creating. Thank you to the players who where there. I suffered burnout for so many years and this made me feel alive as an artist again.