Here’s The First ‘Top 10’ Metacritic List Of 2025 For Xbox Series X|S

The best-reviewed games of the year so far

Every now and again, we like to check up on Metacritic and see how things are faring with the reviewers, and even though we’re not even technically through two months of the year yet, we’ve already got our first top 10 list of 2025.

So, if you’re new to it all, the way Metacritic works is that it only ranks games with at least seven professional reviews for that platform. There are 13 Xbox games that meet this requirement for 2025 so far, and we’ll list the 10 with the best scores. Metacritic’s scores are based on averages, and in this situation we’re using the reviews for Series X|S.

Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii (89)
Monster Hunter Wilds (89)
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (87)
Ninja Gaiden 2 Black (81)
Avowed (81)
Dynasty Warriors: Origins (79)
PGA Tour 2K25 (79)
Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter (78)
Eternal Strands (75)
Sniper Elite: Resistance (73)

However, if we throw every platform into the mix, we interestingly get more Xbox Series X|S titles in there!

The reason for this is that certain games – such as Citizen Sleeper 2 and Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders, haven’t yet received enough professional reviews for Xbox, but they have for another platform.

The scores also get jumbled up – Monster Hunter Wilds has a 90 for PS5, for example, whereas it’s only 89 for Xbox.

So, here’s how the top 10 looks if we include all potential platforms:

Monster Hunter Wilds (90)
Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector (90)
Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth (89)
Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii (89)
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (88)
Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders (87)
The Rootrees are Dead (85)
Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist (84)
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage – Tape 1 (84)
Dynasty Warriors: Origins (84)

For us, the takeaway here is that things can change a lot from platform to platform, and ultimately it’s never worth putting too much stock into Metacritic scores. They’re still interesting to analyse from a distance though, and clearly we’ve seen some amazing games in 2025 already, even though we’re only just a few weeks into the year!

There’s so much that’s set to change even in the month ahead as well, with the likes of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Atomfall, Split Fiction and so much more on the way in March. We’re particularly interested to see which Xbox first-party title will come out on top by the end of 2025 – could it be DOOM: The Dark Ages or South of Midnight maybe?!

What do you make of these Metacritic scores for early 2025? Let us know down in the comments below.

[source metacritic.com]

Fraser is the News Editor at Pure Xbox, where he spends his time reporting on the biggest stories in the world of Xbox and beyond.

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