James Lucas is an Executive Editor from Newcastle, England. They have written for sites like IGN, NME, GaymingMag, and VG247, with a special focus on FPS games, Soulslikes, and survival horror.
Happy New Year! Tonight, we not only close the book on 2025, but come one step closer to the end of the ’20s, so let’s look back at the triumphs made in gaming over the last few years, and who’s leading the charge as the defining game of the decade thus far.
We will be discounting ports, DLC, and next-gen upgrades for our rankings. Remasters and remakes, however, will be included. All data is pulled from Metacritic.
The top 20 games right now are as follows:
Persona 5 Royal would have been #4, but it has been omitted as it was released in Japan in 2019.
Baldur’s Gate 3, Elden Ring, and Tears of the Kingdom each hold an impressive score of 96/100, but Larian’s critical darling edges out the top spot because Metacritic gives different weightings to each publication. For example, a site with tenured writers “might be worth a little more in the overall average,” founder Marc Doyle explained to GamesIndustry.biz.
“It doesn’t have a radical impact on our final numbers, but we do give a little bit more influence to the highly respected veteran critics,” he continued.
Zelda, GTA, Mario: The Best Games Of Each Decade
To put Baldur’s Gate 3’s ranking into perspective, here’s how it compares to the top games of each preceding decade:
’90s: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (99)
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It’s difficult to predict what the top games of the 2020s might look like in a few years, but Larian has some steep competition on its radar, from Grand Theft Auto 6 and The Witcher 4 to The Elder Scrolls 6 and possibly even Half-Life 3, all vying for its crown. Not to mention that, if Larian releases Divinity within the next four years, it might even dethrone itself.
M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence
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