15 Best Current Generation Games on Metacritic (Highest Rated Games)
Reviewing the highest average critical ratings of this generation’s best games.
15. Forza Horizon 4
Highest Rated Current Generation Games on Metacritic (Best Games)
SCORE – 91
The listed Metacritic scores have been calculated by using a weighted average system. This is because, on Metacritic, multiplatform titles are not only scored differently for a given game, they’re also reviewed by a varying amount of critics. For example INSIDE is scored 91 (PS4), 93 (Xbox One), 87 (PC), but there are over 80 critical reviews for the Xbox One version and only 18 for PS4. Therefore, to find an accurate average, we have taken into account what percentage each total represents the total number of reviews across all platforms. These are the best games on Metacritic, using that math.
This list was first published in November 2017 and has been updated.
Forza built its reputation as a road racing sim, but its open-world Horizon series has arguably become the high watermark of the franchise. The spin-off has quickly earned acclaim for its sublime mix of realism and arcade driving physics, beautiful expansive tracks, and pulse-racing gameplay across a wide variety of different modes. It has the enormous garage of cars and customization for car junkies but remains accessible and entertaining enough for the more casual racer. Horizon 4 remains the Xbox One’s highest rated exclusive title.
14. Overwatch
Highest Rated Current Generation Games on Metacritic (Best Games)
SCORE – 91
With Overwatch, developer Blizzard has continued its streak of exceptionally well-designed video games. Competing in the crowded hero-shooter genre market, the game’s slick objective-based gameplay and quirky heroes stands apart from the rest. There’s a real pace to each match that makes every game intense and absorbing, but there’s also enough nuance that each requires careful strategy and team coordination to win. And the numbers don’t lie, Overwatch has proved a complete phenomenon, selling in droves and launching to overwhelmingly positive reviews.
13. INSIDE
Highest Rated Current Generation Games on Metacritic (Best Games)
SCORE – 92
The eerie and harrowing tale that INSIDE tells is one that stays in the mind long after completion. Void of any dialogue whatsoever, developer Playdead still manages to masterfully tell a gripping dystopian narrative while simultaneously designing among the best puzzle platformers ever made. Indeed, as good as the game’s story is, and as mind-bending as its conclusion is, it is INSIDE’s deft controls and challenging but never too challenging puzzle gameplay that pushes it into the hallowed realms of best-ever indie games.
12. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Highest Rated Current Generation Games on Metacritic (Best Games)
SCORE – 92
The evergreen Mario Kart franchise made one hell of a big splash on the Nintendo Switch. Running at a higher resolution, complete with more tracks and characters, and now able to be played on the go, the refreshed version of an already very good game has surely resulted in the finest Mario Kart experience ever made. Its commercial and critical reception has been unprecedented, recording the fastest ever sales for any game in the series, and its 92 Metacritic score bumps it up four points from the original Wii U version.
11. Undertale
Highest Rated Current Generation Games on Metacritic (Best Games)
SCORE – 92
Surrounded by a sea of multimillion dollar AAA video games, Undertale’s pixelated aesthetic and humble budget look totally out of place. Ironically, though, this facade hides a game of unparalleled depth, with a branching narrative and endearing characters that means it can hold its own versus any of the generation’s best. Undertale is a reminder that accomplished game design, clever writing, and solid gameplay trumps pretty graphics every time.
10. Bloodborne
Highest Rated Current Generation Games on Metacritic (Best Games)
SCORE – 92
Fromsoftware’s PS4 exclusive Bloodborne took the industry by storm back in 2014. It was praised by critics for its fast-paced combat, which put a greater emphasis on offense in comparison to the Souls series. The gothic ambiance of Yarnham city also impressed, with a spooky and macabre atmosphere that made it instantly recognizable, and its gruesome inhabitants were wonderfully imagined and genuinely intimidating. All of these elements combined to make Bloodborne an instant classic, flying off store shelves after shining review scores. Three years on, it’s still one of the most highly rated PS4 exclusives ever made.
9. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Highest Rated Current Generation Games on Metacritic (Best Games)
SCORE – 92
We’ve seen sprawling epic fantasy role-playing games like Dragon Age Inquisition and Bethesda’s acclaimed Skyrim before, but when The Witcher 3 arrived, it felt like a generation ahead. Gorgeous graphics, one of the best video game OSTs ever, an open-world of immense proportions, and the series’ best gameplay to date were impressive. Yet it’s all the hundreds of mini-stories in the game’s countless side quests, working together with an engaging main story-arc, that really set The Witcher 3 apart. Every choice, every action made feels like it has real consequence in the game-world, making it seem organic in a manner that few games have ever captured. Reception to the game was overwhelmingly positive, resulting in a stunningly high Metacritic average for a multiplatform game.
8. Divinity Original Sin II
Highest Rated Current Generation Games on Metacritic (Best Games)
SCORE – 93
The first Divinity Original Sin was a critical darling, and now its sequel has picked up the baton. Designed in the spirit of iconic CRPGs, Divinity Original Sin II offers an unrivaled range of strategic flexibility through its turn-based combat and deep role-playing systems, combined with a powerful story within a wonderful fantasy setting. Somehow, a genre as old as the hills has never felt so fresh and exciting, iterating on the foundations of classics like Baldur’s Gate to forge a modern legacy of its own. Divinity Original Sin II probably won’t come to consoles until next year, and until it does, PS4 and Xbox One owners can only look enviously at its 93 Metacritic score.
7. Persona 5
Highest Rated Current Generation Games on Metacritic (Best Games)
SCORE – 93
Persona 5 is its own unique flavor, there just isn’t anything else quite like it. Eating ramen with friends and dealing with the everyday drama of school life by day, dungeon crawling armed with powerful Persona’s by night, the Persona series has captured a wide audience by putting a twist on the Japanese role-playing game blueprint. Even with its roots in old-fashioned turn-based combat, Persona 5’s ultra-stylized aesthetic and streamlined gameplay make it feel fresh and fun. Add some a musical flair and a host of lovable characters, and it’s easy to see why Persona 5 is tied as PS4’s highest rated exclusive.
6. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Highest Rated Current Generation Games on Metacritic (Best Games)
SCORE – 93
Thankfully for all Metal Gear fans, even Kojima’s dire working conditions and eroding relationship with Konami wasn’t enough to unravel the masterpiece that is Metal Gear Solid V. Yes, there’s content missing from the story, and yes, that spoils the pacing of its third chapter somewhat, but The Phantom Pain excels so brilliantly elsewhere it hardly matters. You simply won’t experience a better handling third-person shooter, nor are there many graphical engines that run as butter-smooth as the Fox Engine. It is, however, MGSV’s emergent tactical open-world gameplay that is its true showpiece. There’s unrivaled strategic freedom to engage missions in all sorts of different ways, leading to endless replayability. Across the board, MGSV launched to critical acclaim with the highest Metacritic average for a multiplatform title.
5. Uncharted 4: A Theif’s End
Highest Rated Current Generation Games on Metacritic (Best Games)
SCORE – 93
Neil Druckman and his team at Naughty Dog have moved the goalposts once again with Uncharted 4, redefining the benchmark for cinematic presentation and storytelling in video games. Yet, A Thief’s End brings the series into the next generation with more than just a shiny new paint job. Beyond the engaging narrative and career-high performances from its cast, the addition of design features add depth to the most polished gameplay package in the series to date, and all without betraying the series roots. Level design is opened up, there’s a greater emphasis on stealth, and a simple but satisfying dialogue wheel all add a new dimension to gameplay without spoiling the series trademark adrenaline-pumping pace. As a result, Uncharted 4 reigns supreme as the leader of its genre for another generation.
3. God of War
Highest Rated Current Generation Games on Metacritic (Best Games)
SCORE – 94
Sony Santa Monica’s God of War is a remarkable game. It takes the series in a bold and fresh new direction, adding a depth to its protagonist and a narrative to rival the best action games of the generation. It takes plenty of cues from Naughty Dog titles such as The Last of Us and combines them with superb combat and brilliant level design.
It’s little wonder God of War is the PS4’s highest rated exclusive on Metacritic, averaging a stunning 94. Famously, director Cory Barlog was brought to tears watching the results come in on the day of its embargo release. Well done, sir, you deserve it!
3. Super Mario Odyssey
Highest Rated Current Generation Games on Metacritic (Best Games)
SCORE – 97
We all knew Super Mario Odyssey was going to be good. The series returns to the sandbox gameplay that turned the industry upside down with the debut of Mario 64 back in 1996, and then sent us into fever pitch again with Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2 on Nintendo Wii was hotly anticipated, and its success felt almost inevitable. But on this scale? Wow! Odyssey’s 97 Metacritic makes it among the highest rated games of all time, and the Nintendo Switch’s second 97 rated title in just six months. Its hugely impressive gameplay somehow manages to reinvent the wheel of the franchise, introducing innovative mechanics that have blown the gaming industry away, yet again. From the mind-controlling throwable Cappy Hat to the 3D to pixelated 2D side-scrolling mechanics, Mario’s bag of tricks has never been so entertaining to behold.
2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
SCORE – 97
Highest Rated Current Generation Games on Metacritic (Best Games)
After Skyward Sword’s divisive reception back on the Wii, the Zelda series needed a change of direction; something to breath new life into a beloved, iconic franchise. Boy, did Nintendo deliver on that, and so much more… Breath of the Wild took Zelda into the open-world genre, creating a vision of Hyrule on a grandiose scale. Yet the game does so much more than just widen Zelda’s scope, it incorporates mechanics and design choices that have reinvigorated the entire open-world genre, not just the Zelda series. Freely climbing and gliding, traversal never felt so good; tiny little details brought the environment to life; and the lack of waypoints or handholding made each discovery – shrine, faery, side quest, Korok seed, you name it – feel like a special achievement. And to cap it all off, the combat is a high watermark for the series, the Shrines are some of the most clever puzzles seen in Zelda, and its wonderful art style was as memorable as Wind Waker.
1. Red Dead Redemption 2
SCORE – 97
Highest Rated Current Generation Games on Metacritic (Best Games)
Rockstar Games pioneered open-world games as we know them today. Without exception, every console generation has produced a landmark title that has redefined the benchmark for the genre. With the release of Red Dead Redemption 2, the developer has once again risen to the occasion and moved the goalposts once again.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a triumph of video game design. From its incredible tiny details that bring to life its hyper-realistic sandbox to the incredible story and addictive gameplay, it’s a complete masterpiece. It might well be Rockstar’s best ever game. We certainly scored it full marks in our own review. As it happens, so did pretty much every other media outlet too.
Red Dead Redemption 2’s 97 Metacritic score is astonishing when you consider the number of publications we’re talking about here and the fact that it’s across two separate platforms. Unlike Nintendo exclusives, we’re having to weigh scores across PS4 and Xbox One. Not that that was hard given they’re both 97 and 98 respectively.
Over 100 publications scored the game an average of 97 or above, which should tell you everything you need to know about the quality of Red Dead Redemption 2.
