For a long time, licensed games were often seen as the worst that the gaming industry can offer. This is especially true for movie and comic book tie-ins. One only has to look at the likes ofSuperman 64orStreet Fighter: The Movie Videogameto see just how awful a licensed title can be.
However, in recent years as developers have more power to achieve the vision that they want and make a more faithful adaptation of license gamers have had incredible games based featuring the likes ofSpider-Man,Batman, Star Wars,and theLord of the Ringsbringing films and comic books to life in gaming. Let’s take a look at where Metacritic ranks some of the best-licensed games of all time.
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10South Park: Stick Of Truth (Metascore 85)
South Park: Stick of Truthis an RPG based on theSouth ParkTV show. It was released in 2014 and developed byObsidian Entertainmentwho previously madeFallout: New Vegas, Pillars of Eternity,and more recentlyThe Outer Worlds.
Obsidian managed to capture the exact look of the TV show and make players feel like they were participating in an episode especially when it came to exploring the town.Stick of Truth’s story was written by the show’s creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone who were heavily involved in the game’s development process.
9Batman: Arkham Knight (Metascore 85)
Batman: Arkham Knightis the third entry in theBatman: Arkhamseries developed by Rocksteady. It was released in 2015 and is set one year after the events ofBatman: Arkham Cityand Batman having to deal with a new foe called theArkham Knight.
Arkham Knightis a much more open-world experience than its predecessors and introduced the Batmobile as Batman’s main mode of transport. Although it was a great addition, there was perhaps, too much focus on the Batmobile when it came to the game’s boss fights which as the game’s most climactic moments descended into tank battles. That aside,Arkham Knightis still an incredible experience with a great story full of twists.
8Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor (Metascore 87)
Released in 2014,Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordorwas developed by Monolith Productions the same team responsible forCondemned: Criminal Originsand theF.E.A.Rseries. It’s a non-canon story based in theLord of the Ringsuniverse.
Mechanically, the game had more than a few similarities toAssassin’s CreedandBatman: Arkhamseries. However, it was the game’s Nemesis system that made it unique. It features enemy NPC’s reacting, remembering, disfigurements from battle, and growing stronger depending on encounters made with the game’s protagonist.
7Marvel’s Spider-Man (Metascore 87)
Marvel’s Spider-Manwas released exclusively for the PlayStation 4 in 2018. It is an open-world action-adventure superhero game developed by Insomniac Games. Spider-Man has to stop the supervillain Mister Negative from releasing a virus that will kill everyone in the city.
In addition, he has to take on a rogue’s gallery of supervillains like Rhino, Vulture, Electro, Taskmaster, and more.Marvel’s Spider-Manarguably features the best combat, web-slinging, and open-world ever created for the character despite the large library of games released under his name.
6Injustice 2 Legendary Edition (Metascore 88)
Injustice 2was released on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and the PC in 2017. It’s a superhero fighting game that was created byMortal Kombatdevelopers NetherRealm Studios. It features DC characters like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash and several more.
Although it’s not as bloody and gory as theMortal Kombatseries, the fighting is just brutal with all the hits and kicks landing with the kind of impact one would expect from a superhero. It features one of the best story modes ever seen in a fighting game and is one of the most accessible games in the genre to newcomers.
5The Witcher 2: Assassin Of Kings (Metascore 88)
Originally released on the PC in 2011 with an Xbox 360 version to follow in 2012The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kingsis an RPG that remains one of the games based on a novel and has a narrative experience that is far more compelling than most games in the same genre.
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Developed by CD Projekt Red,The Witcherseries is based on the Andrjez Sapkowski fantasy books of the same name. In terms of its story and presentation, the game shares many similarities to theDragon Ageseries but the choices and interactions have an even bigger and lasting effect on the game’s world.
The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Serieswas developed by the now-defunct Telltale Studios. It’s an interactive drama that incorporates many of the same gameplay mechanics as a point-and-click adventure.
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However, there are no complicated puzzles to solve just a focus on drama and difficult choices that affect how the narrative develops. The game series has its own unique story that is separate from the comics and the TV show and follows a young girl named Clementine as she fights for survival in a post-apocalyptic world filled with zombies and dangerous human survivors.
3Metro 2033 Redux (Metascore 90)
Metro 2033 Reduxis the remastered combination ofMetro: Last LightandMetro 2033for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One released in 2014. The games are based on the post-apocalyptic novelMetro 2033by Dimitry Glukhovsky.
They are first-person survival horror games set in post-apocalyptic Moscow where humans are living underground due to the nuclear fallout that has ruined the earth. The level design is atmospheric and foreboding but there’s a surprising amount of freedom in both games despite the suffocating atmosphere both figuratively and literally.
2The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Metascore 92)
First released in 2015 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and the PCThe Witcher 3: Wild Huntis still rated among the greatest and most influential RPGs ever released. Developers CD Projekt Red also managed to port the game to the Nintendo Switch in 2019 complete with all of the released DLC.
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In terms of its very organic and dark story, the character interaction and its open world,The Witcher 3is one of the most impactful games of a generation. There is so much variety to be found in the game’s towns, culture and lore that it would take hundreds of hours to discover it all.
1Batman: Arkham City (Metascore 96)
First released on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2011,Batman: Arkham Citywas a direct sequel toBatman: Arkham Asylum.It was once again developed by Rocksteady and gave players an even bigger world for the Dark Knight to take down bad guys with and proving that the developers knew exactly how the Batman license should be implemented in a videogame.
Even though the world was more open than its predecessor, it was still a tightly packed and focused experience that still managed to feel almost Metroidvania-like in its design. Batman has an even bigger arsenal of weapons and skills to use in one of the best stealth experiences ever created and the combat once again flowed beautifully making players feel like a superhero.
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