Ranking 2023's best games by Metacritic User Score

We’ve picked out the games released in 2023 with the highest Metacritic User Score.

While most people pay attention to how the critics score video games, there is always the opportunity for you to have your say with Metacritic’s User Score system. Here people can give a game their own score out of ten and write up their thoughts on the game. There are plenty of people on there who genuinely review the games they play, but there are also a lot of strange and reactionary people on there who have given the system a bit of a reputation for weird choices.

However, that just makes it all the more interesting to see what Metacritic users thought the best games of 2023 were. We’ve scoured the platform and picked out the games released in 2023 with the highest Metacritic User Score. We’ll also highlight what the critics thought of each game, so you can compare the difference between the two.

Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express

Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express may not be the best-reviewed game of 2023, but players were pleased with its puzzles / Microids

• User Score: 9.0
• Critic Score: 73

Already we have a game where the users noticeably disagreed with the critics.

Most users noted that the portrayal of Poirot as a character wasn’t the best, but were pleased with the puzzle design and the general way in which the mystery unfolded. Murder on the Orient Express is already one of the finest detective stories of all time, so that side of things was never in question, but critics were overall a little harsher on the gameplay.

Drawing From Memory

Drawing From Memory is similar to some Jackbox games, but it still managed to earn a high score from players / Lekker spelen, Kud

• User Score: 9.0
• Critic Score: N/A

Now we have a game that doesn’t have a single review from critics, but it makes sense why.

This game takes a similar approach to the Jackbox games or things like Gartic Phone, serving mostly as a fun game for streamers to play, either with friends or with their audience. It gives you a basic premise of drawing characters from memory and then lets the users make their own fun by doing ridiculous drawings that everyone gets to point and laugh at.

Pikmin 4

Pikmin 4 was one of the best games of 2023, both for critics and players / Nintendo

• User Score: 9.0
• Critic Score: 87

One the critics and users more or less agree on, Pikmin 4 was definitely a highlight of 2023. A decade after the last game in the series, Pikmin 4 evolved the formula in ways that were almost universally positively received. Fans of the franchise up until now were happy with it, and it managed to pull plenty of new people on board, too, thanks to the Switch’s wide reach.

RoboCop: Rogue City

Unlike critics, fans seemed pleased with RobCop: Rogue City / Nacon

• User Score: 9.0
• Critic Score: 72

RoboCop: Rogue City divided critics quite a lot, so it’s a surprise to see users so wholeheartedly behind it. Users appreciated how well it captured the vibe of the movies and simply enjoyed running around shooting things as the titular robotic cop. Some critics found it a bit more tiresome, but RoboCop fans were clearly pleased with what they got.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 gave fans more of what they wanted from the series / Sony Interactive Entertainment

• User Score: 9.1
• Critic Score: 90

This was one of the most highly-anticipated sequels of the year and both users and critics agree that it delivered in exactly the ways they wanted. It progresses the stories set forth in the first game and Miles Morales while bringing plenty of cool new villains, powers, and surprises into the game. Even putting the main story to one side, it serves as the best possible playground to simply be Spider-Man.

Scramballed!

The addictive chicken tennis game proved fun enough to earn players' approval :: Unboxed Experience / 11Sheep

• User Score: 9.1
• Critic Score: N/A

Scramballed! doesn’t look like much worth shouting about at a glance, which is probably why no critic covered it, but users found that it’s a fun and addictive little party game. You play as chickens who are batting their eggs back and forth in a fast-paced game best played on a couch with friends that can have you whooping and hollering if you get into it.

Star Ocean: The Second Story R

Star Ocean: The Second Story R was well received by fans of the original PS1 game / Square Enix

• User Score: 9.1
• Critic Score: 86

This remake of the PS1 Star Ocean game was well-received by most, bringing some scenes to life with beautiful 2D animation, while setting the game in what looks like a different take on the HD-2D style of games like Octopath Traveler or Live A Live. While it didn’t make waves that far out of the Star Ocean fan base, said fan base is happy with it, which is what’s important.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Super Mario Bros. Wonder was praised by both critics and fans / Nintendo

• User Score: 9.2
• Critic Score: 92

Here we have a rare case where users and critics are perfectly aligned. Mario Wonder was the shot in the arm the 2D Mario games desperately needed after years of the “New Super Mario Bros” style. It mixed up the visual style, injected weird and wild new mechanics, and even gave us a new voice for Mario himself. Most importantly, it felt like the kind of 2D platformer that only Nintendo could’ve made.

Resident Evil 4 Remake: Separate Ways

Separate Ways earned a higher user score than the Resident Evil 4 remake base game / Capcom

• User Score: 9.2
• Critic Score: 88

While the main game of RE4R got just a 7.9 from users, the DLC got a much more generous score, likely because only fans of the game bothered to come back and review it. Much like many thought RE4 was already an all-time great, people thought the same of Separate Ways, and this remake did it justice like all of Capcom’s other Resident Evil remakes have to date.

WarioWare: Move it!

WarioWare Move It! is weird and niche, but it has its dedicated fanbase / Nintendo

• User Score: 9.3
• Critic Score: 75

The WarioWare games are about as weird and wild as it gets, not to mention niche. Plus, even though it was 2021, it still feels like the last one only just came out. Still, they’re a set of games that have a dedicated fan base, even if a lot of critics don’t really get it. 

Slay the Princess

You may have missed Slay the Princess, but both critics and fans who played it concur it's must-play / Black Tabby Games

• User Score: 9.6
• Critic Score: 92

A game that slipped under the radar of many, but just about everyone that plays it has nothing but positive things to say. All you have to do is Slay the Princess, but of course, there’s more to it than that. This pencil-drawn game disturbingly depicts all of the twists and turns in store here that you should definitely see for yourself.

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