9 Upcoming Third-Person Shooters That Will Own 2026 (007, Resident Evil, Gears of War & More)

by Fernando Diaz / Articles, Lists, Upcoming Games / 04 Oct 2025

Check out this 2026 release calendar. There’s a pattern at play… From where we sit, we’re not just observing a great year for third-person shooters; we’re staring into the barrel of a potential all-timer. The uncut quality and variety headed our way are cause for genuine excitement!! We’ve got legendary franchises roaring back to life, mind-melting new IPs that seem to have been shipped over from the future, and everything in between. This is not a top-ranked list… think of it rather as a showcase : a collection of evidence for why 2026 is a year you should mark on your calendar!! Here are nine of the most anticipated third-person shooters that make a strong case.

007: First Light

It’s a pitch so good it’s amazing it didn’t get made years ago: IO Interactive, the masters of sandbox stealth, are working on a James Bond origin story. When word got out, you could almost sense the collective industry sigh of relief. This isn’t a tie-in, incidentally but a new fresh one involving a younger, cooler Bond early in his career. IOI is promising to bring its signature emergent stealth gameplay and painstakingly crafted level design together with 007’s gadgetry and cinematic flair. Merging Hitman DNA with the universe of Bond is a marriage in espionage heaven, and this could be the one Bond game we’ve been dreaming about for decades.

Black State

Occasionally, a game from a small independent developer comes along that is impossibly, scandalously excellent. The latest contender is Black State. Developed by a one-man team at Turkey’s Motion Blur Studio, this single-player, story-driven tactical shooter is a graphical monster, blurring the line between computer graphics and real life. But its greatest selling feature is the insane portal system. Imagine flanking an enemy team not by going around them, but by opening up a window into another part of the map in real-time immediately to their rear, effortlessly and without even a loading screen. The potential implications tactically are staggering. This is an indie game with quintuple-A aspirations, and if they pull it off, it could be a genuine game-changer.

Black State: Is This the Future of Third-Person Shooters?

Turok: Origins

From the bleeding edge of photorealism, we’re jumping back to the glorious, B-movie chaos of the ’90s. That’s right: the Dinosaur Hunter is back. After decades of dormancy, the Turok franchise is being rebooted in a new prequel. The devs are promising to bring back that sweet, frenetic cycle of shooting next-gen soldiers one minute and fleeing from a T-Rex the next. With single-player and co-op established as a fact, this is the kind of over-the-top, schlocky fun that’s been missing from the mix. We are way, way overdue for an excellent dinosaur shooter, and this might just be the one that gets Turok back to where it should be.

Gears of War: E-Day

A discussion of third-person shooters wouldn’t be complete without the thwack of a Lancer crushing into a wall of cover. With Gears of War: E-Day, the series is going back to its origins—literally. Dizzyingly set 14 years before the original game, this is the story of Emergence Day itself. That stunning reveal trailer got it spot on : it’s not about winning a war, it’s about the pure horror of surviving the first 24 hours of hell!! We’ll be seeing younger Marcus and Dom fighting not as heroes, but as survivors. The Coalition will be recreating the dark, horror-suffused tone of the 2006 original while honing its genre-defining cover combat. It’s going to be brutal, emotional, and an absolute necessity.

Resident Evil Requiem

Capcom’s horror factory never sleeps, and the next mainline entry is reportedly leaning back into straight-up survival horror. But its rumored killer feature—one that has been long-teased—will be music to the ears of many players: an optional third-person mode at launch. After the first-person perspective of RE7 and Village, this is a definite message from Capcom to the massive player base that caught up on the RE2 and RE4 remakes. Giving players the freedom to survive the terror in their own way is a huge plus ; ensuring everyone gets to experience the next nightmare.

Control 2

Remedy Entertainment does not make shooters; it builds environments that dig into your head. The Oldest House of the first Control is an all-time great setting, a personality unto itself. The SCP-style supernatural horror blended with Jesse Faden’s mind-blowing telekinetic powers made the combat loop a visceral, demolition-heavy thrill. A full-fledged sequel that will expand on that gloriously bizarre lore, provide us with even crazier powers, and let us investigate further the fluid, concrete tunnels of the Federal Bureau of Control is a heady prospect. For some of us, this is a personal, most-wanted game for 2026.

Pragmata

For years, Pragmata has been Capcom’s brilliant, baffling enigma. We’ve seen trailers featuring astronauts, female androids, and holographic cats on the Moon, and we still don’t really know what it is. The mystery is a large part of the appeal, however. What we do know is that it’s a sci-fi action-adventure, and with Capcom’s reputation, we can dream of third-person gameplay that’s silky smooth, responsive, and rewarding. In the age of leaks and oversaturation, the chance to jump into one of Capcom’s most ambitious new IPs in years with an open mind is a welcome prospect.

Saros

When the studio that created a modern classic like Returnal releases a new venture, you pay attention. Period. Housemarque is applying its hard-won expertise in delivering tight, addictive third-person action to Saros, a fresh dark sci-fi universe based on a roguelite with permanent progression. If the Finnish developer can channel even half the unadulterated, bullet-hell gunplay and atmospheric tension that made Returnal a masterpiece, this could be the sleeper hit of the year. Don’t sleep on this one.

The Expanse Osiris Reborn

Let’s be real : the rest of us are still looking for the high of the original Mass Effect trilogy… The Expanse Osiris Reborn seems like the next big fix for that specific kind of sci-fi RPG shooter. Taking a cue from the classic BioWare series and rooted in the deep universe of The Expanse, this game is promising to deliver a mix of cover-based, tactical combat and massive, explorable planetary battlefields. For book and show fans, it’s a dream realized. For anyone else; the prospect of a broad, cinematic space opera with a focus on deep storytelling is always a welcome one… here’s hoping it lives up to its epic potential!!

Fernando Diaz

Fernando is doing what he always did, sharing his honest opinions about games whenever he can. The difference is now he is writing and not talking about it.

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