Games worth
the hours.

Critic score 90. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.

Audience score 94. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.

A small studio's breakout. No track record yet, which the score accounts for.

Tied for the year's highest score in press roundups and called 2026's sleeper hit.

Critic score 87. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.

Audience score 83. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.

From the studio behind the modern Hitman trilogy.

Passed 4 million copies, a record launch for the studio.

Critic score 88. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.

Audience score 82. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.

Edmund McMillen made The Binding of Isaac and Super Meat Boy, and co-creator Tyler Glaiel worked with him on The End Is Nigh.

Co-creator Tyler Glaiel said it sold 1 million copies in its first week, and it peaked at 115,428 players at once on Steam.

Critic score 86. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.

Audience score 86. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.

Capcom's recent run (Resident Evil, Monster Hunter) revives a series dormant for 20 years.

Sold 1M copies in 24 hours, per Capcom.

Critic score 85. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.

Audience score 87. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.

A brand-new series, from the publisher on the best run in games right now.

Sold 1 million in two days and 2.5 million in about three months.

Critic score 86. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.

Audience score 81. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.

Capcom's Stories spin-offs are well liked, and Monster Hunter Stories 2 sold 2.5 million copies.

It peaked at 54,778 players at once on Steam, a record for the Stories series and about 20,000 more than Stories 2, though Capcom has not announced sales.

Critic score 83. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.

Audience score 83. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.

TT Games has made LEGO games for two decades, including The Skywalker Saga and the earlier LEGO Batman games.

Analyst Rhys Elliott estimated 1.2 million copies sold and $83 million in revenue in its first days, though Warner Bros. has not confirmed a number.

Critic score 87. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.

Audience score 78. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.

From the studio behind Returnal, and its highest-rated game so far.

No sales numbers announced yet, and players rate it lower than critics.

Critic score 86. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.

Audience score 78. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.

Third in a series that has only gotten better, from the studio behind Ninja Gaiden.

Passed 1 million copies, a sales record for the series. Players are cooler on it than critics.

Critic score 85. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.

Audience score 80. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.

Arc System Works is one of the best fighting game studios, with Guilty Gear, BlazBlue and Dragon Ball FighterZ behind it.

An Alinea Analytics estimate put first week sales at 485,000 copies on PS5 and Steam, with no official number from Sony.

Critic score 86. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.

Audience score 81. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.

The Game Bakers is a small indie studio known for Furi and Haven.

The studio announced on March 26, 2026 that Cairn had sold more than 500,000 copies.

Critic score 83. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.

Audience score 83. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.

Founded by core developers of The Witcher 3.

1M copies in about three days. Good reviews, but not great yet.

Critic score 85. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.

Audience score 79. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.

Made by veterans of the modern XCOM games.

Best-reviewed Star Wars game in 22 years, but reports of studio furloughs make the long run unclear.

Critic score 83. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.

Audience score 77. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.

Dragon Quest is a series with over 100 million sales, and HexaDrive is an experienced remake and port studio.

It sold 456,552 physical copies in Japan in its first week across Switch, Switch 2 and PS5.

Critic score 77. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.

Audience score 87. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.

The studio's first single-player game, after the MMO Black Desert.

Players love it more than critics, and it passed 6 million copies with DLC on the way.

Critic score 81. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.

Audience score 57. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.

Bungie made Halo and Destiny, but this is its first extraction shooter.

It peaked at 88,337 players at once on Steam at launch but has since lost more than 96% of that, even with analyst estimates of about 1.5 million sold by late May.

Critic score 76. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.

Audience score 74. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.

Camelot has made Mario tennis and golf games since the 1990s, and the series is steady rather than great.

Nintendo left it out of its May 2026 financial report, which lists only games past 1 million copies, so it had not reached that mark.

Critic score 74. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.

Audience score 62. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.

Ryu ga Gotoku has a long, strong record with the Yakuza and Like a Dragon series.

Sega has not announced sales, and it peaked at only 8,263 players at once on Steam in its launch month.