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Summer Game Fest 2026 is underway, and the main event is still to come. Everything announced at the State of Play on Tuesday (June 2) has given us plenty of surprises to chew on – chief among them God of War Laufey – and on Friday (June 5) we'll see hosts Geoff Keighley and Lucy James take the stage for Summer Game Fest itself.
While we've been promised "world premiere reveals," Keighley has played coy with what we can expect to see. Is the secrecy in service to a GTA 6 appearance at SGF? We can dream! But there are a number of games more likely to appear on Friday's stream, and while our wildcard wishlist details our team's far-out fantasies, here I've stuck to the titles that wouldn't be as surprising to see.
5. Metro 2039
Metro 2039's announcement in April remains one of my favorite surprises of 2026, and better yet, the gritty shooter is marked to launch this winter. But that leaves precious little time for developer 4A Games to get this train moving, as an exact release date is yet to be announced – and most new games this year are desperately trying to avoid clashing with GTA 6's November launch.
Because of this, Metro 2039 seems like a shoe-in for an SGF 2026 spot. It would be brilliant to see a longer cut of gameplay in comparison to the snippets teased in April, and more importantly, get a release date. Part of me wonders if this year will prove too crowded for Metro, but the other – increasingly louder – side says there's rarely an optimal time to launch games nowadays. Either way, Metro is a series I'll turn up for any day of the year, and my colleague's coverage of the game's reveal suggests I'll be right to do so.
4. The Blood of Dawnwalker
Upcoming RPG The Blood of Dawnwalker is doing all the right things for me, with developer Rebel Wolves promising an open-world that doesn't stand still. We'll be playing a vampire hybrid who has just 30 days and nights to save his family, with time moving forward as we interact with the world. With an emphasis on choice and consequence that can be traced to the team's experience making The Witcher 3, The Blood of Dawnwalker has potential to be a boundary-pushing RPG.
SGF is likely to give The Blood of Dawnwalker a huge push in the run-up to launch, with the platform capable of reaching RPG fans who haven't followed the game's development over the years. The likes of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Baldur's Gate 3 proves there's always a market for truly ambitious RPGs to thrive, and if The Blood of Dawnwalker can show how its bold ideas come together in practice at SGF, it's going to bear down on September with a lot of momentum.
3. Alien Isolation 2
No thank you! I'm sure Sega would love to reveal Alien Isolation 2 at SGF, given teasers have been rumbling through the vents since April, but after lasting a whopping two hours in the original Alien Isolation, I'll speak for the room and decline. Kidding: I couldn't stomach being hunted by a xenomorph, but that's a testament to its cunning AI programming – and against my better judgement, I can't wait to see what fresh dread Creative Assembly has churned out this time around.
Given how little we know about the sequel, Alien Isolation 2 is a bit of a wildcard in that an SGF slot could mean anything. Will it carry on from the first game, or pick up somewhere else in the Alien universe? Is it too soon to hope for gameplay? Will our Guides Editor's dreams come true? Time and Geoff Keighley will tell.
2. Witchbrook
I've never gone looking for games like Stardew Valley before, chiefly because I turn straight to Stardew Valley when the urge for carefree fantasy comes upon me. But Witchbrook, a slice-of-life sim set in a seaside wizarding community, is likely to win me away from yet another trip to Pelican Town when it launches later this year.
A decade on from Witchbrook's reveal, and its idyllic day-to-day routine – attending class at Witchbrook College while making a life for yourself in Mossport – still sounds as enchanting as it did in 2016. But at risk of sounding like a broken record, Witchbrook is another game which should lock in a firm release date soon if it's still planned to launch in 2026. There's certainly enough hype to justify a reveal at SGF – it's one of our team's most-anticipated games, especially since catching up with its developers at the beginning of the year.
1. Castlevania: Belmont's Curse
Back in February, Konami surprised us all by announcing a new 2D Castlevania game. Developer Evil Empire was entrusted to reboot the side-scrolling adventure series after knocking its Dead Cells crossover out of the park, and based on the debut trailer's gloomy Parisian atmosphere and exceptionally sleek movement, it already seems like Konami made the right choice.
We've since been treated to more gameplay of the newest Belmont in action, with a visual style that draws from both the original game's color palette and Castlevania's Netflix series, and I'm already trying to decide whether I'll spend more time ogling at distant castles or cracking the holy whip. As for its likelihood of appearing at SGF 2026, there's no exact release date locked in besides its 2026 window, so… Well, you know the drill. Enjoy the show!
Our Summer Game Fest 2026 schedule has all the dates and times you need to catch this week's biggest reveals
