Right now, OpenCritic’s “All Time” ranking is the battleground for a showdown between two greats: Elden Ring and Super Mario Odyssey, with the latter just clinging to its top spot as of this writing, but that’s fluctuated as Elden Ring reviews have come in over the course of the day:
OpenCritic aggregates review scores from “hundreds of online publications, blogs, and channels and compiles it all into one page,” so nabbing the top spot is a big deal that takes widespread critical opinion into account. Until today, Nintendo Switch games Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild held the #1 and #2 overall spots respectively, for all games on OpenCritic since 2013, but Elden Ring is now crowding their turf.
No, Elden Ring is not out yet, but due to early reviews and hype, it is already in competition for “Best Game of the Year,” if not every year accounted for on OpenCritic. The game was directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki, and made in collaboration with A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones fantasy novelist George R. R. Martin, who provided material for the game’s setting. It comes out tomorrow on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S—notably not on the Switch.
Elden Ring takes place in the realm of the Lands Between, sometime after the destruction of the titular Elden Ring and the scattering of its shards, the Great Runes. Once graced by the Ring and the Erdtree which symbolizes its presence, the realm is now ruled over by the demigod offspring of Queen Marika the Eternal, each possessing a shard of the Ring that corrupts and taints them with power. As Tarnished—exiles from the Lands Between who lost the Ring’s grace and are summoned back after the Shattering, players must traverse the realm to ultimately find all the Great Runes, restore the Elden Ring, and become the Elden Lord.
(via IGN)
The Bandai-created game is an action role-playing game, which you play in a third-person perspective with gameplay focusing on combat and exploration. It sounds super exciting, and I’m looking forward to playing it. With its “universal acclaim” and hype around it, I’m sure it will do well.
As for Super Mario Odyssey, it came out in 2017 and has been cited as one of the best games in the Mario series. Eventually, the game went on to win several awards and sold nearly 23 million copies by December 2021. This made it one of the best-selling Switch games and the fastest-selling game in the series.
Explore incredible places far from the Mushroom Kingdom as you join Mario and his new ally Cappy on a massive, globe-trotting 3D adventure. Use amazing new abilities—like the power to capture and control objects, animals, and enemies—to collect Power Moons so you can power up the Odyssey airship and save Princess Peach from Bowser’s wedding plans!
Thanks to heroic, hat-shaped Cappy, Mario’s got new moves that’ll make you rethink his traditional run-and-jump gameplay—like cap jump, cap throw, and capture. Use captured cohorts such as enemies, objects, and animals to progress through the game and uncover loads of hidden collectibles.
(via Nintendo)
Regardless of which game wins in these rankings, it seems we both win by getting to play them. What would be your #1 Best Game of All Time?
(via Nintendo Life, image: Nintendo)
