Someone has figured out the best video game of all time
It's a question as old as the industry itself - what if the greatest video game of all time? While we've heard arguments from all sides, it's ultimately a question we'll never get a solid answer to. After all, it's a matter of taste. Still, that hasn't stopped someone from crunching the numbers to try and get a definitive winner.
From the early days of Pong through to upcoming Goliaths like GTA 6, it's safe to say the gaming industry has evolved a lot. Whether you like to hide behind your pillows for a good horror, hit the trenches of a first-person shooter, or kick back to design your own peaceful world with a life simulator, there's something for everyone.
Gaming fan tries to find the best video game of all time
Although some will claim Reddit user u/Scdsco has used 'science' to figure out the best video game of all time, it isn't that at all. Instead, this labour of love has seen them collate facts and figures from across the industry to get as close as possible to answering what the best game of all time is.
The OP brought together 14 "best of all time" lists from the likes of Empire and IGN, as well as Metacritic's top 200 Metascores of all time, IMDB's top 200 user ratings of all time, GQ's industry poll, and more. Using a numbering system, the game in 100th place gets one point, 99th gets two points, with first place getting 100, etc.
With all of this painstaking work, u/Scdsco declared that the best video game of all time should (technically) be 1998's The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Given the title's legendary status as more than just a Nintendo 64 classic, this isn't really a surprise. Having just celebrated its 25th anniversary, everyone is still talking about Ocarina.
It was a big win for Nintendo, as second place goes to 2017's The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Considering the Switch game redefined the way we play Zelda, it's also not that shocking. Earning the bronze is Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto V. As the most profitable entertainment product of all time, this also isn't exactly a shock.
Fourth place goes to another game from 2013, with Naughty Dog's The Last of Us. Fifth is a retro classic in the form of Tetris, and sixth is Resident Evil 4, which recently got some more love thanks to its 2023 remake. Metal Gear Solid gets seventh, presumably for its help in defining stealth games.
The Top 10 are rounded off by The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in eighth place, Super Mario 64 doing a backflip into ninth, and a pleasant but unexpected appearance from BioShock just sneaking in at 10. There are sure to be those questioning how Shadow of the Colossus and Chrono Trigger beat Red Dead Redemption 2, but there you go.
You aren't happy with the best video game of all time
Click to enlargeAs you can imagine, the answer hasn't gone down well with everyone. While we're big fans of Ocarina of Time and are more than happy to see it claim the crown, others refuse to let Navi and her annoying chimes of "listen" take top place. The comment section soon became a dumpster fire.
One grumbled, "San Andreas is probably the best GTA for its time. It deserves to be up higher. I feel that GTAV is very good, but benefits from recency bias," while another added, "Dark Souls, Elden Ring and Bloodborne being here but not Sekiro is a sham." A third said, "Journalists really do have a boner for Zelda."
It was never going to be simple when picking the best video game of all time, but at least we have some actual data to go off. Most are impressed with the OP's dedicated work. If you want to cause an argument on your next game night, why not whip out this list?
