The COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on this year’s releases, especially in film, as major studios opted to delay their works into 2021.
Even so, many indie films still shined be it in cinemas or on streaming, and both TV and gaming were for the most part not affected beyond some shorter delays.
Metacritic.com has now unveiled what films, games and TV shows were the best of the year based on the aggregate scores of the top critics.
I’ve divided the lists into three sections – films, TV shows and major video games. Each section lists the titles nabbing the best critical scores and those which were the most discussed in 2020 by said critics.
Intriguingly whereas many works struggled to get above the 90/100 mark last year, quite a few did this year, and plenty of those in the 80s feel like they’re simply splitting hairs and could easily be in a top ten list in any other year.
This list does NOT include old film re-releases bar one notable exception with it being a new cut. Films also have to have over a handful reviews to be considered, which is why some high scoring works are not included. Here’s the full breakdown:
Best Films
1. “Nomadland” – 96/100
2. “Small Axe: Lover’s Rock,” “Collective” – 95/100
3. “David Byrne’s American Utopia” – 93/100
4. “Never Rarely Sometimes Always,” “Time” – 91/100
5. “Hamilton,” “Small Axe: Mangrove” – 90/100
6. “Dick Johnson is Dead,” “First Cow” – 89/100
7. “City Hall,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Minari,” “Small Axe: Education” – 88/100
8. “Rewind,” “Wolfwalkers” – 87/100
9. “Crip Camp,” “Divine Love,” “Vitalina Varela,” “Welcome to Chechnya,” “The Wolf House” – 86/100
10. “76 Days,” “Athlete A,” “Nomad,” “Soul,” “To the Ends of the Earth” – 85/100
There’s also a list of the films most frequently discussed this year amongst critics. On that front, the most talked about movies were: “Nomadland,” “First Cow,” “Small Axe: Lovers Rock,” “Never Rarely Sometimes Always,” “Da 5 Bloods,” “David Byrne’s American Utopia,” “I’m Thinking of Ending Things,” “Minari,” “Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets,” “City Hall,” “Collective,” “Promising Young Woman,” “The Assistant,” “Mank,” “Time,” “Bacurau,” “Martin Eden,” “Palm Springs,” ” Dick Johnson Is Dead,” “Soul” “Beanpole,” “Small Axe: Mangrove,” “Sound of Metal,” “Wolfwalkers,” “The Invisible Man,” “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” ” The Vast of Night,” “Tenet” and “Possessor”
Best TV Series
The reviews for shows on the site are often for the first few episodes of a season, and so aren’t as reliable overall as the film scores:
1. “City So Real” – 95/100
2. “PEN15: S2” – 93/100
3. “Better Call Saul: S5,” “My Brilliant Friend: S2” – 92/100
4. “Bojack Horseman: S6.5” – 91/100
5. “The Last Dance” – 90/100
6. “A Parks & Recreation Special,” “Visible: Out on Television” – 89/100
7. “The Babysitters Club: S1,” “Lennox Hill,” “Mrs. America” – 87/100
8. “I May Destroy You” – 86/100
9. “The Crown: S4,” “I Hate Suzie,” “Immigration Nation,” “Little America: S1,” “P-Valley: S1,” “Unorthodox” – 85/100
10. “Euphoria: Blue,” “The Good Fight: S4,” “The Good Lord Bird,” “One Day at a Time: S4” – 84/100
There’s also a list of the shows most frequently discussed this year by critics. On that front, the most talked about shows were: “I May Destroy You,” “Better Call Saul,” “The Queen’s Gambit,” “Ted Lasso,” “Normal People,” “Mrs. America,” “What We Do In Shadows,” “Schitt’s Creek,” “How To With John Wilson,” “The Mandalorian,” “The Crown,” “The Last Dance,” “The Good Lord Bird,” “Bojack Horseman,” “Better Things,” “Pen15,” “The Boys,” “The Great,” “City So Real,” “Lovecraft Country,” “P-Valley,” “The Good Place,” “Never Have I Ever,” “The Baby-Sitters Club,” “I Hate Suzie” and “Harley Quinn”.
Best Video Games
Scoring for games on the site is a mess as episodic releases, DLC add-on packs and iOS games are often given their own scores. To keep the list reasonable, I’m sticking to full game releases or major DLC only:
1. “Persona 5 Royal” – 95/100
2. “Hades,” “Half-Life Alyx,” “The Last of Us Part II” – 93/100
3. “Demon’s Souls” – 92/100
4. “Crusader Kings III,” “Microsoft Flight Simulator,” “Spelunky 2”- 91/100
5. “Animal Crossing: New Horizons,” “Ori and the Will of the Wisps,” “Yakuza 0” – 90/100
6. “Dreams,” “There is no game: Wrong dimension,” “Yakuza: Like a Dragon” – 89/100
7. “Doom Eternal,” “F1 2020,” “Halo 3: Master Chief Collection,” “Pistol Whip,” “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2” – 88/100
8. “Final Fantasy VII: Remake,” “Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition,” “Legends of Runeterra,” “Monster Hunter World: Iceborne,” “Persona 4: Golden,” “Streets of Rage 4” – 87/100
9. “13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim,” “Cyberpunk 2077,” “Desperados III,” “Monster Train,” “Observer System Redux,” “Panzer Corps 2” – 86/100
10. “Crash Bandicoot 4,” “Deep Rock Galactic,” “Football Manager 2021,” “Huntdown,” “Manifold Garden,” “Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales,” “Nioh 2,” “Pikmin 3: Deluxe,” “Risk of Rain 2,” “Wasteland 3” – 85/100
Other titles that just missed out include “Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla,” “Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition,” “Ghost of Tsushima,” “Horizon Zero Dawn: PC Edition,” “Lair of the Clockwork God,” “Lonely Mountains: Downhill,” “Resident Evil 3,” “Sam and Max Save the World: Remastered,” “Spiritfarer” and “What the Golf?”