Game Releases This Week — January 26, 2026 to January 30, 2026

You'd be forgiven for thinking it was the classically busy February already and not the last week of January with how stacked the slate of game releases this week is. As January 2026 draws to a close, we're being treated to the busiest release week of the year so far, kicking off with exciting new hero shooter Highguard and closing out with the highly anticipated sequel to Code Vein. In between are plenty of indie games and ports to get excited about, including one of 2025's best games making its way to both the Nintendo Switch and the Switch 2 — something that we're going to be seeing a lot of as 2026 rolls on. As exciting as this bunch of game releases is, this is just the tip of the iceberg for what's in store for the rest of the year.

• Release Date — January 26, 2026
• Developer — Wildlight Entertainment
• Publisher — Wildlight Entertainment
• Genre — FPS, Hero Shooter
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S

I know what you're thinking. "Do we really need another hero shooter?" And while conventional wisdom would suggest an emphatic "no", Highguard is a lot more exciting than initial impressions might have suggested. For starters, developer Wildlight Entertainment is made up of veterans from Respawn with experience on fellow hero shooter Apex Legends. If Highguard can capture at least a portion of Apex Legends' satisfying movement and traversal in its gameplay, it'll already be ahead of the pack. But Highguard also has some other bells and whistles that make it an enticing prospect, like its impressively large and open maps and the ability to ride mounts between objectives. Add in the fact that it's free to play, and you have a game that could very well become the next big multiplayer hit.

• Release Date — January 26, 2026
• Developer — Rosday
• Publisher — Rosday
• Genre — Platformer, Roguelike
• Platforms — PC

Even with almost a dozen other great-looking roguelikes releasing just this month alone, Wildling still managed to stand out as one that players shouldn't miss. Instead of an action roguelike or the increasingly popular "survivor-like", Wildling is a puzzle platformer that uses roguelike structure and meta-progression as players make their way through its many deviously designed stages. Imagine Celeste if it were a roguelike, and you're not far off. There's a demo for Wildling currently available on Steam, and it does a great job of giving you just enough of a taste of its finely tuned movement and platforming to where you're left only wanting more.

• Release Date — January 27, 2026
• Developer — Singular Sunshine Studios
• Publisher — Thousand Generation
• Genre — Turn-Based Tactics, Roguelike
• Platforms — PC

Having just recently published the excellent (and underrated) Deep Fringe, Thousand Generation is back once again this week with a new game from studio Singular Sunshine, the similarly tactics-oriented Conquest Tactics. Conquest Tactics is a smaller-scale hex-based turn-based tactical RPG with a roguelike twist in which players pit groups of champions against one another on a relatively small playing field compared to a game like Heroes of Might and Magic or other similar hex-based TRPGs. Outside of battle, players get to make impactful choices that shift the outcome of a particular run, unlocking new storylines, units, and more, adding to the replayability of this tactical roguelike with a compelling dark fantasy aesthetic. Best of all, there's a demo to try before you buy!

• Release Date — January 27, 2026
• Developer — Loric Games
• Publisher — Snail Games
• Genre — Action RPG, Survival
• Platforms — PC

Loric Games' Echoes of Elysium has been a long time coming, and it's finally entering its Early Access period this Tuesday. This open-world action RPG and survival-crafting game has a cool airborne twist in which characters get to jet around the world on makeshift wingsuits before taking to the skies in custom-made airships that they maintain and upgrade through their travels and resource collection. Notably, Echoes of Elysium is being published by Snail Games, the same publisher behind other survival hits like Ark, which bodes well for Echoes of Elysium's future as a game that's supported for years to come. Ahead of the game's official launch, players can download a free airship building tool that will allow them to carry their creations into the full game on the 27th.

• Release Date — January 28, 2026
• Developer — Pugstorm
• Publisher — Fireshine Games
• Genre — Action-Adventure, Sandbox, Survival
• Platforms — Switch 2

Speaking of exciting sandbox crafting and survival games, one of the best to ever do it, Core Keeper, is finally coming to Nintendo Switch 2 this week. The standard Switch version of Core Keeper is a decent port, but with all the new updates to the game and the resources necessary to maintain a stable framerate with all the potential on-screen elements, it's safe to say that Core Keeper will be much better served by a Switch 2 port on more powerful hardware. Plus, Core Keeper is a game that's better when played in multiplayer, which is easier to facilitate on a Switch 2 over an original Switch. If you're a fan of The Legend of Zelda, Minecraft, or Terraria, Core Keeper might be your best bet.

• Release Date — January 28, 2026
• Developer — AdHoc Studio
• Publisher — AdHoc Studio
• Genre — Adventure
• Platforms — Nintendo Switch, Switch 2

Another great game making its way to the Switch 2 this week (and the original Nintendo Switch) is AdHoc Studio's Dispatch, the superhero comedy starring Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul as a disgraced crimefighter who joins a superhero dispatch service. The actual gameplay in Dispatch is pretty thin, all things considered, but the writing, voice-acting, and storytelling are top-notch. Truthfully, if you ever enjoyed any of Telltale Games' classic titles (many of which the developers at AdHoc studio worked on), then you'll find plenty to love about Dispatch. There are multiple different critical choices resulting in different endings, giving you incentive to see every possible outcome through, especially if you connect with the characters and story.

• Release Date — January 28, 2026
• Developer — OneWayTicket Studio
• Publisher — OneWayTicket Studio
• Genre — FPS, Extraction Shooter
• Platforms — PC

After originally planning for a late October launch in 2025, The Midnight Walkers suffered a last-minute delay to January 2026 and is finally arriving this week exclusively for PC. This horror-themed extraction shooter is one that we've had on our radar for quite some time, but the landscape for the genre has changed significantly since it was first unveiled. Whether The Midnight Walkers has what it takes to compete with the likes of ARC Raiders remains to be seen, but it at least has a unique atmosphere and premise to help set it apart from the other extraction shooters out there. There's definitely something to be said for a horror-themed first-person extraction shooter that blends PvP and PvE action, so if it can nail its progression and challenge in a way similar to ARC Raiders, it could be yet another solid addition to the subgenre.

• Release Date — January 29, 2026
• Developer — The Game Bakers
• Publisher — The Game Bakers
• Genre — Adventure, Simulation
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 5

Thursday and Friday this week are absolutely bursting with exciting new releases, with long-awaited meditative climbing simulator Cairn being right at the top of the pile. Since its initial reveal more than a year ago, Cairn has seemed like a one-of-a-kind physics-based climbing simulator, and the public demo that The Game Bakers released last year only served to underscore that point. With legendary climber Alex Honnold having just scaled Taipei 101 and climbing on the minds of the cultural zeitgeist, Cairn's arrival this week couldn't have been better timed, and the game itself does a great job of highlighting the skill, mental fortitude, and physical dexterity required of a climber. It doesn't hurt that the game looks incredible and features some breathtaking visuals and music.

• Release Date — January 29, 2026
• Developer — IntiCreates
• Publisher — IntiCreates
• Genre — RPG, Deckbuilder
• Platforms — Switch 2

Some may be looking at the gameplay photo for Card-en-Ciel and thinking, "Wait a second — that looks like Mega Man Battle Network!" Effectively, that's pretty much exactly what Card-en-Ciel is, albeit with a wholly original cast of characters and story outside the Mega Man IP. Players collect cards that correspond to different character abilities, duking out battles with rivals on competing 3x3 grids in turn-based tactical fashion. Card-en-Ciel has already been out on other platforms for quite some time and is widely regarded as an excellent turn-based tactical RPG, so its arrival on the Switch 2 this week is very welcome. It's honestly the perfect kind of game to play on the go in shorter bursts, too, meaning this version of Card-en-Ciel will feel right at home on Nintendo's newest hardware.

• Release Date — January 29, 2026
• Developer — Funny Fintan Softworks
• Publisher — Kwalee
• Genre — FPS
• Platforms — PC

Anyone who's played the Doom reboot or Mullet Madjack knows that there's something irresistible about a fast-paced FPS that requires players to stay constantly moving, and Don't Stop, Girlypop! is the next game in the "push-forward", movement shooter FPS subgenre to give that gameplay loop a shot. Like the name implies, the goal of Don't Stop, Girlypop! is to keep moving at all costs, otherwise running the risk of slowing down to such a degree that you're overwhelmed by enemies and it becomes nigh-impossible to gain your momentum back. What's most interesting about this title, though, is its early 2000s kawaii aesthetic and unabashedly goofy and lighthearted demeanor, which practically demands a smile on your face as you're shooting, dashing, and sliding around one monster-filled arena to another.

• Release Date — January 29, 2026
• Developer — Rock Square Thunder
• Publisher — Feardemic
• Genre — Survival Horror
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S

Since its demo went live in the last Steam Next Fest of 2025, I Hate This Place has been high atop my wishlist as one of my most anticipated survival horror games, and it's finally arriving this week for all platforms. Based on the comic of the same name, I Hate This Place tells the story of two friends who unwittingly bring about the end of the world through a case of mistaken demon summoning. When one goes missing, the other friend sets out on a quest to both find their missing partner and put a stop to the demonic invasion of Earth, and the gameplay is precisely what you'd expect from a classic third-person survival horror title. Notably, though, I Hate This Place puts a stronger emphasis on the "survival" portion of survival horror, with a robust crafting system not often seen in the genre.

• Release Date — January 30, 2026
• Developer — Bandai Namco Studios
• Publisher — Bandai Namco
• Genre — Action RPG, Soulslike
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S

Arguably the week's biggest and most exciting release is Code Vein II, the sequel to the anime-inspired vampire Soulslike from 2019. Every impression of Code Vein II so far seems to suggest that it's a bigger and better sequel that maintains the best parts of its predecessor while refining and changing the original Code Vein's weaker aspects. The flexibility of the Blood Code system remains intact in Code Vein II, and players now have even more options for how they choose to build out their characters to correspond to the different threats at hand. And for players who felt that the original Code Vein's companions trivialized boss fights, you now have the ability to simply absorb them into your character to get stat buffs during these encounters, rather than having them draw aggro or dish out damage.

• Release Date — January 30, 2026
• Developer — MegaPixel Studio
• Publisher — Forever Entertainment
• Genre — TRPG
• Platforms — PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

The remakes of the original trilogy of Front Mission games have been a mixed bag, with the remake of the original Front Mission largely being a fantastic reimagining of a fourth-generation classic and the second and third games in the series being lower quality by comparison. After an initial release on Switch last year, the remake of Front Mission 3 is heading to PC and other modern platforms this week, and it's hard to recommend it to anyone. On top of butchering one of the original's most engaging and lore-rich aspects (the in-game internet and email system), Front Mission 3 Remake also uses AI for both character portrait generation and voice-acting, practically ruining the art direction and tonality of the excellent PS1 original. If you have the means to play or emulate the original Front Mission 3, there's really no reason to pick up this remake.

• Release Date — January 30, 2026
• Developer — Half Sword Games
• Publisher — Game Seer Publishing
• Genre — Simulation, Physics
• Platforms — PC

The launch of Half Sword this week feels like we're on the precipice of the next great viral PC hit. This physics-based medieval combat simulator is so ridiculously over-the-top that it's almost destined to be popular among streamers, and the multiplayer aspects position it to be a great game to play with friends as you hack and slash your way to victory against your enemies. Things start simply enough with brutal hand-to-hand combat encounters before graduating to swords, pikes, polearms, and more, all of which are guaranteed to cause untold gory damage to enemies and result in some hilarious on-screen antics as Half Sword's physics engine renders everything. Try out the tech demo for yourself or just watch some gameplay to see what's in store.