Review Scores
The embargo lifted Friday, September 18, 2026 at 6 AM Pacific — six days before launch, a gap immediately read as Remedy showing confidence in the finished build — and the scores justified it:
- PS5: 84 — debuted at 86, settling as the review count grew (per Forbes' tracking).
- PC: 83 — Steam and Epic builds.
- Xbox Series X|S: 81 — the smallest review count of the three.
- OpenCritic: 93rd percentile of all games scored, with a top critic average of 9.5/10.
- Metacritic: "Great" band across all three platforms.
Critics have put it amongst the best games of 2026 — in a September window stacked with major releases, exactly the headline Remedy wanted. Launch-week scores: Metacritic 84 on PS5, 83 on PC, 81 on Xbox.
What the Consensus Praises
Based on the preview-to-review arc, the score drivers are the ones tracked on this site — the melee combat loop built on the Aberrant's weapon forms and named abilities, the open-ended warped Manhattan structure, and the story decision to make Dylan Faden the lead seven years after his introduction. Critics keep returning to the same three points: the Aberrant's melee rhythm, where named weapon forms and abilities drive a dodge-and-punish loop with no block and no parry; a Manhattan reshaped into open-ended zones that reward exploration over linearity; and the narrative call to center Dylan Faden — the character first introduced in 2019's Control — as the protagonist this time around. As further reviews land, the platform notes will be updated per version — and this page will keep tracking the drift.
The Context Around the Score
The early embargo itself became part of the story — six days of runway is a confidence play, and the 84/93rd-percentile landing validated it. The physical edition still follows on October 15, and the PS5 Digital Deluxe early access window opened September 22 — so early-access players are already posting impressions alongside critic scores, giving launch-week coverage a live player counterpoint to the critic numbers.
Still Tracking
- Score drift as the review count grows (the PS5 86 → 84 movement shows why day-one numbers move).
- Player verdict so far: Very Positive on Steam — 92% of 6,487 reviews as of October 6, roughly matching the critic band. Whether the 1.3.3 combat rebalance moves it further is the open question.
- Completionist resources are live: the trophy list and the 49-achievement list with rarity.
