Metacritic reveals its highest-rated games of 2023 so far
And the winner is…
Metacritic has pulled back the curtain to give us a glimpse of the highest-rated games of 2023 thus far.
Games released between 1st January and 30th June 2023 have been ranked by their Metascores "prior to rounding" and must have received a "minimum of seven reviews from professional critics to be eligible for inclusion".
The full top 20 list can be found below, with all scores marked out of a possible 100 points:
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch) – 96
- Metroid Prime Remastered (Switch) – 94
- Resident Evil 4 remake (PS5) – 93
- Street Fighter 6 (PS5) – 92
- Dead Space (PS5) – 89
- Final Fantasy XVI (PS5) – 88
- Theatrhythm Final Bar Line (Switch) – 87
- Hi-Fi Rush (Xbox Series X) – 87
- Diablo IV (PC) – 87
- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (PS5) – 85
- Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo (Switch) – 85
- Humanity (PS5) – 85
- A Space For The Unbound (Switch) – 85
- Octopath Traveler II (Switch) – 84
- The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (PC) – 84
- Hogwarts Legacy (PS5) – 84
- Cassette Beasts (PC) – 84
- Labyrinth of Galleria: The Moon Society (Switch) – 83
- Age of Wonders 4 (PC) – 83
- Doomblade (PC) – 83
As spotted by Destructoid, seven of these entrants were given the highest scores on PS5 and on Switch, five on PC, and just one, Hi-Fi Rush, on Xbox Series X. However, this is because "if a game was released on multiple platforms, [Metacritic] included only the version receiving the largest total number of reviews", which was "usually, but not always" the PS5 or PS4 version.
Similarly, "multi-game compilations and newly released ports of games released in recent years on other platforms are excluded, unless they are substantially different from the prior release", with Metacritic giving the example of an HD remaster that "also adds some new content or is multiple hardware generations beyond the previous release". Expansion packs and DLC have also been excluded.
Metacritic's Fandom took steps to "evolve [its] processes and tools to introduce stricter moderation" after becoming aware of "abusive and disrespectful reviews of Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores".
Horizon Forbidden West's DLC Burning Shores was released back in April. Whilst many praised its visuals and smooth gameplay performance, one plot point led to the game being review bombed on Metacritic, where the DLC saw its user rating drop to as low as 2.7. It currently sits at 4.3.