The Best Video Games of All Time, Ranked

The best game of all time by critical score is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which holds a 99 on Metacritic — the highest aggregate score any game has ever reached. Behind it, a tight pack shares 97 and 98, including Grand Theft Auto IV, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, Breath of the Wild and Red Dead Redemption 2. This ranking uses critic consensus to cut through decades of debate, spanning every era and platform.

Below are the best video games of all time ranked by Metacritic score, with release year and platform. Scores are the headline critic aggregate for each game’s lead platform; where titles tie, the more influential game is placed higher.

The best games of all time, ranked

Ranked by Metacritic score. Year is the original release; platform is the lead reviewed version.

Why Ocarina of Time still leads

No game has matched Ocarina of Time’s 99 in more than 25 years. It arrived when the industry was working out how 3D worlds should feel, and it solved problems — camera, targeting, pacing — that everything after it copied. The rest of the top tier is a mix of Nintendo’s polish (the Mario Galaxy games, Breath of the Wild, Odyssey) and Rockstar’s ambition (GTA IV, GTA V, Red Dead Redemption 2), with modern classics like Elden Ring and Baldur’s Gate 3 proving the medium keeps hitting new peaks.

The games that changed everything

Four titles that reshaped what games could be.

This is the definitive companion to our decade rankings — read it alongside our best games of the 2000s and best games of the 2010s lists. Commercial success often follows critical acclaim, as our best-selling video games of all time ranking shows.

Best game of all time by genre

The highest-rated game in each major genre.

For where all this history leads today, our best open-world games and best RPGs rankings pick up the modern greats.

Best games of all time FAQ