Red Dead Redemption 2 mows down competition – Metacritic's 2018 best of

Metacritic shared lists of the most successful games of the past twelve months, which there was quite a lot of. According to the data published by the popular website aggregating scores awarded by journalists from the around the web, between 1 January and 31 December 2018, as many as seventeen outstanding positions (those with an average score above 90/100 from at least seven reviews) were released. In 2017, there were only ten, and in 2016 – six.

Arthur and Lenny have something to celebrate – Red Dead Redemption II was the best-rated game of last year.

The greatest number of the best games – nine (or eight, if you don't want to count Bayonetta + Bayonetta 2 compilation) – was released on Nintendo Switch. That’s interesting, however, there was only one Switch exclusive among them – the brawler Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, released last month. Other games that managed to get an average score of 90/100 or higher are multiplatform productions such as Undertale, Celeste or Dead Cells.

Both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One got seven outstanding games last year (according to reviewers). Red Dead Redemption II was, of course, the greatest of these. The latest work of Rockstar Games can boast an average score of 97/100 on both platforms, which is the highest in the past twelve months (and identical to the Switch version of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild from 2017). As far as exclusive titles are concerned, the Sony console was owned by God of War (94/100). Things are different with Xbox One this year, since, as we know, Microsoft has departed from the tradition of releasing exclusives. However, if we consider games released only for Xbox One and PC as Microsoft exclusives, then Forza Horizon 4 (92/100) will be on the very top.

The PC is at the last place on the list of platforms with the highest number of outstanding games in 2018 – only one PC game reached an average of 90/100 (based on at least seven reviews). It was Into the Breach – an independent, turn-based strategy from Subset Games studio, i.e. creators of FTL: Faster Than Light, a game considered cult in certain circles. On the other hand, according to Metacritic data, the PC has the most exclusive titles that are at least good (i.e. with an average of 75/100 or more) and can boast the highest average in terms of all the games released for that platform in 2018 (72.3/100).

Although last year, theoretically as many as 24 positions reached an average rating of at least 90/100 on Metacritic, excluding doubles and compilations, only 17 games remain.

The lists prepared by Metacritic also show that portable consoles are still in decline. Let’s just mention that in 2018, only five games reached an average score of 75% on 3DS and PlayStation Vita. Unfortunately, there are almost no chances for any improvement. Sony has long since abandoned support for its handheld. Nintendo, on the other hand, is currently interested in the development of the increasingly popular Switch, which also has a mobile function.

Portable consoles’ heyday is long gone.

Here is the list of the highest-rated games of 2018 according to Metacritic:

Highest rated games on all platforms with an average of at least 90/100

PlayStation 4 Top 10

Xbox One Top 10

Nintendo Switch Top 10

Undertale delighted the users of the Nintendo Switch last year.

PC Top 10

Highest-rated handheld games

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