Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Sandfall Interactive’s critically acclaimed RPG, is no longer the highest-rated game of 2025.
According to Metacritic’s list of top-rated games released so far this year, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom now leads the competition with a Metascore of 95, two points higher than Expedition 33’s 93.
It might seem odd that Nintendo’s lauded follow-up to Breath of the Wild, released in 2023, has returned to the conversation two years after the fact, but this is due to the Switch 2. Metacritic considers Tears of the Kingdom’s upgraded Switch 2 version to be a standalone release, explaining its designation as a 2025 game.
This separation is further outlined by the fact that the original version of Tears of the Kingdom actually has a higher Metascore of 96, the same as Baldur’s Gate 3. Both shared the honor of being the joint highest-rated games of 2023.
Zelda everywhere
While Tears of the Kingdom shares its throne with no other game, Expedition 33 is now in joint second place with another Zelda game.
It and Breath of the Wild, which also received an upgraded Switch 2 re-release, share a 93 score, are trailed closely by Blue Prince and Split Fiction at 92 and 91, respectively.
As always, scores can rise and fall as belated reviews roll in and new games are released, so these rankings could still change.
Barring any sleeper hits, Ghost of Yotei, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, and Silent Hill f stand the biggest chance of making a splash in the top ranks. We won’t know until 2025 comes to a close, either way.
Zelda isn’t the only first-party Nintendo franchise that’s benefited from the Switch 2’s superior hardware. Check out the full list of upgraded titles and their respective enhancements.
