2025 gave first-person shooter fans a lot of games to play. Doom: The Dark Ages was a return to form for the series with brutal demonic action and one of the coolest shields in gaming. Borderlands 4 was an open-world RPG with tons of guns and multiple class builds to choose from. Finally, Battlefield 6 was a solid military shooter.
Welcome The Next 5 Big First-Person RPGs
From fantasy to sci-fi settings, the first-person RPG genre is looking intense for 2026 and beyond.
Can 2026 be as good, if not better, than 2025’s lineup of first-person shooter games? It’s hard to say if all of these will come out in 2026, but if they do, the year will certainly be a varied one, from horror games to RPGs.
Highguard
Mixing Fantasy With Reality
- Planned Release Date: 1/26/26
- Planned Systems: PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S
Highguard just debuted at The Game Awards in December 2025, and a month later, it is already set to debut. The game is being developed by Wildlight Entertainment, which is a studio comprised of former Respawn Entertainment team members who worked on Titanfall and Apex Legends, which is a good pedigree.
The game will be a free-to-play first-person hero shooter that takes place in a fantasy world, but the guns look normal, from rifles to rocket launchers. Another big gimmick is being able to fire on horseback, which looks fun, but it could perhaps be very challenging.
Don’t Stop, Girlypop!
Lollipop Chainsaw With Guns
- Planned Release Date: 1/29/26
- Planned Systems: PC
Don’t Stop, Girlypop! has been in development for a while, first announced in 2024. It’s being developed by an Australian team, Funny Fintan Softworks, and there is a demo for those interested on Steam.
The game looks like a Suda51 project, specifically Lollipop Chainsaw, as the mix of pinks and neon colors looks out of this world in this absurd first-person shooter. Between blasting oddly shaped enemies, players can talk on their flip phones, react to digital pets, and dress up their forearms to give their character a bit of style.
High On Life 2
Beyond Bizarre
- Planned Release Date: 2/13/26
- Planned Systems: PC, PS5, Switch 2, and Xbox Series X/S
High On Life was a bizarre first-person shooter that came out in 2022, wherein every gun talked and had a personality. The guns had a good variety of voice talent from Tim Robinson to J.B. Smoove, and some of the cast and guns will return in High On Life 2.
Originally, it was only supposed to come out on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, but a Switch 2 version has also been added to the roster, which will be great for the new console, as it lacks shooters. While it’s set to debut soon in February, a lot of the gameplay remains mysterious, although it’s a safe bet that players can expect more of the same wild gunplay and comedic writing.
Toxic Commando
The Master Of Horror
- Planned Release Date: 3/12/26
- Planned Systems: PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S
Toxic Commando, or John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando, was first announced in 2023, and at long last, it is supposed to launch in March. Horror fans should know the name John Carpenter, as his movie roster includes legends like Halloween, The Thing, and They Live.
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Good or bad, these upcoming open-world RPGs will be heavily discussed.
Carpenter wrote the scenario and composed the music for the game, and it is being developed by Saber Interactive, which mostly handles ports of bigger games like the various Halo remasters. Players will be able to mow down hundreds of zombies on the back of their vehicle, and on land, either alone or with friends online.
Mouse: P.I. For Hire
An FPS Blitz On All Systems
- Planned Release Date: 3/19/26
- Planned Systems: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Switch 2, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S
Mouse: P.I. For Hire may have one of the broadest launches among all of these games, as there is almost no system it won’t launch on. Systems aside, Cuphead fans should adore this hand-drawn first-person shooter thanks to the black and white aesthetics and cartoony art style.
As a detective, Jack Pepper, who is voiced by Troy Baker, players will go around the city solving crimes. Besides gunning down various rodent enemies, it looks like there will be a photo aspect to the gameplay as well, and perhaps even more secrets will be uncovered in March.
Marathon
Going Back To Basics
- Planned Release Date: March 2026
- Planned Systems: PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S
Marathon was one of Bungie’s biggest hits back in their early days, which then became a trilogy right before they really broke out with Halo. Now, decades later, they are rebooting the franchise as a first-person extraction shooter to perhaps rival ARC Raiders, or maybe their own Destiny franchise.
Marathon has had a troubled development cycle, though, fading from existence, returning and having multiple controversies, being delayed indefinitely, and now it is set to release sometime in March. In a video game landscape filled with multiplayer shooters already, can Bungie hope to break through once again?
Halo: Campaign Evolved
Beginning The Fight
- Planned Release Date: 2026
- Planned Systems: PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S
Speaking of Bungie and Halo, Halo: Campaign Evolved is a remake of the original 2001 game. It got a remaster in 2011, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, but this time, things will be different.
Instead of remastering or remaking the whole thing, 343 Industries is going to focus on just the campaign for now. Players can squad up in four-player co-op, and there will be crossplay among all launch systems, including the PS5. Seeing a Halo game appear on a PlayStation system will be a novelty worth seeing.
Valor Mortis
An Alternate History Soulslike
- Planned Release Date: 2026
- Planned Systems: PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S
There are not many Soulslike shooters, and there aren’t many first-person Soulslikes either, as developers tend to favor third-person action RPGs. Valor Mortis is a big upcoming exception of a game, which will take place in France, somewhere around the time of Napoleon in the late 1700s or early 1800s.
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The Nintendo Switch 2 is set to have a big 2026, and these sequels should go a long way in making that happen.
This is an alternate history game, as soldiers on the battlefield will start to transform into mutants. Beyond guns and blades from this era, players can also expect to gain supernatural powers as they level up in various ways.
Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2
A Retro Throwback
- Planned Release Date: 2026
- Planned Systems: PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S
Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 looks like another fun old-school romp. The art style falls somewhere in the realm of Square Enix’s HD-2D style, as characters are sprite-based, but they exist in a more polished world.
It’s a cool aesthetic, and the gameplay looks just as cool as it was in the 2023 original game. It’s hard to believe it’s been this long, but Warhammer games come out so frequently in all varieties that sometimes they can get lost in the shuffle. Either way, 90s first-person shooter fans will want to look out for this throwback.
Crisol: Theater Of Idols
Bloodsport
- Planned Release Date: 2026
- Planned Systems: PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S
Finally, horror fans will want to rejoice if Crisol: Theater of Idols does indeed launch in 2026. Set in Spain, players will face a variety of horrors from people wearing animal heads to straight-up demon-looking foes. They will be armed with a gun that can fire blood bullets, and there is a demo out on Steam now.
It’s a combined effort from a new developer, Vermila Studios, and Blumhouse, who is acting as the publisher. Blumhouse is known most famously as a movie company for hits like Happy Death Day, Get Out, and The Black Phone, so it’s a bold idea to branch into horror games next.
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Gather on the couch, because these co-op games are brewing up good times for friends in 2026.
