If you want to understand the future of gaming, you have to survive Gamescom first. With over 350,000 attendees flooding into Cologne, Germany, the city’s convention center is a chaotic, RGB-lit maze of upcoming titles, booth tours and next-generation hardware.
The Tom’s Guide team was on the ground to cut through the noise, as we spent the week walking the halls, getting exclusive behind-the-scenes access, playing a ton of titles early and getting our hands on the tech that will redefine how we play over the next few years.
From Nvidia’s astonishing new MacBook-killing superchips and Alienware’s 5-star OLED monitor, to the return of the Alien franchise and gaming furniture we actually want in our living rooms, we found the gear that truly stood out.
After covering every square inch of the show floor, here are our official Tom’s Guide Best of Gamescom 2026 awards.
Best of show: Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20
I’ll put my hands up and admit that maybe I was a little hard on the ROG Xbox Ally X20 back at Computex 2026. In the midst of Intel Arc G3 Extreme eating AMD’s lunch in handheld gaming, I was quick to count it out. But as the $1,299 price emerged for this impressively upgraded Ally, my mind changed on it quite drastically.
That OLED panel is glorious, the ergonomic tweaks with TMR joysticks, reshaped bumpers and face buttons and rubberized grips make the most comfortable PC handheld even more comfortable, and that transparent design is a nerd’s joy to behold.
Yes, I can only hope that FSR 4 comes to the AMD Ryzen Z2 AI Extreme chipset here for boosted performance in the future. But with 60 FPS being easy to achieve if you tweak the settings in AAA titles, this is a really well-rounded system for gaming enthusiasts on the go.
Jason England - Managing Editor of Core Tech
Best game: Alien Isolation 2
When it came to getting hands-on with upcoming games, I came into Gamescom 2026 with one mission: Play Alien: Isolation 2. The larger Alien franchise is a personal favorite of mine, and Alien: Isolation was a dream game come true. I still can’t quite believe we’re getting a sequel. But we are; I can confirm it’s real, and I got to play 30 minutes of it at Gamescom.
My demo was short, but it doesn’t appear to be shaking up the first game’s formula all that much. Once again, it’s a tense survival-horror experience, in which players are powerless against a stalking Xenomorph. But when you hit a home run, why change anything big?
The scene-setting prologue boasts a phenomenal sense of atmosphere and highlights the game’s biggest change: the setting has been swapped from a claustrophobic spaceship to a more expansive planet surface. Offering the same extraordinary attention to detail and movie-accurate authenticity, Alien: Isolation 2 is shaping up to be my dream sequel!
Rory Mellon - Senior Entertainment Editor
Best gaming tech: Nvidia RTX Spark
Nvidia had a very busy Gamescom with the likes of DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction and key updates to GeForce Now. But hidden away in the depths of the convention center, I got the first real chance to play games on their upcoming RTX Spark machines. And put simply, I was blown away.
The promise of 1440p at over 100 FPS is absolutely on show here with the likes of 007 First Light and Arc Raiders pulling it off with near-maxed out settings and DLSS turned on. And some of these games were being emulated in real-time to be compatible with this Arm chip (as well as the anti-cheat software that runs beneath it).
With these upcoming machines, Team Green has done the one thing I’ve always wanted — a Windows MacBook Pro competitor. No longer do I need a sleek, long-lasting laptop for work and a bulky gaming machine for play. They are now combined into one notebook, and the options look awesome.
Jason England - Managing Editor of Core Tech
Best gaming monitor: Alienware 39 5K2K OLED (AW3926QW)
Alienware really took things to the next level with its fantastic Alienware 39 5K2K OLED (AW3926QW). The fact that this is the first device I’ve given a full 5-star rating to says it all. If you’re looking for the finest gaming experience possible, then you need this gaming monitor in your setup.
What makes the AW3926QW stand out is its four-stack, three-subpixel RGB stripe tandem OLED panel, which Alienware says is the first of its kind to hit the market. What all of those fancy terms mean for real-world use is higher OLED brightness, more vibrant colors, sharper text, and exceptional contrast. You can also swap between 5K at 165Hz for cinematic games and WFHD (1080p) at 330Hz for competitive gaming.
Top that with a sleek design and an immersive 39-inch curved panel, and you have one of the best gaming monitors ever. The fact that it’s a relatively affordable $1,099 for what you get almost makes this a steal. If you have room for it on your desk, then the Alienware 39 5K2K OLED (AW3926QW) comes with my highest recommendation. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.
Tony Polanco - Senior Computing Writer
Best gaming peripheral: Genki Manta Controller
Speaking to the team behind the Manta Controller, it felt like they’d thought of everything. On the surface, this controller looks similar to an Xbox pad with a built-in 2.7-inch color display, but it’s designed to be customizable. And I mean, fully customizable. Via the display, you can tweak just about every setting, letting you adjust each element to fit your play preference.
Take, for example, its face buttons; these aren’t your standard buttons that register input at a set point (usually when fully pressed down); they are analog, letting you determine the point at which the input is registered. The triggers are the same. And that’s just the start of the options on the Manta Controller. You could spend hours tweaking everything to your liking.
For players who want an almost obscene level of control over their controller, the Manta Controller could be a vital gaming peripheral. Plus, all these adjustments can be made on the controller display rather than utilizing a separate desktop or mobile app, which lets you dive into the myriad of adjustment options without even having to put the pad down.
Rory Mellon - Senior Entertainment Editor
Best gaming accessories: Ikea x Xbox YXSTABY
Normally, gaming furniture is the kind of stuff you’re personally proud of, but I wouldn’t dare seriously consider it in my future home with my wife. It’s all a bit of an angular, RGB-laden cringe fest — that was until I got to see/sit on all the YXSTABY options created as part of the Ikea x Xbox tie-up.
The aesthetics are refined, but with cheeky nods to gamers in the aesthetics and ergonomics. For example, the joystick stool that wobbles around is both a cheeky nod to the Xbox controller, while also being optimal for leaning forward and locking in.
The same can be said for that lounge chair too, paired with some nice storage options including that rolling coffee table. This is a full suite, and it all comes together really nicely.
Jason England - Managing Editor of Core Tech
Best sim racing gear: Initium Asetek ecosystem expansion
A while ago, I called the original Asetek Initium sim racing rig one of the best investments for driving enthusiasts. And now, the company is proving that by vastly expanding the ecosystem for those who want to start bridging the gap between getting started and becoming an enthusiast.
From expanding into different disciplines like rally driving with the shifter and handbrake, improving pedal feel with the hydraulic brake expansion kit, to the much more intense-feeling 10 newton-meter DD10 hub, there’s something for everyone here to start building up from that base level.
Jason England - Managing Editor of Core Tech
Best retro gaming tech: Evercade Nexus
Evercade has been making dedicated retro consoles and handhelds since 2020. However, its latest offering, the Evercade Nexus, looks set to take on rivals like the Nintendo Switch 2 with a slick portable device that proves sometimes you just can’t beat the classics.
Compatible with Evercade’s entire library of cartridge-based software, including various arcade compilations (Atari, Interplay, Nacom, etc.) and collections dedicated to beloved franchises like Doom, Tomb Raider and Duke Nukem, the Nexus has the potential to be a retro game fan's dream handheld console. And it’ll launch with a Banjo-Kazooie double pack, which completely transported me back to being a young kid playing my first game.
It’s the first Evercade handheld with dual analog sticks, sports a 5.89-inch IPS display, and the returning “Tate Mode” lets you enjoy vertical-screen arcade titles as they were designed. It’s also not lost on me that in an era when owning your game is under threat, Evercade is designed exclusively to use physical cartridges. There’s no need for digital downloads or “Game-Key Cards” that hold nothing more than a license to install software on your console.
Rory Mellon - Senior Entertainment Editor
Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds.
More from Tom's Guide
- As a PC snob, I wanted to catch GTA 6 making console compromises. Instead, I’m in awe of the trickery
- I tested the first 5K G-Sync Pulsar gaming monitor — 144Hz looks like 500Hz of clarity, and it ruined my home display
- I just went eyes-on with the world’s fastest OLED gaming monitor — and motion blur is officially dead
