As a first-person shooter fan, I tuned into the Gamescom Opening Night Live 2025 stream eager to learn all about Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. It was another game, however, that really caught my eye.
I hadn’t heard of Fate Trigger before the show, but its flashy cinematic early-access release-date trailer cemented it as one of my most anticipated games of 2026.
Fate Trigger Cinematic Trailer | Gamescom ONL 2025 First Reveal – YouTube 
Why? Well, the gorgeous visuals for starters. This is a game that looks like it absolutely nails the anime aesthetic, with bright and colorful characters duking it out in a dynamic open-world arena.
The designs of each hero seem suitably distinct and plenty appealing – who wouldn’t want to blast enemy players as a moody bunny girl, or throw magical shark bombs as a bubbly sailor?
Built in Unreal Engine 5, each glimpse of its stylized maps told me that they toe the line between realism and cartoon remarkably well. They have saturated palettes that should make it a little easier to identify enemies than the grey-brown look of most Warzone matches.
The trailer was interesting enough that I visited the game’s website, where I discovered that it’s mechanics sound right up my street too. It’s a hero shooter with multiple game modes, including the classic battle royale, and a focus on weapon customization.
It’s a third-person game that features first-person aiming too, something that I always loved in the Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon series and wished more titles would incorporate.
Fate Trigger is set to launch in early access in 2026, but you can currently request to access a play test via Steam. I’ve done exactly that, so hopefully it won’t be long until I’m able to dive in.
