Remakes are supposed to remind players why the original mattered. This one is doing something rarer — it is landing within touching distance of the most celebrated review score in the medium's history.
On Metacritic, the Ocarina of Time remake holds a Metascore of 96 with a "Universal Acclaim" label, based on more than 80 critic reviews. That number is the highest Metascore any game has earned in 2026.
The company it keeps explains the fuss. A 96 ties the remake with Half-Life 2, GoldenEye 007, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, BioShock, Mass Effect 2, Elden Ring and Baldur's Gate 3 on the all-time list — a tier most new releases never approach, let alone remakes of 28-year-old games.
Modern context makes the number harder than it looks. Scores today are averaged across far larger pools of reviews than the ones the original faced in 1998, and a single wave of lukewarm takes can drag a big release down several points. Holding 96 across more than 80 reviews means the praise is broad, not just loud.
Above it sits very little. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild scored 97 in 2017, and the original Ocarina of Time still owns the summit alone: its 99 from 1998 remains the only 99 in Metacritic history, which makes the remake's 96 a three-point gap between a classic and its own rebuild.
What the Reviews Are Saying About the Ocarina of Time Remake
The individual verdicts show where that average comes from. GamesRadar+ gave it five stars, writing: "Between newly voiced dialogue, revamped dungeons, fresh puzzles, and more, Hyrule has never felt so alive." Its complaints were narrow ones — no Master Quest after completion, and only a single save file.
Destructoid went further with a 10, concluding: "Ocarina of Time is a legendary experience for a reason, and this remake is one of the best of its kind I've played yet." It praised how faithfully the remake respects the original while modernizing it, while noting the old core underneath means it is a polish job rather than a reinvention.
Eurogamer also awarded five stars: "Alongside great judgement and clever tweaks, this astonishing remake has a proper ace up its sleeve." Its review singled out the time-rewind feature, expanded traversal and orchestrated music, and treated the absence of new dungeons as a matter of scope, not a flaw.
IGN was the relative holdout at 9 out of 10, and even its verdict glowed: "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is both an exceptional remake of an incredible game and a rich adventure that stands on its own." Its reservation was that the streamlined dungeons have slightly dulled the feeling of solving them.
That gap is the story as much as the score. Reviews of remakes usually split between praising the preservation and questioning the point, yet a 96 says critics treated this less like a nostalgia exercise and more like a top-tier release in its own right.
Nintendo also chose the riskiest possible title for this treatment. Ocarina of Time is the most protected game in its catalog, the one fans measure every 3D Zelda against, and a remake that landed in the 80s would have been read as diminishing it. Instead, the rebuild has strengthened the original's legend by association.
The timing adds one more layer for score-watchers. Grand Theft Auto IV scored 98 and Grand Theft Auto V scored 97, so with GTA 6 arriving in two weeks, the remake has quietly set the number the year's biggest launch will be measured against.
One score is still outstanding. The remake's user score has not opened yet, and the gap between critic and player verdicts is often where the real argument starts — especially for a remake of a game this beloved.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake launches on November 5, 2026, for Nintendo Switch 2.
Sources: Metacritic, GamesRadar+, Destructoid, Eurogamer, IGN
