Hades 2 Seizes 2025’s Top Metacritic Crown — Is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s GOTY Sweep Already Doomed?

Well, that escalated quickly. Hades 2 just showed up to the 2025 party with review scores that edge past the original and basically leapfrog the field. Not bad for a game that has technically been in our lives since early access over a year ago.

The numbers (and the fine print)

• Hades 2 is sitting at 94 on Metacritic and 93 on OpenCritic.
• Versus Hades 1: it is 1 point higher on Metacritic, and it matches the original on OpenCritic.
• Metacritic placement: currently the third highest rated game of the year, behind two Switch 2 Zelda ports (ports of older games, so not 2025 originals), and ahead of the previous 2025 high-water mark of 93 set by Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
• OpenCritic placement: Hades 2 lands at 93, which is above Expedition 33 at 92. The only thing ahead of it is Shujinkou at 94, a Japanese language learning–JRPG hybrid with just seven critic reviews and no user score yet. Caveat city.

That last bit is the inside baseball here: if you filter for major 2025 originals with a broad review base, Hades 2 is now the one to beat on both sites.

Quick rewind: 2025 was Expedition 33's year... until now

Since April, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has been the presumed Game of the Year front-runner. It reviewed sky-high right out of the gate and held the crown on both Metacritic and OpenCritic while would-be challengers like Hollow Knight: Silksong, Death Stranding 2, and (the real GOTY, obviously) Donkey Kong Bananza couldn’t clear the bar.

Then Supergiant dropped Hades 2 reviews, and the whole board reshuffled.

So is it actually better than Hades 1?

On the raw numbers, barely — but enough to matter. The sequel is a point higher on Metacritic and level on OpenCritic. The critic chatter backs that up. GamesRadar+ gave it a 4.5/5, with Ali Jones writing:

'Hades 2 is a hugely ambitious sequel that occasionally stretches itself too thin in an attempt to make up for its increased scope, but that only distracts temporarily from a game that is intricately crafted in every facet of its existence. Impeccable combat and flawless characterization across a huge roster make for a follow-up that surpasses even its excellent predecessor.'

The weird bits

Calling Hades 2 a 'new' release is a little funny when its early access launch was more than a year ago. Also funny: Metacritic’s current top two are Zelda ports for the Switch 2 — again, ports of older games — which puts Hades 2 as the highest rated original release in 2025 there. Over on OpenCritic, Shujinkou technically sits a point higher, but with only seven critic reviews and no user score, that feels more like a statistical blip than a real head-to-head.

Awards season reality check

High scores do not automatically translate to trophies. Last year we saw Black Myth: Wukong make the cut over some higher-rated games, so the math is fuzzier than the aggregates suggest. I still wouldn’t be shocked if Expedition 33 sweeps a lot of shows. But Hades 2 just planted a very loud flag.

One more anecdote that says a lot about depth: a reviewer mentioned that after 105 runs, three big side stories unlocked all at once — the sort of thing that makes you think there is a lot still tucked away before 1.0 even lands. In other words, this race is not over.