Originally published on DropThe.org.
Sixty percent of the 50 highest-rated games ever made are over a decade old. The median release year is 2015. And the oldest games on the list — from the early ’90s — have the highest average ratings of any era.
We analyzed 5K+ rated games across the DropThe database of 50K+ titles. Filtered for games with at least 50 user ratings to cut noise. What came back is a top 50 that reads less like a modern bestseller list and more like a museum catalog.
The Top 10 Highest-Rated Games of All Time
The number one spot belongs to Grand Theft Auto V, still sitting at 99.3 after more than a decade. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt follows at 98.0 with over 560 ratings. Third place goes to Bloodborne at 97.1 — a game that still hasn’t left PlayStation.
| Rank | Game | Rating | Year | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grand Theft Auto V | 99.3 | 2013 | Rockstar Games |
| 2 | The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (GOTY) | 98.0 | 2016 | CD Projekt RED |
| 3 | Bloodborne (GOTY) | 97.1 | 2015 | FromSoftware |
| 4 | Animal Company | 96.6 | 2024 | — |
| 5 | The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past | 96.2 | 1991 | Nintendo EAD |
| 6 | Super Mario World | 96.1 | 1990 | Nintendo EAD |
| 7 | Super Metroid | 96.1 | 1994 | Nintendo R&D1 |
| 8 | Suikoden II | 95.9 | 1998 | Konami |
| 9 | Elden Ring | 95.5 | 2022 | FromSoftware |
| 10 | The Last of Us Remastered | 95.4 | 2014 | Naughty Dog |
Five of the top 10 came out before 2015. Two are from the 1990s. The gaming industry ships thousands of titles a year with bigger budgets, better engines, and more developers than ever. The ratings don’t care.
The Decade Breakdown Tells the Real Story
Split the top 50 by decade and the pattern gets uncomfortable for anyone selling “next-gen” as a quality guarantee.
Pre-2000
8 games
avg 94.7
2000s
7 games
avg 93.8
2010s
22 games
avg 94.1
2020s
13 games
avg 93.8
Source: DropThe.org | 5K+ rated games across 50K+ titles
The 2010s dominate with 22 entries. But here’s the thing — pre-2000 games, with just 8 entries, have the highest average rating at 94.7. Games made on hardware with less processing power than a modern dishwasher score higher than anything released this decade.
This is an excerpt. Read the full analysis with charts and data on DropThe.org
About DropThe
DropThe is a data platform tracking 1.83 million entities across movies, games, companies, people, and crypto — connected by 2.18 million knowledge graph links. We don't guess. We count.
Top comments (0)