In the first half of 2026, the gaming world has organized itself around two distinct philosophies of creation and release — the polished blockbuster and the evolving early-access work-in-progress. Resident Evil Requiem and Crimson Desert arrived as complete cultural events, while Slay the Spire 2 and Subnautica 2 invited players into something still becoming itself. NPR's gaming staff, surveying the year's midpoint, find in these four titles not just the best games of the moment, but a portrait of an industry still honestly reckoning with how it wants to meet its audience.
NPR's Best Games of 2026: Resident Evil Requiem and Crimson Desert Lead the Pack
Players willing to invest in games still becoming what they will be
Mark
Why do you think these four games specifically captured the moment in the first half of 2026?
Mimi
They arrived at the right time, but also with something to say. Resident Evil Requiem and Crimson Desert felt like statements—major releases with resources behind them. But Slay the Spire 2 and Subnautica 2 tapped into something else: the idea that players want to be part of the process.
Mark
Is there tension between those two approaches?
Mimi
Not really tension so much as different conversations. The blockbusters ask you to experience their vision. The early-access games ask you to help build it. Both work, but they ask different things of the player.
Mark
What does it say about the industry that early-access sequels are competing with finished blockbusters?
Mimi
It says the industry is less certain about what players want. Or maybe more honest about it. Early access lets you test ideas in public. It's riskier, but it also builds community in a way that waiting for a finished product doesn't.
Mark
Do you think this trend continues?
Mimi
I think it has to. The cost of making games keeps rising. Early access lets you fund development while you're building. It's practical, but it's also become something players actually prefer—they like having a voice in what gets made.
Mark
What about the players who just want a finished game?
Mimi
They still have Resident Evil Requiem and Crimson Desert. The market is big enough for both. The question is whether that stays true as more studios try the early-access model.
The Pulse
- Resident Evil Requiem and Crimson Desert landed as the year's dominant forces, generating millions of hours of play and driving the cultural conversation about where big-budget gaming is headed.
- Early-access sequels Slay the Spire 2 and Subnautica 2 complicated the narrative by arriving unfinished — and finding audiences just as passionate as those playing complete releases.
- The tension between these two models — one asking players to wait for perfection, the other asking them to help build it — has become the defining friction of 2026's gaming landscape.
- Player appetite for both approaches has proven robust, suggesting the industry doesn't face a binary choice but rather a broadening spectrum of how games can reach the people who love them.
- As the year's second half begins, these four titles collectively signal that gaming remains a medium in active experimentation, still discovering what works and for whom.
In the first half of 2026, the gaming world has organized itself around two distinct philosophies of creation and release — the polished blockbuster and the evolving early-access work-in-progress. Resident Evil Requiem and Crimson Desert arrived as complete cultural events, while Slay the Spire 2 and Subnautica 2 invited players into something still becoming itself. NPR's gaming staff, surveying the year's midpoint, find in these four titles not just the best games of the moment, but a portrait of an industry still honestly reckoning with how it wants to meet its audience.
The first half of 2026 has been defined by a handful of games that managed to cut through and matter — and by the two very different ways they chose to arrive.
Resident Evil Requiem and Crimson Desert came as the year's heavyweight releases: fully formed, polished, and immediately dominant. They drove the conversations people were having at work and online, accumulated staggering player hours, and cemented themselves as cultural moments in the way only a certain kind of blockbuster can. Each also carried the weight of franchise expectation, and each, by most measures, delivered.
But running alongside these titans was a quieter, stranger story. Slay the Spire 2 and Subnautica 2 launched in early access — meaning they arrived incomplete, still being built in real time, with players invited not just to experience them but to help shape what they would become. The model has grown increasingly central to how the industry operates, and these two sequels demonstrated why: their audiences proved just as engaged, just as invested, as those playing finished products.
The contrast illuminates something real about where gaming stands. The blockbuster asks for patience up front, then delivers a complete vision. Early access asks for a different kind of patience — the willingness to inhabit something unfinished and watch it grow. Both have found success. Both have found devoted communities.
Taken together, these four titles sketch the shape of gaming in 2026: a medium still experimenting, still expanding its sense of what a game can be and how it can reach the people who play it.
The first half of 2026 has belonged to a handful of games that managed to cut through the noise and capture the attention of players and critics alike. Resident Evil Requiem and Crimson Desert arrived as the year's heavyweight releases, each drawing millions of hours and shaping conversations about where their respective franchises are headed. But the story of gaming in 2026 isn't only about the big-budget launches that arrive fully formed. Alongside these titans, a different kind of game has been gaining ground: the early-access sequel, a model that invites players into unfinished work and asks them to help shape what comes next.
Resident Evil Requiem represents the latest evolution of a horror franchise that has spent decades reinventing itself. Crimson Desert, meanwhile, arrived as an ambitious action title with its own vision of what a large-scale game could be. Both games dominated the conversation in the months following their release, accumulating the kind of player engagement that translates into cultural moment. They are the games people were talking about at work, the ones that drove sales and streaming viewership, the ones that felt like they mattered.
But something else has been happening in parallel. Slay the Spire 2 and Subnautica 2 both launched in early access, meaning they arrived incomplete, still being built in real time. This model—releasing a game while it's still in development, letting players experience it and offer feedback—has become increasingly central to how the industry works. These two sequels have found audiences just as engaged as those playing the finished products, suggesting that players are willing to invest in games that are still becoming what they will be.
The contrast is instructive. The blockbuster model asks players to wait until a game is ready, then experience it as a complete vision. The early-access model asks for patience of a different kind: the willingness to play something unfinished and watch it evolve. Both approaches have merit. Both have found success in 2026. What's clear is that the gaming landscape has room for both strategies, and that players have appetite for each.
As the year moves forward, these four titles—Resident Evil Requiem, Crimson Desert, Slay the Spire 2, and Subnautica 2—represent the shape of gaming in 2026. They show a medium that is still experimenting with how to reach players, still figuring out what works. The blockbusters will continue to arrive, polished and complete. The early-access games will continue to evolve, shaped by the communities that play them. Both will matter. Both will shape what comes next.
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