The Best Action Games Of 2022 According to Metacritic

There’s something cathartic about diving into a solid action game at the end of the year, as inflicting some digital violence on the pixels in front of you can lead to a meditative form of stress relief. With 2022 having some stressful moments, action games were on hand to deliver some much-needed relaxation as fans burned through their aggression and mastered these titles.

Some of the year’s biggest action games were well-deserving of the blockbuster descriptor given to them, with standout titles being Elden Ring, Horizon Forbidden West, and God of War Ragnarok. Whether you were exploring the realms of a blighted landscape or working to save all of Midgard from a Nordic apocalypse, the best action games of the year looked fantastic and felt even better to play.

Indie games also had plenty to offer, as a retro blast from the past in the shape of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge and Cult of the Lamb invited players to cleave their way through armies of enemies, while Sifu’s distinct Kung-Fu combat made each fight end with broken faces and shattered bones.

We’ve gathered up the best of the best in action category below, according to data from GameSpot’s sister site Metacritic, which you can read through below. Once again, the best action game of 2022 shouldn’t be a surprise, as it has been a dominant force on several other lists this year so far.