By Even more than 2024, this year was an outright strange one in the world of entertainment.
Film talk is currently dominated not by discussion of the box-office potentially bouncing back, but whether cinemas in their current form will still exist in a few years. Windows and production slates are shrinking, AI is rising, and more and more people drift away from cinema that’s not an ‘event’.
The wave of strong TV in late 2024 and early 2025 has mostly died out in the back half of the year, as some usually consistent shows had relatively unremarkable seasons, and only one or two launches have caught much attention.
Then there’s gaming, where skyrocketing prices in terms of hardware, software, DLC and more have resulted in even some of the most hardcore gamers feeling burned out and turned off by the unrelenting money-grabbing at every level that’s going on.
Now, Metacritic.com has unveiled its annual list of what films, games and TV shows were the best of the year based on the aggregate scores of the top critics.
As per usual, I’ve divided the lists into three sections – films, TV shows and major video games. Each section lists the titles nabbing the best critical scores and those that just missed out. Most titles have to have over 15-20 reviews to be considered, which is why some high-scoring works are not included. Here’s the full breakdown:
Best Films
1. “One Battle After Another” – 95/100
2. “The Secret Agent” – 92/100
3. “It Was Just an Accident,” “Marty Supreme” – 91/100
4. “Sorry, Baby” – 90/100
5. “Train Dreams” – 88/100
6. “Caught by the Tides,” “Familiar Touch,” “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl” – 87/100
7. “Sentimental Value,” “No Other Choice” – 86/100
8. “Black Bag,” “I’m Still Here” – 85/100
9. “Sinners,” “Eephus,” “Resurrection,” “Universal Language” – 84/100
10. “Hamnet,” “The Perfect Neighbor,” “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,” “Misericordia” – 83/100
Other titles that just missed out include “Weapons,” “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery,” “Grand Theft Hamlet,” “The Mastermind,” “Twinless,” “Rebuilding,” “Frankenstein,” “The Chronology of Water,” “Warfare,” “Predator: Killer of Killers,” “Blue Moon,” “The Ballad of Wallis Island,” “Kpop Demon Hunters,” “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” and “Urchin”.
Best TV Series
The reviews for shows on the site are often for the first few episodes of the season, others are for the whole run. As usual, at least eight reviews must be included to be considered:
1. “Adolescence” – 95/100
2. “Andor” S2 – 92/100
3. “Hacks” S4 – 91/100
4. “Long Story Short” S1 – 89/100
5. “The Rehearsal” S2 – 88/100
6. “Pluribus” S1, “Severance” S2 – 87/100
7. “The Lowdown” – 86/100
8. “Alien: Earth,” “Best Interests,” “Slow Horses” S4 – 85/100
9. “The Diplomat” S3 – 84/100
10. “The Narrow Road to the Deep North,” “Dying for Sex,” “Ballard” S1 – 83/100
Other titles that just missed out include “Toxic Town,” “The Chair Company,” “The Last of Us” S2, “Death by Lightning,” “The Studio” S1, “Common Side Effects,” “A Thousand Blows” S1, “Peacemaker” S2, “The Pitt” S1, “Ludwig,” “Slow Horses” S5, “Task,” “Platonic,” “The White Lotus” S3 and “Fallout” S2.
Best Video Games
Scoring for games on the site is messy as episodic releases, DLC add-on packs and iOS games are often given their own scores. To keep the list reasonable, I’m sticking to full-game releases or major DLC only and with a minimum review count of fifteen:
1. “Hades II” – 95/100
2. “Blue Prince,” “Clair Obscur: Expedition 33” – 92/100
3. “Split Fiction,” “Donkey Kong Bananza” – 91/100
4. “Hollow Knight: Silksong” – 90/100
5. “Death Stranding 2: On the Beach” – 89/100
6. “Dispatch,” “Kingdom Come: Deliverance,” “Monster Hunter Wilds,” “Sword of the Sea” – 88/100
7. “Shinobi: Art of Vengeance,” “Skate Story,” “Monster Train 2,” “Lumines Arise” – 87/100
8. “Ghost of Yotei,” “Mario Kart World,” “Silent Hill f,” “ARC Raiders,” “Absolum” – 86/100
9. “Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater,” “The Alters,” “Citizen Sleeper 2,” “Europa Universalis V,” “Yakuza 0: Director’s Cut,” “The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy” – 85/100
10. “Two Point Museum,” “Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound,” “Anno 117: Pax Romana,” “System Shock 2: Remaster,” “Keep Driving,” “Octopath Traveler 0,” “Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake,” “The Drifter,” “Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist,” “Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection,” “BALL x PIT” – 84/100
Other titles that just missed out include “Doom: The Dark Ages,” “The Outer Worlds 2,” “Battlefield 6,” “Sonic Racing Crossworlds,” “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2,” “Ninja Gaiden 4,” “NBA 2K26,” “Jurassic World Evolution 3,” “Assassin’s Creed Shadows,” “Borderlands 4,” “Marvel Cosmic Invasion,” and “Bionic Bay”.
The post Metacritic’s Top Films, Shows, Games Of 2025 appeared first on Dark Horizons.
