There is no such thing as too many good role-playing games. Even with several major titles releasing each year, with almost every big RPG becoming a GOTY contender, like last year’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, fans of the genre are always looking forward to the next big thing. Despite how lengthy RPGs usually are, offering vast open worlds full of adventures and over a hundred hours of play, players just can’t get enough of their stories, characters, and deeply personal moments.
Upcoming Open-World RPGs That Promise Hundreds of Hours at Launch
If you're searching for your next big obsession to sink hundreds of hours into, keep an eye out for these open-world RPGs when they release.
Fortunately, the future is bright, and the coming months are already shaping up to be some of the strongest for RPG lovers in quite some time. Looking ahead, the biggest upcoming Western-style RPGs have quite a lot in the pipeline, even if some are still far away, targeting 2027 for their release. Let’s take a look at what’s next for the RPG genre in 2026 and beyond, highlighting the unique features of these upcoming titles, as well as their approximate release window.
This list focuses on RPGs launching in 2026-2027, with at least an approximate release window known, so some of the biggest Western RPGs that are still very far off, like The Elder Scrolls 6 or Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic, are excluded.
Gothic 1 Remake
A Smaller-Scale RPG To Oppose Modern Trends Of Gigantic Games
The only reimagining of an existing game on this list, given how the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake went radio silent a long time ago, Gothic 1 Remake aims to do the iconic RPG series justice, capturing its unique small-scale magic to oppose the traditional massive scope of modern RPGs. The original's strength was primarily its handcrafted and harsh world, compelling characters with their own routines and agendas, and high replayability featuring freedom of choice, such as which faction to join and what missions to tackle.
The Gothic 1 Remake seemingly aims to deliver all these things, while taking fan feedback from its Nyras Prologue demo into account and enhancing aspects of the original that are outdated by modern standards, such as the combat. The Gothic 1 Remake currently aims to release in the first quarter of 2026 if everything goes according to plan, meaning that fans could be playing the game in just a couple of months.
Fable
Has The Potential To Be RPG Of The Year
Probably the biggest RPG of 2026, Fable made quite an impression at the recent Xbox Direct, with the developers at Playground finally revealing gameplay snippets and the overall direction that this series’ reboot is going. There’s a lot to like here, including a distinct fairy-tale world (that the devs specifically emphasize isn’t “fantasy”), stunning visuals, robust character creator, far-reaching consequences, complex morality, and rich interactions with unique, fully voiced NPCs, each with their own daily routines and personalities.
Fable: One Narrative Choice Could Make or Break the Protagonist
Playground Games still has quite a bit to reveal about its Fable reboot, but one aspect of its protagonist may be particularly pivotal.
Fable has always been less about action and more about being a part of a world, and it seems that the reboot is very faithful in that regard. The dev team is mostly highlighting other features and possibilities rather than sword-swinging. Fable is currently targeting Fall 2026 for launch, and this probably means the game will release before November 2026, as that’s when GTA 6 is due to release. What’s more, Fable is among the first AAA Microsoft titles to launch simultaneously across Xbox Series X/S, PC, and PlayStation 5.
The Blood Of Dawnwalker
Vampires Have Always Been A Great Match RPGs
The Blood of Dawnwalker has already cemented itself as a must-play RPG for fans of the genre, heavily betting on player choices and consequences, while bringing its own unique twist to the entire narrative. Instead of a fixed story path, The Blood of Dawnwalker lets players tackle any mission in almost any order, but each completed quest moves the timer forward, inevitably bringing the finale closer. With this structure, The Blood of Dawnwalker might be the closest players ever get to the popular marketing catchphrase of “no two playthroughs are ever the same.”
What is The Blood of Dawnwalker, the Upcoming RPG Developed By Witcher Devs?
Key figures that worked on The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 started their own studio, and 2026's The Blood of Dawnwalker is slated as its debut.
While The Blood of Dawnwalker may lack the flair of the biggest modern triple-A projects, it looks notably better with each new showcase, as the team closely follows fan feedback. From an adjusted camera position to a much improved combat flow already, there’s a feeling that The Blood of Dawnwalker will be worth the wait. The game is currently planned for a 2026 release, but the devs haven’t revealed the exact date yet.
The Expanse: Osiris Reborn
An Ambitious Sci-Fi RPG To (Hopefully) Propel Owlcat Games Into The Major Leagues
A potential jump for Owlcat Games into the upper echelon of game developers, The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is the studio’s biggest and most ambitious project yet, aiming to marry the team’s expertise in the СRPG genre (Pathfinder and Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader) with a much more action-oriented approach. Set in the beloved Expanse universe with its unmistakable grit and realism, Osiris Reborn puts players in the shoes of an ordinary custom character who finds themselves at the center of a large conspiracy.
What Is The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, the Upcoming Game that Has Major Mass Effect Vibes?
The Expanse: Osiris Reborn will bring the famed sci-fi series into the action-RPG realm, prompting comparisons to the Mass Effect series.
It’s easy to see how The Expanse: Osiris Reborn draws inspiration from the Mass Effect games, almost mirroring BioWare’s evolution by embracing modernity. Osiris Reborn features cover-based shooter combat, zero-g sections, squad companions with two characters following the protagonist, and a player ship to navigate the Solar System between distant destinations like Ceres, Mars, the Moon, and Ganymede. There’s no exact release window for The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, so the game’s launch sometime in 2026 is possible, but not officially confirmed.
Clockwork Revolution
Steampunk Plus Time Travel Is The Perfect Set Up For InXile’s Biggest RPG Yet
Owlcat Games isn’t the only studio preparing for a massive leap forward in RPG territory in the coming years. Veterans of the genre with over two decades of experience from InXile Entertainment are currently busy on Clockwork Revolution, a spectacular-looking and incredibly ambitious steampunk time-travel RPG that represents the studio’s biggest and most expansive game yet. Built in Unreal Engine 5, Clockwork Revolution looks stunning, bringing richly fleshed-out steampunk aesthetics that we don’t get too often these days, evoking memories of BioShock and the more recent Lies of P fused together.
Aside from its winning presentation, Clockwork Revolution promises exciting first-person action with distinct weapons and abilities, coupled with a deep and rich narrative, memorable characters, and far-reaching consequences. As for when to expect Clockwork Revolution, it’s most likely a 2027 game given the lack of recent updates and the fact that InXile Entertainment hasn’t yet announced any targeted window for its biggest and most ambitious project.
Exodus
Far-Reaching Consequences On A Scale Rarely Seen Before
If The Expanse: Osiris Reborn launches this year, fans may get two ambitious sci-fi RPGs two years in a row. Archetype’s long-awaited action-RPG Exodus is targeting 2027 for its release, which is probably much later than many initially anticipated after the game’s announcement all the way back in 2023. Nevertheless, good things take time, and judging from what we know so far, Exodus is shaping up as something truly special: a brand-new sci-fi universe with an emphasis on lore, choices, and narrative depth.
What is Exodus, The Upcoming RPG That's Very Similar to Mass Effect?
Exodus, a game helmed by ex-BioWare developers, promises to deliver hard-sci-fi thrills and action, much like the original Mass Effect games.
It’s really hard to avoid comparisons to Mass Effect here, given how similar Exodus sounds on paper. From players’ own ship and trusty crew to deep space exploration, mysterious artifacts, alien technologies, and sentient races, Exodus has it all, featuring a unique twist on time on a cosmic scale. As stated, players will revisit some locations and meet some characters after many years, which just may become the new definition of far-reaching choices in the genre, almost echoing the time-travel layer of Clockwork Revolution.
The Witcher 4
A New Open-World RPG Benchmark In The Making
Most definitely not a 2026 game, The Witcher 4 is easily at the top of the most anticipated open-world RPGs of the next few years, potentially outshining even the thirst for The Elder Scrolls 6 for some players. As CD Projekt Red currently represents the premiere RPG development studio, it’s not surprising that fans expect yet another massive RPG hit to potentially set a new benchmark for the entire genre, like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt did a decade ago.
With a new protagonist, a new region of the Continent to visit, and a new engine to push visual fidelity further than ever before, The Witcher 4 is already described as the largest and most expensive game CDPR has ever made, promising a truly reactive world and branching narrative that respects the player’s choices. Hopefully, The Witcher 4 will be ready for launch sometime in 2027 — and there are already plans to deliver the rest of an entire RPG trilogy in a six-year period after that.
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