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Preview data: all rankings, scores, votes, refresh labels, methodology, testing and editorial-process statements in Top 49 are illustrative demo content, not live measurements or documented reviews.
Video Games · refreshed quarterly
Best Video Games of the 2020s So Far
What actually earned its Game of the Year conversation, decade to date
This is a live, ongoing list covering only games released from 2020 onward, rescored as the decade continues. A few entries here are still picking up new expansions and updates, so positions can move more than almost anywhere else on Top 49. Remakes and remasters are eligible, but only judged on what the new release actually changed, not borrowed credit from the original.
15Entries ranked
226KReader votes
1 Jul 2026Data as of
The top three
Leading the list
Rank 01Editor’s pick
Baldur’s Gate 3
Larian Studios · 2023
Larian built a tabletop-faithful RPG where nearly every object in the world can be interacted with, climbed on, or set on fire, and somehow shipped it with a completion rate and voice-acting budget nobody thought a game this reactive could afford.
95.9/100 Top 49 score4Up 4Rank 02Editor’s pick
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Nintendo · 2023
Nintendo took Breath of the Wild’s open world and added Ultrahand, a building system so open-ended that players started constructing functional vehicles the design team never explicitly planned for.
95.0/100 Top 49 score3Up 3Rank 03Editor’s pick
Astro Bot
Team Asobi · 2024
Team Asobi built a platformer explicitly as a love letter to PlayStation’s own history, and the sheer craft of its level design earned Game of the Year honors in a field stacked with far bigger, more expensive productions.
92.9/100 Top 49 score1Down 1
Full ranking
All 15 ranked
Filter, re-sort or switch view — every combination is a shareable URL.
Showing 13–15 of 15 ranked entries.
- Rank 13. Split Fiction. Score 75.1 out of 100.2Up 2
Split Fiction
Hazelight Studios · 2025
Fares followed It Takes Two with another two-player-only game, this time splitting the story between sci-fi and fantasy genres simultaneously and swapping mechanics scene to scene faster than most single games manage in a whole campaign.
- Released
- 2025
- Developer
- Hazelight Studios
- Genre
- Platformer
75.1/100 Top 49 score - Rank 14. Disco Elysium: The Final Cut. Score 72.7 out of 100.3Down 3
Disco Elysium: The Final Cut
ZA/UM · 2021
ZA/UM built an RPG with no combat at all — every conflict resolves through a dice-rolled skill check against your own fractured psyche, voiced as a chorus of competing internal thoughts arguing about who you used to be.
- Released
- 2021
- Developer
- ZA/UM
- Genre
- RPG
72.7/100 Top 49 score - Rank 15. Cyberpunk 2077. Score 70.9 out of 100.1Down 1
Cyberpunk 2077
CD Projekt Red · 2020
CD Projekt Red shipped a broken, bug-riddled launch that nearly sank the studio’s reputation, then spent three years and a full expansion rebuilding the game into something close to the vision originally promised.
- Released
- 2020
- Developer
- CD Projekt Red
- Genre
- Action RPG
70.9/100 Top 49 scoreWas pulled from the PlayStation Store for months after its disastrous 2020 launch — a rare, drastic step for a major platform holder.
How this list is scored
Four criteria, weighted before the first entry
Decade-scoped and live: this list will keep changing as the 2020s continue, and major post-launch updates are factored back into a title’s score at each quarterly review.
- Design & mechanical polish 30%
- How well the shipped systems actually work together right now.
- Narrative & production quality 25%
- Writing, performance and visual craft judged against the current state of the art.
- Cultural conversation 25%
- How much the game is actively shaping conversation in and beyond its genre.
- Value & post-launch support 20%
- Whether ongoing updates have improved or eroded the experience since release.
Questions
About this ranking
Why does a launch-troubled game like Cyberpunk 2077 still make this list?
It is scored on its current, patched state, with the rocky launch recorded directly in the entry rather than hidden. The 2023 expansion and 2.0 update earned back enough quality to justify inclusion.
Are two-player-only games like It Takes Two and Split Fiction penalised for requiring a co-op partner?
No, though it is noted as a genuine access consideration in the write-up. The design achievement of building a game with zero single-player compromise is scored on its own considerable merits.
How can a small indie game like Balatro outrank a massive studio production?
Design and mechanical polish are scored on execution, not budget. A tightly designed solo-developer project can and does outscore a bigger production with a less focused core loop.
How often is this list updated?
Quarterly — this list moves the fastest of any in the Video Games category, since a single major release can realistically crack the top five within one edition.
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Explore more of Top 49
Top 49 rankings are editorial. Scores are produced from the published criteria on each list and are refreshed on the cadence stated there. Figures shown across this section are curated demonstration data.