The Best PC Games of 2022

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor – January 1, 2023

Which PC games impressed professional reviewers the most during the past year? We rank the best-reviewed titles released between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022 by Metascore. Games must have at least 7 reviews from professional critics to be eligible for inclusion. (All scores listed here are from December 31, 2022.)

8 of 14 photo by Crows Crows Crows

90 The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe

(#6) It's not often that we get to include a game whose reviews are incorporated into the game itself, but that's the case with this new version of an existentialist adventure set in an office where all workers other than your character, the titular Stanley, have suddenly vanished. Over a decade ago, a mysterious indie game called The Stanley Parable —itself a stand-alone version of a Half-Life 2 mod created by a 22-year-old gamer-turned-developer in 2011—quickly became a hit with gamers and critics alike. This year brought a revised version of the game that not only updates the visuals to modern standards—and brings Stanley to consoles for the first time—but also expands the game with new content, new endings, and a bucket.

“Thinking of The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe as just a remaster or a sequel to the original would be doing it an immense disservice. Yes, it's The Stanley Parable with more content and on new platforms. But it's also much more than that: it's a criticism of the industry's over-reliance on DLCs and sequel, it's a tale that makes us reflect on what videogames are and should be, and it's a powerful window on Davey Wreden's evolution since the original. Unmissable.” —The Games Machine

Where To Buy