It’s not your imagination: The first half of 2023 has been a remarkably great year for video games. In just over five months, we’ve gotten almost as many critically acclaimed games as we have over an entire calendar year in the past. And while the reasons for this are myriad–including the pandemic impacting game development and subsequent delays–the fact remains that this year is significant, and likely to be remembered as one of the best years in gaming history for some time to come.
Reviews certainly aren’t the only measure of a game’s quality, but it’s a helpful metric for comparison. According to GameSpot sister site Metacritic, 2023 has already seen five games with an average Metacritic score of 90 or above. Those include, in order:
- The Legend Of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (95)
- Metroid Prime Remastered (94)
- Street Fighter 6 (93)
- Resident Evil 4 (93)
- Diablo 4 (92)
There are other critically acclaimed games that just barely missed the 90-or-above cut, like Dead Space and Hi-Fi Rush, at a Metacritic score of 89 each. This library of acclaimed games also notably runs the gamut–from open-world adventure to fighting to horror and more. (It is notable, however, that Hi-Fi Rush is the lone new franchise on the list. Sequels and remakes are doing very well, while new IP like Forspoken and Redfall have struggled. That justifiably raises concerns regarding freshness in the gaming industry, which is a related topic worth its own consideration.)