Destiny 2: The Final Shape debuts as 2024's best-rated game, beating Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Balatro

Despite being an expansion, Destiny 2: The Final Shape is the year's highest-rated release so far. 

Bungie did the seemingly impossible and closed out the Light and Darkness Saga (which had been enduring for 10 years) with a bang in the game's eighth expansion, the Final Shape. Guardians everywhere finally went head-to-head with the big baddie the Witness, but the bigger triumph came from how damn good the whole package is.

Destiny 2: The Final Shape currently enjoys an aggregate score of 93 based on 12 reviews posted on Metacritic. That also makes the expansion 2024's best-rated game, surpassing moreish roguelike Balatro, moody metroidvania Animal Well, and dethroning Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, which previously held the crown. 

Since The Final Shape is an expansion, other games on the list have far more reviews attached to their Metascores, and thus, a broader range of opinions that could drag those numbers down. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's score is based on around 140 reviews, for instance. Regardless, The Final Shape's aim is squarely focused on people who've followed the looter shooter for the past decade, and that comparatively smaller sample size has few complaints for Destiny 2's conclusion of the Light and Darkness Saga.

The Final Shape might have wrapped up one arc, but Bungie still has grand plans for the series' Year 11. The studio recently detailed Destiny 2's upcoming seasonal content with Episode: Echoes, Episode: Revenant, and Episode Heresy all coming this year. Meanwhile, a mysterious Codename: Frontiers was teased for 2025. Alongside supporting the long-running shooter, Bungie is also hammering away on its Marathon reboot.

Check out the new games of 2024 to keep track of every other exciting release.