How do Metacritic and OpenCritic scores work?
What a Metascore and a Top Critic Average actually measure, how each site picks and counts reviews, and how to read the two numbers side by side.
Published 8 min read
In short
A Metascore is a weighted average of review scores from critics Metacritic selects; Metacritic says it weights the average but does not publish the weights, and it shows a colour and a label such as Universal Acclaim beside the number.
OpenCritic's Top Critic Average is a simple, unweighted average of numeric reviews from its top critics, converted to a 0 to 100 scale, and it needs at least 3 such reviews; its Critics Recommend figure is the share of reviews with a positive verdict.
The two numbers are built differently, so a game can score a point or two apart on each; read them as a summary of published opinion, then open the reviews to see why critics liked or disliked a game.
When a big game comes out and the reviews land, two numbers sum them up: its Metascore on Metacritic and its Top Critic Average on OpenCritic. Both are aggregates, summaries of reviews other people wrote, but they are built in different ways. This guide explains what goes into each, using the sites’ own descriptions, and how to read them without being misled.
What is a Metascore?
The Metascore is Metacritic’s single number for a game, film, TV season or album. Metacritic describes the process in two steps: it chooses a group of critics it regards as respected and assigns a score to each of their reviews, and it then takes a weighted average of those scores. The result is shown as a number from 0 to 100 and a colour.
Two consequences follow from that description.
- It is weighted, and the weights are not public. Some outlets count for more than others. Metacritic does not publish how much, so a Metascore cannot be recalculated from the reviews on the page.
- Metacritic assigns the scores. Its own description says it assigns scores to the critics’ reviews. Outlets grade on different scales, and turning each review into a number for the average is Metacritic’s step, not the critic’s.
Next to the number, a game’s page carries a verbal label and the count of reviews behind it. On September 30, 2026, Elden Ring’s page showed a Metascore of 96, labelled Universal Acclaim, “based on 86 critic reviews”. Metacritic also gives some titles a Must badge, which it describes as marking the best entertainment as judged by the most respected critics.
Is the User Score part of the Metascore?
No. Metacritic shows a separate User Score on a 0 to 10 scale, from ratings left by its users. On the same Elden Ring page it was 8.4, labelled Generally Favorable, based on 24,703 user ratings. The two measure different things, critics’ reviews and players’ ratings, so they can disagree.
What is OpenCritic’s Top Critic Average?
OpenCritic publishes its method in more detail. Its headline number, the Top Critic Average, is:
- a simple average, with no weighting;
- of numeric reviews only;
- written by publications OpenCritic designates as top critics;
- after each score is converted to a 0 to 100 scale.
A game needs at least 3 numeric reviews from top critics to get a Top Critic Average at all. Reviews without a number, OpenCritic names Kotaku, the Washington Post and Rock Paper Shotgun as examples, are not given a score and are left out of every calculation.
Each author can publish one review per game, though a publication may post several reviews by different writers. If an outlet updates its review, the new version replaces the old one.
What is “Critics Recommend”?
OpenCritic’s second number is the percentage of reviews with a verdict that recommend the game. A review counts as recommended when:
- the critic said, when submitting it, that they would recommend the game to general players over other games released around the same time; or
- for numeric reviews by top critics, the score is at or above the outlet’s threshold. Outlets can set their own threshold; if they have not, OpenCritic uses the outlet’s median review score, which changes over time; or
- a non-numeric review by a top critic has a clear verdict system and the verdict is positive. OpenCritic names Eurogamer’s Recommended and Essential as examples.
So a game can have a high average and a lower Critics Recommend if many outlets scored it just under their usual level, or the other way round.
How are the Mighty, Strong, Fair and Weak ratings set?
These labels come from where a game’s Top Critic Average sits among all games on OpenCritic, by percentile.
| OpenCritic rating | Percentile of Top Critic Average | Current cutoff, per OpenCritic |
|---|---|---|
| Mighty | 90th and above | 84 and above |
| Strong | 60th to 90th | 75 to 83 |
| Fair | 30th to 60th | 66 to 74 |
| Weak | Bottom 30 percent | 65 and below |
Because the labels follow percentiles, the score cutoffs are what they “happen to be” now, in OpenCritic’s words, and can shift as more games are added.
Where do the reviews come from?
Neither site writes reviews. Both collect them from outlets, and which outlets are included shapes the number as much as the averaging does.
Metacritic says only that it curates a diverse group of critics it considers highly respected. It does not publish a set of admission rules on its About page.
OpenCritic describes its intake in more detail. Publications can submit their review details through OpenCritic’s own content system, and for more prominent outlets OpenCritic runs crawlers that check for new reviews every 10 to 25 minutes. A new review can take up to 30 minutes to appear. The crawlers read an outlet’s main review listing, so a review missing from that listing is missed too.
To be admitted, OpenCritic says, a publication is judged on its commitment to reviewing games critically, the quality and nuance of its reviews, its reach and influence at a global, regional or national level, and the professional conduct of its staff. There are also hard requirements: reviews must be free to read online, not paywalled or print-only; reviews must generally carry the author’s real name; the outlet must supply an English quote from each review; and it must link back to OpenCritic.
Why do older games look thin on OpenCritic?
When OpenCritic launched, it chose to cover current games rather than rebuild the past. Its records for games released before October 1, 2015 are meant as a baseline, not a complete history; for 3DS and Vita games the date is March 1, 2016. For older games, a Top Critic Average may rest on fewer reviews, or be missing.
What else is on a game’s page?
The headline numbers sit on top of more useful detail.
On Metacritic, a game page shows the Metascore with its colour and label, the number of critic reviews behind it, the User Score with its own label and count, and the list of reviews, each with the score Metacritic recorded for it.
On OpenCritic, the top of the page shows the Top Critic Average, the Critics Recommend percentage and, as a recent addition, a Player Rating. Below that is a short written critic consensus and the list of reviews, each with a quote and the outlet’s own score or verdict, whether that is 10 / 10, 5 stars or Eurogamer’s “Essential”. OpenCritic argues that because its scores are straight averages and the data for each game is public, anyone can check them.
How do the two compare?
| Feature | Metacritic Metascore | OpenCritic Top Critic Average |
|---|---|---|
| Kind of average | Weighted | Simple, unweighted |
| Weights published | No | Not applicable |
| Reviews used | Critics Metacritic selects | Numeric reviews by top critics |
| Reviews without a score | Scored by Metacritic | Left out of the average |
| Minimum to show a score | Not stated on the About page | 3 numeric top-critic reviews |
| Second number | User Score, 0 to 10 | Critics Recommend, a percentage |
| Label | Colour and wording, such as Universal Acclaim | Mighty, Strong, Fair or Weak |
For the same example, Elden Ring: on September 30, 2026, OpenCritic showed a Top Critic Average of 95, 97% Critics Recommend, and 219 critic reviews listed in total, against the Metascore of 96 from 86 reviews on Metacritic. The review counts differ so much because the sites draw from different lists of outlets, and OpenCritic lists reviews that do not enter its average.
How do these relate to Steam user reviews?
On PC, the first rating many players see is Steam’s own, which is neither. It is built from players, not critics. Valve’s documentation for developers notes that only reviews from accounts that bought the game on Steam count toward the score; players who got the game through a key or for free can still write reviews, which stay visible but do not change the score. The same documentation describes how Valve handles off-topic “review bombs”, waves of reviews about something other than the game itself, by treating them separately from ordinary reviews.
How should I read review scores?
The sites are useful, as long as the number is the start of the reading and not the end.
- Check how many reviews are behind the score. A number from a handful of reviews on launch day can move once more arrive.
- Compare both aggregates. If Metacritic and OpenCritic agree within a point or two, the critical view is settled. A larger gap usually means the critic lists differ, which is worth a look.
- Look at the spread, not just the average. Both sites list individual reviews. A 75 made of 90s and 60s means something different from a 75 made of 75s.
- Read the reviews that match your taste. An outlet that dislikes the genre you love is still a valid critic, but its verdict tells you less about your own enjoyment.
- Keep user and critic scores apart. They answer different questions: what reviewers thought at launch, and what players think now.
In our critics’ roundups, we report what published reviews said and link to each one. We do not produce a score of our own.
Questions
- Is the Metascore a simple average of review scores?
- No. Metacritic says it is a weighted average of scores from critics it selects. It does not publish how much each outlet counts, so you cannot recalculate a Metascore from the reviews yourself.
- How does OpenCritic decide Mighty, Strong, Fair or Weak?
- By percentile of the Top Critic Average among all games: Mighty is the 90th percentile and above, Strong the 60th to 90th, Fair the 30th to 60th, Weak the bottom 30 percent. OpenCritic says the cutoffs currently fall at 84 and above, 75 to 83, 66 to 74, and 65 and below.
- Why do Metacritic and OpenCritic show different scores for the same game?
- They include different sets of critics, and Metacritic weights its average while OpenCritic's Top Critic Average is unweighted. OpenCritic also leaves non-numeric reviews out of its average but can count their verdicts in Critics Recommend.
- Do user scores count toward the Metascore?
- No. Metacritic shows a separate User Score on a 0 to 10 scale, based on user ratings. The Metascore is built from critic reviews.