The Witcher 3 is back, remastered and looking lovelier than a Gordon Murray-designed chocolate sundae. Better yet, if you already own the game, it’s a free upgrade. An improbably favorable turn of events, and a reminder that even though the nights are drawing in, gaming in 2026 isn’t done yet.
And we’re not just talking about…y’know, that one. ‘The big one.’ Turns out there are quite a few reasons to circle the calendar in what’s left of the year. These, reader, are they.
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1) The Witcher 3: Remastered—out now
It’s actually quite inconsiderate of Polish RPG maestros CD Projekt to drop this on us right now. 11 years after its release, The Witcher 3 is the kind of seminal title trumpeted by the world and their mate as an all-time classic that you may, actually, have a remote chance of having finished.
And now it’s back. Not just looking phenomenally handsome in a full remaster, but with reworked combat, boss fights...for heaven’s sake, even the inventory system has been improved.
Fine. FINE, guys. We’ll play it all over again. But we’ll be a confusing mix of delighted and furious as we do.
2) Star Wars: Galactic Racer—October 6
Hate sci-fi? Does the Star Wars license function like anti-enjoyment paint on everything it’s smeared over? Doesn’t matter. Fuse Games’ racing epic will still be one of your games of the year.
Because even if you can’t discern Luke Skywalker from Luke Shaw, the brilliantly fresh roguelike approach to a racing game in this cinematic feast of going far too fast will keep you engaged.
RNG is usually anathema in racing. We want a level playing field, so that skill decides results. But this game does such a good job of letting you build up strange combinations of parts, with stat buff values you can use to exploit the field; you’ll forget all about that post you wrote complaining about tyre temperatures on the Assetto Corsa Competizione forums.
3) Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve—October 8
Ace Combat, you’ll remember, is the long-running combat flight sim series that doesn’t require you to study a degree in aeronautical engineering—with Hons—in order to enjoy. The flight model’s zippy and arcadey, leaving you some brain power to enjoy its preposterous story, grand set-pieces and prototype weaponry straight out of a cheese dream.
Number eight looks like all of those core values, but prettier. We might even learn what a Theve is, but don’t count on it.
4) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time—November 5
Oh, come on now—are there any role-playing games we’ve finished in the last 30 years that we can safely keep on the ‘ticked them off’ list? Apparently not, because those dastardly, brilliant people at Nintendo have brought back the N64’s premier adventuring experience in 2026-o-vision for the Switch 2.
It’s fair to say that in the intervening three decades since it first released, graphics and game design have somewhat changed. As such, this one isn’t a frame-by-frame remake but a reimagining with some artistic licensing deployed, and an art style that veers away from the painterly Breath of the Wild aesthetic and stays closer to the original’s look, albeit with countless times more detail.
5) Grand Theft Auto 6—November 19
You saw the reveal trailer. You’ve been got by the spurious clickbait articles about it for two years straight. Finally, you got to watch 27 minutes of impossibly polished, detailed, sweary gameplay, felt your heart rate gradually stabilise again, and now you’re ready.
But GTA 6 isn’t. Not quite. November 19. It’ll be worth it.
6) Football Manager 27—November
While the entire games industry is keeping a polite distance from GTA 6 so as not to get caught up in its planet-swallowing gravitational pull, Football Manager 27 couldn’t care less. It’s coming out in November, and it hasn’t set an exact date yet. Might be when GTA comes out, might not. It’s banking on you still having an overwhelming urge to get York City playing Premier League football whenever it arrives.
And its confidence is well-placed. Last year was a tough relegation battle for the series as it wrestled its new UI into match fitness, but this veteran series is never off form for long. There’s a reason real clubs use its database as a bona fide scouting tool. There’s also a reason you played 4,000 hours of it at uni instead of talking to girls. And those qualities haven’t gone away in FM 27.
7) Rayman Legends Retold—December 6
Before the year’s out, a chance to reconnect with your warm, fuzzy PlayStation 1 memories. Everyone’s favorite limbless, er—hang on, what even is Rayman? Has anyone got to the bottom of that?—anyway, he’s back with a remaster of his most painterly and inventive platformer to date.
Originally released in 2013, Legends introduced a watercolour visual style and an endless stream of new ideas that made platforming feel young and vital again; here it’s been treated to a new story, co-op play, and yet another visual overhaul that does away with that watercolour visual style.
Still, it looks nice. And in the eternal darkness of the hyperconsumerist hinterland that is early December, we’ll all need those bright colors. Thanks for thinking of that, Ubisoft.
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
