The Witcher 3 Remastered has become 2026’s highest-rated video game on Metacritic, displacing indie title Big Walk with an average score of 94 out of 100.
CD Projekt released The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered on September 29 as a free upgrade for owners of the original 2015 game across all platforms. More than a decade after its first appearance, Geralt has returned to collect another flattering number from critics. Retirement remains unavailable.
The top of Metacritic’s 2026 rankings has changed several times this year. In August, Big Walk moved ahead of fellow indie release Mina the Hollower and Xbox exclusive Forza Horizon 6. Its stay at number one lasted until the remaster arrived.
How secure is its Metacritic score?
At the time of reporting, the remastered edition’s 94 average came from only eight published reviews. Every review was strongly positive, but the small sample means the score could still move as more verdicts are added.
A run of similarly enthusiastic reviews would probably limit any decline. Less generous scores could bring the game back toward the rest of the leading group. Metacritic averages are useful, but they are not immune to basic mathematics, which has once again arrived to interrupt the celebrations.
Even with that qualification, the result gives CD Projekt another major critical success for its fantasy role-playing game. The original release ranked among 2015’s best-reviewed titles, finishing behind Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain that year.
Big Walk, meanwhile, has fallen from 94 to 91 as additional reviews have been counted. It now shares second place with Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter, a remake of the 2006 role-playing game, and the Doom: The Dark Ages | Revelations expansion.
Does a remaster count as 2026’s best game?
The ranking creates an obvious problem: the current leader is an improved version of a game released in 2015, rather than a wholly new production. The remaster refines the original and includes changes, particularly to combat, but its quests, characters and world are already well established.
Metacritic’s platform-specific listings make the picture more complicated. The 2025 twin-stick shooter Sektori is technically tied for first place after its Nintendo Switch 2 version launched in 2026 and earned the same 94 average.
A similar situation occurred in 2025. The Switch 2 edition of 2023’s The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom finished as the year’s joint highest-rated release alongside Hades 2.
None of this makes the reviews invalid. It does mean that “highest-rated game of the year” can include an older title wearing newer technical specifications. Metacritic records what critics reviewed on each platform, not whether the underlying game was built from scratch that year.
Could another release take the lead?
The rankings may change again before the end of 2026. Grand Theft Auto 6 is still scheduled to arrive and is widely expected to score well, although expectations do not count toward an aggregate. Critics insist on playing the game first, an inconvenient but generally sensible requirement.
Nintendo’s remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is another possible challenger. Its critical reception may depend on how successfully it updates one of the company’s most celebrated games. Fans of the original are likely to examine every alteration closely.
Review totals will also continue to affect the existing leaders. The remaster’s current advantage remains narrow because it is based on so few scores, while games such as Big Walk already demonstrate how an average can fall when more outlets publish their assessments.
What are 2026’s highest-rated original releases?
If ports, re-releases and downloadable expansions are removed from consideration, Metacritic’s leading 2026 games currently look like this:
- Big Walk
- Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter
- Forza Horizon 6
- Well Dweller
- Valheim
- Mina the Hollower
- Schrodinger’s Call
- Pokémon Pokopia
- Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave
- Resident Evil Requiem
That version of the table gives Big Walk first place, although it still includes Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter, which is itself a remake. Apparently, even attempts to produce a cleaner ranking require footnotes.
For now, CD Projekt’s upgraded RPG holds the official lead, tied with Sektori depending on how platform releases are counted. Eight reviews have been enough to put it there. The rest of the year will determine whether it stays.
