Metacritic’s highest rated games of the year so far has a very unsurprising title at the top

We’re halfway through the year now, and to mark the occasion, Metacritic has highlighted the highest-rated games of 2023 so far.

As much as I don’t want to think about it for the sake of my own sanity, it’s now July, which means we’ve had a full six months of video gaming. Obviously not all of them were amazing, but there have been plenty of amazing ones, and Metacritic has kindly shown us the Top 20 Rated Games which were released between January 1 and June 30. As Metacritic noted, “titles are ranked by their Metascores (before rounding) as of June 28, 2023 and must have a minimum of 7 reviews from professional critics to be eligible for inclusion.”

Here’s the full list, the number one spot pertaining to a game that probably won’t surprise anyone:

1. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch) – 96
2. Metroid Prime Remastered (Switch) – 94
3. Resident Evil 4 Remake (PS5) – 93
4. Street Fighter 6 (PS5) – 92
5. Dead Space (PS5) – 89
6. Final Fantasy XVI (PS5) – 88
7. Theatrhythm End Bar Line (Switch) – 87
8. Hi-Fi Rush (Xbox Series X) – 87
9. Diablo IV (PC) – 87
10. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (PS5) – 85
11. Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo (Switch) – 85
12. Humanity (PS5) – 85
13. A Space for the Unleashed (Switch) – 85
14. Octopath Traveler II (Switch) – 84
15. The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (PC) – 84
16. Hogwarts Legacy (PS5) – 84
17. Cassette Beasts (PC) – 84
18. Galleria Maze: The Moon Society (Switch) – 83
19. Age of Wonders 4 (PC) – 83
20. Doomblade (PC) – 83

It was always going to be Tears of the Kingdom on top, and it also ranked as one of the highest rated games of all time on OpenCritic. Other games like Metroid Prime Remastered and Resident Evil 4 Remake aren’t big surprises either, considering they’re both highly respected games in the first place.

Metacritic also noted that “multiple game compilations and newly released ports of games released in recent years on other platforms are excluded”, unless they are very different from previous releases (i.e. like Metroid Prime, which had a great visual review).

You may also notice that there are a few cross-platform entries listed on PS5: Metacritic wrote that it opted to list “only the version that receives the highest total number of reviews (usually, but not always, the PS5 or PS4 version).” as pointed out destructoidthis left Hi-Fi Rush as the only Xbox Series X title on the list, but hey, it’s pretty cool to have it on there.