The best games of August 2026

These are out but aren’t ranked: expansions, collections and new editions, games leaving early access, whose counts go back to their early-access days, games with fewer than 500 reviews so far, and games whose player counts aren’t public.

• Expeditions: Samurai¹⁰
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Cost of Hope (expansion)¹¹
• Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 (collection)¹²
• Elden Ring Tarnished Edition (switch 2 edition)¹³

Each game’s figure is the share of its player reviews that recommend it, in every language, from players who bought it in the store where they reviewed it. We never use critic scores.

A game needs 500 reviews to be ranked, so a handful of early reviews can’t put it on top. The figures update every day, and a game released late in the month has had less time to settle.

Every release date in August 2026