Astro Bot has overtaken both Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC and Metaphor: ReFantazio to become the highest rated game on Metacritic this year.
It's been a competitive year for great games, and Astro Bot seems to have just edged in front of the competition on Metacritic. All three games actually tie in terms of their overall score of 94, but Astro Bot has 139 reviews compared to Shadow of the Erdtree's 70 and Metaphor: ReFantazio's 53.
Astro Bot managed to edge out this win after picking up a perfect 10 score in Game Grin's review which came out just three days ago, November 26. It reads: "From beginning to end, Astro Bot is a charming, stunning platformer that looks gorgeous and plays flawlessly," and cites the "brilliantly designed levels, incredibly responsive platforming, and an absurdly charming cast of characters" as reasons for why the game is so good.
Out of these three games the only one I've played this year is Shadow of the Erdtree, and I feel strange calling it a full game and seeing it nominated for Game of the Year. I love it, but watching DLC, even one as huge as Shadow of the Erdtree, against new games feels odd. But by that logic, why not discount sequels, too?
If you're in the mood for more critical darlings, you should read our list of the best games of 2024 so far.
