With a 96 metascore, Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time is the highest rated game of 2026

Turns out that Ocarina of Time remake for the Switch 2 is pretty decent, then. And by ‘pretty decent’, we mean the highest-rated game of 2026 by critics, and the 29th-highest rated of all time on reviews aggregator Metacritic.

Top of that list is some obscure RPG from 1998 called… The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that this modernisation turned out so well, if that’s the pedigree it has to work with. Then again, GTA Trilogy: Definitive Edition managed to turn not one but three all-timers into… well, it does not feature on Metacritic’s highest rated games of all time, let’s put it that way.

Of course, 2026 isn’t over yet, and it’s possible that Link will only have the next three weeks to revel in his GOTY status before Rockstar comes to town with that new open-world game it’s been working on. But let’s let this game have the first half of November to do its victory lap.

It’s been a fairly good year for RPG fans, with the Witcher 3 remake arriving in October as a free upgrade for owners of the existing game. Before that, Nioh 3, Blood of the Dawnwalker and Gothic 1 Remake also arrived in our quest log.

But none have received the critical acclaim of Nintendo’s brave and thoughtful reimagining of an N64 classic. This new Ocarina of Time changes a great deal from the original, but its great trick is instilling that same childlike sense of magic in you as you play now that players felt nearly 30 years ago.

Which titles is it rubbing shoulders with on Metacritic’s all-time rankings? Well, it’s three places higher than the original Gran Turismo on PlayStation, the game that invented cars.

It also sits above The Last of Us, GTA Vice City and San Andreas, and seminal isometric RPG Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn. A fine showing, then.

Will it be one place lower in the immediate aftermath of 19 November? Place your bets now.