Superheroes have seen a meteoric rise over the last ten plus years, and a lot of that is due to the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In general, though, superheroes were never really afforded triple-A games, but rather were licensed for the creation of smaller scoped games with minuscule budgets.
Between the Batman Arkham games and the recent Marvel’s Spider-Man titles, the triple-A space is now thriving with superpowered beings. Let’s now look at, according to Metacritic, the best superhero games of the last five years.
10 The Awesome Adventures Of Captain Spirit (75)
Dontnod Entertainment, the developers of Life is Strange, are known for their adventure games that deliver engaging stories where the player feels as though they’re in the driver’s seat. The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit was a free adventure game they released that featured a young boy living with an alcoholic father. It served as a backdoor introduction to Life Is Strange 2, and the boy’s imaginative adventures as Captain Spirit were captivating enough for the free game to land with critics at a 75 on Metacritic.
9 Lego DC Super-Villains (76)
Lego games, no matter what the license they’re attached to is, rarely put out games that are bad. They’re never at the top in terms of critical reception either and always land somewhere in the 70s. Lego DC Super-Villains is no different and the fun-spirited adventure ended up with a 76 on Metacritic. This was one of the rare times the bad guys in superhero lore got the spotlight, and this trend is looking to continue with the upcoming release of the DC-licensed game titled Suicide Squad Kills The Justice League.
8 Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 (76)
As was just mentioned, Lego games rarely score worse than the low 70s when they’re reviewed and Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 falls right in line with that track record. The 2017 release was an action-adventure video game that followed the familiar formula of the TT Games developed titles.
This one allowed players to control time and featured plenty of fan-favorite characters. In terms of Metacritic score, it secured a score of 76, high enough to land a spot in the hearts of families, children, and children at heart.
7 South Park: The Fractured But Whole (79)
South Park: The Fractured But Whole was a role-playing game directed and written by the show’s creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and released in 2017 on tons of various platforms. The game is a parody focused on the rise in popularity of superhero culture and does an excellent job at poking fun at the genre’s various tropes and shortcomings. It received a score of 79 on Metacritic, significantly lower than the score of 85 its predecessor South Park: The Stick of Truth received when it released 3 years earlier in 2014.
6 Batman: The Enemy Within (80)
Batman: The Enemy Within was not only the sequel to the first season of the Batman Telltale Games series, but one of the last projects the studio completed before it was surprisingly shuttered. The sequel season did a good job at delivering a refreshing and unique take on the caped crusader while fixing some of the writing and storytelling pitfalls the first season struggled with. By no means was the follow-up perfect, but the slight changes and improvements led to the collection of episodes receiving a Metacritic score of 80.
5 Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (85)
When Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales was announced fans were excited and worried at the same time. The game was not only a PS5 launch title, but the first video game to feature Miles Morales in the starring role as Spider-Man. Despite the game having a smaller scope than its predecessor it managed to review pretty well as both a sequel and a launch title. On Metacritic, it sits at an aggregate score of 85, which is a nice base for a character who’s bound to get plenty more games featuring him in the coming years.
4 Batman: Arkham Knight (87)
Batman: Arkham Knight was much more than the culmination of Rocksteady Games stellar Batman game trilogy, it was the final piece of evidence needed to prove that superhero games belonged in the triple-A space.
Its biggest flaw according to critics was that the Batmobile sections felt drawn out and the vehicle wasn’t fun or easy to control. Despite that the game landed with a score of 87 on Metacritic, making it one of the best superhero games of all-time and certainly a stand-out release in the genre these last 5 years.
3 Marvel’s Spider-Man (87)
Marvel’s Spider-Man was a dream come true as gamers everywhere dreamed of Insomniac Games delivering a triple-A Spider-Man video game after their work on Sunset Overdrive. Their first game with the IP, Marvel’s Spider-Man released in 2018 and delivered on plenty of expectations, coming away with a Metacritic score of 87. The open-world game featured plenty of interesting side activities and combat, with a little bit of criticism focusing on the lackluster sections where players controlled Mary Jane and Miles Morales.
2 Marvel: Future Fight (89)
Most people reading this list will likely be the least familiar with this title as it was a mobile game and not one released for consoles or the PC. Marvel: Future Fight was developed by Netmarble and was released worldwide in 2015. It’s described as an action role-playing game focused on dungeon-crawler gameplay. Somehow this game has a Metacritic score of 89 despite facing a controversy surrounding RNG gambling mechanics, as well as an on-going boycott of the game due to the developer’s failure to address community concerns.
1 Injustice 2 (89)
It might come as a shock that Injustice 2 is the best-reviewed superhero game of the last 5 years with a score of 89, according to Metacritic. NetherRealm Studios has done a stellar job of taking their fighting game expertise they’ve developed working on the Mortal Kombat franchise and implementing that into two beloved DC Comics fighting games. Injustice 2 continued their genre-defining approach of providing a compelling narrative element to a well-designed fighting game, making to more accessible to those who aren’t intertwined with the fighting game community.
NEXT: The 10 Best Western Role-Playing Games (According To Metacritic)
