The 20 Best Video Games of 2019 So Far

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor – July 5, 2019

Which games impressed professional reviewers the most during the first half of the year? Above, we rank the best-reviewed videogames released between January 1, 2019 and June 30, 2019 by Metascore. If a game was released on multiple platforms, we included only the version receiving the largest total number of reviews (usually, but not always, the PS4 version). Newly released ports of games released in prior years on other platforms are excluded, unless they are substantially different from the prior release.

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85 #11 (tie): Total War: Three Kingdoms

After detouring into a few Warhammer-themed spinoffs, Creative Assembly's long-running strategy series (a blend of turned-based strategy with real-time battles) returned to its historical roots with this latest installment, set during ancient China (a first for the series). The year is 190CE, and your goal is to unite a fractured China under one of 11 playable warlords.

“I really don’t have sufficient superlatives to use here. Beyond best-in-setting and best-in-franchise, Total War: Three Kingdoms is a game that instantly contends for best of the year, or best in its genre. The setting and franchise here give it high expectations, and Three Kingdoms surpasses those expectations at almost every level.” —GamesBeat

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