2025 is coming to a close, and 2026 is right around the corner. Usually,y at times like these, people talk about upcoming Xbox games they're looking to play in 2025 or further down the line, like the ones announced at The Game Awards 2025.
However, I've realized something recently. Newer games are becoming more and more expensive these days, and oftentimes, they launch in sub-optimal conditions that require months, or even an entire year's worth of patches to fix (I'm looking at you Monster Hunter Wilds).
The Divinity Original Sin series
When I was younger, I was never really interested in CRPGs due to how complicated they were. But that all changed after playing and immensely enjoying Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, so I'm planning on playing more of them in the future.
The first CRPGs in my backlog I wish to tackle are the Divinity Original Sin games after seeing Larian Studio's grand and gruesomely dark reveal of its next Divinity game at The Game Awards 2025.
Divinity Original Sin 1 and 2 are turn-based CRPGs set in the fantasy world of Rivellon and have the players embark on epic and insane adventures where they must save the land from evil mages, demons, and potential cosmic horrors.
The first game, released in 2014, was critically acclaimed at the time for its complex combat system, where you had to manipulate the environment in creative ways (like covering areas in water then using thunder spells to electrocute entire hordes, for example) to achieve victory, and limitless character class customization.
It also featured complex moral choices that can take the story in wild directions, and a two-player co-op mode where players can fight each other in Rock-Paper-Scissors style mini-games to settle who gets to make their morality choice.
Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition is available for purchase on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC via Windows, Steam, or GOG.
Divinity: Original Sin 2, released in 2017, improved upon the foundations of the first Divinity: Original Sin while adding tons more features that would set the gameplay groundwork for Larian Studios' award-winning hit, Baldur's Gate 3.
You can play one of six pre-made Origin characters with unique backstories and questlines, or create your own hero that's either a Human, Lizard, Elf, Dwarf, or Undead.
In addition, you have greater degrees of player freedom when it comes to player choice (like killing any NPCs without fear of soft-locking your progress), more skills and spells to dominate the battlefield with, and the ability to play in 4-player online or offline split-screen co-op.
There's even a Game Master Mode where a player can create their very own campaign and have players download and challenge them.
On top of that, Divinity: Original Sin 2 recently received an Xbox Series X|S 60FPS Upgrade Update, which allows owners of the Xbox One version to upgrade it to the Xbox Series X|S version for free.
Divinity Original Sin 2 is available for purchase on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC via Windows, Steam, or GOG.
Baldur's Gate 3
This is going to come as a major shock, but I haven't played Baldur's Gate 3 yet.
This is because it was stuck in early access for what felt like ages. When it finally did come out, it was constantly receiving performance and content patches that radically changed the game, so I decided to wait until it was completely finished.
Now that Larian Studios has moved on from Baldur's Gate 3 and has a ton of mods available for it, I'd say it's now the time to play it.
For those unaware, Baldur's Gate 3 is the long-awaited continuation of the Baldur's Gate CRPG series, originally headed by BioWare of Mass Effect fame.
You play as one of several Origin characters or a custom-made character on a quest to save the titular town of Baldur's Gate from being invaded by horrifying creatures known as Illithid while racing to find a cure to remove parasites the Illithid have planted into your brain before they consume you.
This game earned a perfect 5/5 review score from our Diablo 4-lover, Jennifer Young, won the Best Game award at the BAFTAs, and won several awards (including GOTY) at The Game Awards 2023 for its deep, rich storylines, well-written characters, and gameplay systems that perfectly adapted the ruleset of Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition in videogame form.
Not to mention, Baldur's Gate features an insane level of character creation, sublime quality voice acting, and an intricate turn-based combat system that rewards tactical play, and endless replay value thanks to its gargantuan myriad of dialogue choices and character build potential.
Baldur's Gate 3 is available for purchase on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC via Windows, Steam, or GOG.
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
After loving Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, I'm curious to see what Owlcat Games' previous games are like while I wait for the release of their next big WH40K project, Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy, by checking out Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous.
For over a hundred years, the mortal realms have invaded by demons pouring out of a gaping rift in reality known as the Worldwound, and the demons are slowly winning.
Will you help lead the crusade to fight back against these demons or turn to darker paths for your own benefits?
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is an immensely dense game backed with mountains upon mountains of character class customization, a combat system that can be freely switched between turn-based or real-time-with-pause depending on the player's preference, and a novel's worth of intriguing dialogue choices that take the story in insane directions.
There's also a tactical-army management system, over ten companions with compelling personalities and questlines to explore, and several Mythic Paths to travel upon that will ascend your character into godhood.
As someone who played the actual Pathfinder tabletop RPG in their youth, I can't wait to see how Owlcat Games has adapted it in video game form.
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is available for purchase on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC via Windows, Steam, or GOG.
The Hollow Knight series
Time to confess another gaming mishap I've made; I've never played the Hollow Knight games, which is shocking because it combines two of my favorite genres, Metroidvanias and Soulslikes.
However, around the time the original Hollow Knight came out, Monster Hunter: World had consumed my life to the point where I wouldn't play any other game for several years.
With the release of Hollow Knight: Silksong and the announcement of a free DLC expansion for it, I'd figured it was about time I finally gave the Hollow Knight series its due and see how they have earned so much love and praise over the years.
If you're like me and never played it, the Hollow Knight games are sidescrollers that combine the complex exploration gameplay of Metroid or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night with the dark atmosphere, gothic aesthetic, and brutal difficulty of Soulslikes like Elden Ring or Dark Souls.
These games are universally praised for their gorgeous hand-drawn 2D artstyle, compelling settings packed with intriguing lore, and addictive gameplay that's perfectly paced and packed with enough content to keep you hooked for months.
As someone who grew up playing Super Metroid and is a rookie Soulslike player, I can't wait to finally dive into the world of Hollow Knight in 2026.
Hollow Knight and Hollow Knight: Silksong are available for purchase at Xbox, PlayStation, and PC via Windows, Steam, and GOG.
Ninja Gaiden series
When I was a kid, I actively stayed away from the Ninja Gaiden games because of how notoriously hard they were, which would've sent my impatient, childish, past-self into uncontrollable fits of rage.
Now that I'm a more patient and skilled adult, craving for thrilling challenges, it's time I went back to conquer my childhood fears, especially after playing and loving Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound and Ninja Gaiden 4.
The Ninja Gaiden franchise has been around since the 1980's, pitting players against insurmountable odds as the master ninja, Ryu Hayabusa.
Whether it's old-school 2D platformers on the NES or the modern 3D hack-and-slash titles by Team Ninja, the Ninja Gaiden series kept players coming back for their insane combat systems, over-the-top boss fights, and teeth-grinding difficulty that did not hold players' hands and rewarded those who stared death in the face.
The older NES games are more challenging to acquire these days, but the older 3D games like the Ninja Gaiden Sigma series are available on PlayStation and PC via Steam, and the Ninja Gaiden Black games, like Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, are available onWindows PC and Xbox.
Control
One of the intriguing announcements that caught my eye was the reveal of Control: Resonant, a sequel to Remedy's critically acclaimed Control.
As someone who hasn't played a single one of Remedy's games, I had no clue about the plot Control: Resonant was following up on, but I was hooked on the bizarre visuals and superhero-esque combat system shown in the trailer.
As a result, I'm going to give the original Control a go in 2026 to see what on Earth is going on (and potentially Alan Wake 2 as I've heard that its DLC expansion is relevant to the story).
The original Control from 2019 is an action-adventure game where you play as a woman named Jesse Faden.
While searching for her missing brother, Jesse's travels take her to the heart of a secret organization called the Federal Bureau of Control, which is being ripped apart by a supernatural phenomenon that you have to stop from destroying humanity.
Control was praised for its strange yet compelling story, haunting visuals, and fun combat system that mixed gunplay with superpowered mayhem, so I'm looking forward to seeing if it lives up to hype in 2026.
Control is available for purchase on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC via Windows and Steam.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine series
![Warhammer 40k Space Marine Master Crafted Edition [Announce] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/MpYyzhLwfrY/maxresdefault.jpg)
Here comes another "I can't believe this guy hasn't played this" moment from me, as I haven't played the Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine series despite my love for the Warhammer 40,000 franchise.
This is mainly because they focus on the Ultramarines Chapter of the Space Marine faction as protagonists, which I'm not too interested in compared to other factions like the battle-hungry Orks, techno-zealot Adeptus Mechanicus, demonic Chaos Marines, or the psychotic Dark Eldar.
Plus, by the time Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 came out, I was more invested in Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader and the retro-inspired boomer-shooter, Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun.
However, after seeing how awesome Ultramarines can truly be through their Secret Level shortfilm on Amazon Prime, I'm going to redeem myself by going through both Space Marine games in 2026, especially now that the original Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine has been remastered.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 1 and 2 are third-person shooters that follow the trials and tribulations of Titus, a hardened veteran of the Ultramarines Space Marine Chapter.
While the first game was considered a cult classic, its sequel became a mega-hit that improved upon its gunplay and gameplay content in every way while raising the bar for Warhammer 40,000 games in general.
My fellow WH40K fanatic, Samuel Tolbert, even gave Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 a 4/5 Star Review for its highly detailed graphics, visceral combat system, challenging battles where you faced hundreds of enemies at once, stellar audio design, and robust co-op mode that's still receiving free updates as we speak.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Re-Crafted and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 are available for purchase on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC via Windows and Steam.
Age of Mythology: Retold
When I was a little kid, I would sometimes have a go at real-time strategy games my family would play, despite my being absolutely terrible at them, like StarCraft, Warcraft 3, Age of Empires, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, and Age of Mythology.
I have fond memories of playing the single-player campaign where the Atlantean hero, Arkantos, would travel the world with an army to defeat evil villains and monsters based on Greek, Viking, and Egyptian myths.
So imagine my rush of nostalgia when Age of Mythology was finally getting remastered as Age of Mythology: Retold, with newly improved graphics, console controller compatibility, quality-of-life improvements, and DLC expansions.
After playing turn-based tactical games for so long, I think it's time I returned to my roots and learned how to play RTS properly this time, as I'm craving to relive my childhood in 2026 with Age of Mythology: Retold.
Age of Mythology: Retold is available for purchase on Xbox and PC via Windows and Steam.
Are there any games in your backlog you haven't played yet but plan to finally visit in 2026? If so, let us know in the comments section below.
FAQ
Are any of these games available on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate?
Hollow Knight (Voidheart Edition), Hollow Knight: Silksong, Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, Control: Ultimate Edition, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Master Crafted Edition, and Age of Mythology: Retold are available on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
Do any of these games support Xbox Play Anywhere?
Hollow Knight (Voidheart Edition), Hollow Knight: Silksong, Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Master Crafted Edition, and Age of Mythology: Retold support Xbox Play Anywhere, meaning buying it on Xbox consoles will grant you access to its Windows PC version for free.
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