With the new year upon us, new video game releases stop for no one. So, here's Play Save Repeat's choices for some of the most interesting releases from the upcoming month of January 2026.

Video Preview: January 2026

PATHOLOGIC 3 - 9TH JANUARY

We start out the new year with the arrival of the long-awaited sequel, Pathologic 3. Development studio Ice-Pick Lodge puts you in control of a physician with a morbid curiosity in death. When the doctor finds the supposed immortal man he's been searching for deceased, he has 12 days to attempt to make changes and save his town from a merciless plague.

With the ability to travel back in time to change the past, you must try to fix your mistakes and find a cure for the disease. Ice-Pick Lodge equip players with medical investigative mechanics to observe and diagnose patients, as you strive to concoct a vaccine.

However, gameplay based around the plague goes far beyond medical analysis. You can even take measures to control the outbreak by enforcing a town-wide quarantine, mass vaccinations, confiscate vital medication, suppress opposition forces, use armed patrols to contain the population's hysteria, and rely on curfews.

Such varied gameplay mechanics encourages player agency by allowing you to make choices that can lead to game impacting mistakes. Every action has a consequence, which can lead you to be loved or hated by the town - even if the outcome benefits them. Although, if the mistakes bother you, there's a rewind time mechanic that I'm looking forward to seeing how it works and impacts the story. Everything makes the narrative feel bespoke - another layer of ambitious game design.

But that's just some of the game's elements. Your psychology can also be impacted by your actions - a consequence that could help you as much as hurt you.

From everything I've read and seen, Pathologic 3 is a highly ambitious video game from a team that likes to evolve with each release. I'll always be on board for unique experiences, and I just hope the game pleases the Pathologic series' loyal fanbase and receives enough positive attention to bring in new players.

CODE VIOLET - 10TH JANUARY

After being delayed in December, Team Kill Media's Code Violet makes its way exclusively to Playstation 5 on January 10th.

Seemingly a modern take on Dino Crisis, the small team at Team Kill Media aims to release the third person action horror game to fill a dinosaur sized hole in the market that Capcom refuse to fill.

Not being a triple-A game, I don't expect perfection in every area, but I do hope for an interesting, and more importantly, a fun video game that's worth the price of admission. It's one of those games I need to try to see how it turns out.

BIG HOPS - 12TH JANUARY

Big Hops is a 3D platformer inspired by modern influences, where you play as Hop, a frog with fast parkour gameplay who uses his tongue to assist you in traversing the environment whilst keeping track of your Zelda: Breath of the Wild-like stamina gauge.

Big Hops is made up of three big, colourful areas: Red Desert, Open Ocean and Shattered Mountain. Each area has it's own batch of voice acted characters and distinct story, like infiltrating the world of organised crime. But what has the potential to set Big Hops apart from other platformers is emergent gameplay. During the game, Hop discovers vegetables that act as tools to navigate and invent routes to your goal. From a mushroom jump pad to tightropes made from cacti. Everything encourages a player to be imaginative and create their own paths, which is the essence of many a great Nintendo game.

The gameplay looks right at home alongside Mario Odyssey's family friendly objectives, Mario Galaxy's world design, and Zelda: Breath of the Wild's freedom. Big Hops even has challenge rooms to find and master for a position on the leaderboards, cute cartoon graphics and plenty of collectibles and items to unlock.

If Big Hops sticks the landing, it could be one of those special games that is fun for the whole family.

CASSETTE BOY - 14TH JANUARY

Image: Cassette Boy - Wonderland Kazakiri Inc.

On the surface, Cassette Boy looks like a 2D pixelated game, but actually, it's a complex puzzle game, where you can turn the three dimensional world. The game operates on a mechanic titled the Shrodinger system where anything out of view doesn't exist until you twist the 3D world's perspective - a little similar to one of the original indie hits, Fez.

Japanese developer, Wonderland Kazakiri Inc. describes Cassette Boy as a puzzle rpg; an interesting combination that lets players do more than solve puzzles by collecting weapons and facing bosses.

With the support of publisher Playstack, hopefully Cassette Boy reaches a solid audience.

MIO: MEMORIES IN ORBIT - 20TH JANUARY

MIO: Memories in Orbit is a visually unique Metroidvania that looks to set itself apart with speedy traversal and precise combat.

Like every good Metroidvania, and we've had many in recent years, MIO has a vast beastiary and in depth loot and upgrade systems. It creates a level of player choice by letting you choose skills and ways to use tools to suit your playstyle. Such as if you're an aggressive attacking player, you can sacrifice your shield for more damage, or choose to use your grappling hook to lasso enemies, or use it to quickly evade an attack.

Each decision helps you navigate the captivating cartoon world of MIO. But as with all Metroidvanias, it's by playing them that we discover how the game is designed and how the map evolves as we progress. So, I look forward to seeing if MIO can become the next great Metroidvanias alongside the Hollow Knight Silksongs and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crowns of the world.

HIGHGUARD - 26TH JANUARY

Image: Highguard - Wildlight Entertainment

The latest attempt at becoming the next hit competitive multiplayer shooter, Highguard is developed by ex-Respawn developers. Revealed at the recent Game Awards as the final announcement, Geoff Keighly clearly values the pedigree of the development talent behind the game. As a person that loved Titanfall 2's campaign and dabbled with the online multiplayer of both Titanfall games and Apex Legends, I expect Highguard's gunplay to be rock solid.

Unfortunately, I wasn't particular sold on the world it presented. It reminded me of He-man meets Immortals of Aveum. Not that I dislike either aesthetic; I even enjoyed my time with Immortals of Aveum when many people didn't. But as a hero shooter, I wanted it to distinguish itself from the oversaturated market that's hard to enter and be successful. Not that it's impossible, as seen recently with the extraction shooter, ARC Raiders, but we've also seen how Concord failed and how Marathon is trying to rebuild its reputation after the Alpha.

Although, the shooting, combined with melee and horseback riding might be enough to help set it apart. It's always hard to predict which of these online shooters is going to be a hit, as not many people even expected Helldivers 2 to be the massive hit it launched. But as with all video games, I hope the game is a success and has many elements that set it apart from its peers.

THE PERFECT PENCIL - 29TH JANUARY

Have you ever wanted an old school Nintendo style game in the tone of a David Lynch movie and the artwork of Belgian surrealist painter Magritte? Well, then look no further than The Perfect Pencil - a story driven action platformer.

As Studio Cima promises a emotional diegetic narrative detailing the psychological struggles of the protagonist John, a person with a camera for a head, on his journey towards personal growth. With a branching narrative inside the tested Metroidvania design, The Perfect Pencil aims to keep the genre interesting.

It's supported by hand drawn environments that deliver lore in the details, unique character interactions, quests, swift combat during enemy encounters, and opportunities for moments of player choice. So, if it nails all of the above, The Perfect Pencil could become another solid indie game for January.

CAIRN - 29TH JANUARY

Cairn, from the developers of Haven, aims to bring a realistic climbing simulator to fruition, through an intuitive control scheme where you search for hand and foot holds with simple controls - adapting your posture and approach so that you don't fall.

You play as professional climber, Aava, on her attempt to climb to the summit of Mount Kami - a peak no climber has ever reached. On the way up, Aava will forge unexpected bonds, receive word from the surface and learn about the history of the very mountain she ascends. Cairn sounds like another game with a strong and fun foundational gameplay mechanic that's supported by interesting storytelling.

But what's more impressive is the freedom for players to plot their own route up the cliff. This opens emergent gameplay opportunities, making each individual journey unique. And with the option to customise the difficulty of the experience, players can take the mountain at their own speed.

Furthermore, Cairn adds another layer by the inclusion of resource management: a backpack to contain all of your essential tools and belongings, from finger tape to pitons and medicine.

Despite all of these features, it's the talent working on Cairn that gives me confidence in the game. Talent responsible for the games Haven, Inside and Cocoon, all worked on Cairn; supported by a story designed by an experienced comic book artist. Cairn seems to have all the ingredients to be another one to watch.

CODE VEIN 2 - 30TH JANUARY

Looking to refine the action-RPG, soulslike original, Code Vein 2 gives the developers the opportunity to complete a fully realised version of their original vision. To do this, they've improved the already flashy gameplay by introducing the ability to further customise weapons and skills so that every player can create a character customised to fit their playstyle.

Speaking of characters, Code Vein's already detailed character creator is back and improved with more adjustable options, so anyone can create their own anime character to take through the sequel's story.

Unfortunately for those looking for another co-op experience, they've so far said Code Vein 2 will be single-player only. Instead, they've chosen a clear focus on improving the AI partners in the game. But if you prefer to play without the AI, which was unpredictable in the first game and will hopefully be improved in the sequel, you can disable them. Choosing to disable them, imbues your character with extra power to even out the experience.

If you're a fan of anime and soulslikes, Code Vein 2 should scratch that itch.

TR-49 - TBA JANUARY

After this year's critical hit Expelled, a pseudo sequel to Overboard!, narrative choice specialists Inkle return with TR-49. Revealed in a vague and mysterious trailer and enticing posts about Inkle studios' co-creator finding books in his grandfather's attic that have no record of a publisher or release, he claims they might be connected to his grandfather's time working at the codebreaking hub at Bletchley Park in England.

This alluring premise sets out a mystery hidden inside these books for us to find. What exactly the gameplay is yet, we don't know, but stating inspirations from The Roottrees are Dead, I have high hopes. And when the available writing samples from the fictional novels have been so brilliantly written, I have high hopes the journey to solving the mission with be captivating and I hope Inkle manages to pull the whole thing together.

As usual, the list doesn't include every game released in January, and the release dates might change over time. But here a few more quick fire honourable mentions.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS: ORIGIN - 28TH JANUARY

Image: The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin - Netmarble Games

Based on the manga and anime, The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin is a free to play, action-RPG with solid combat and built-in gatcha. But even with gatcha mechanics, The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin contains a big story for fans of the property to enjoy, that's well acted.

From the previews, there seems to be a solid RPG here, with interesting characters to meet and a fully realised world to explore. But the economy of buying gatcha of characters and weapons is a concern until we see how fair or predatory the system is.

Either way, there might be enough here for hardcore fans of the series to overlook the gambling mechanics, but it's a wait and see for me.

I HATE THIS PLACE - 29TH JANUARY

Image: I Hate This Place - Rock Square Thunder

In I Hate This Place, you play as Elena, scavenging in the day to survive the nightmarish creatures of the night. As a craft-based isometric survival horror game, Elena can craft necessary supplies and choose to take shelter when necessary. Everything needs to be calculated, even combat. Both combat and stealth need to be blended together. Laying traps and then stealthily luring enemies over to them is just as vital as any direct combat.

And based on the comic book series of the same name, I Hate This Place evokes the same 80s stylings that gives the isometric perspective a distinct visual presentation. With interesting crafting systems, encounter variety and a dynamic day and night cycle, there's plenty of opportunity for the game to set itself apart when it releases next month.

That's it for January 2026. A quieter month compared to the end of 2025, but a strong start to the year nonetheless.

Top 10 Games of January 2026

Top 10 Games of February 2026

Preview - December Video Games 2025