Stellar Blade has been slowly overtaking the world of gaming, for all the right and wrong reasons. But, even with all the controversies, the game is seeing stellar performance as it overcomes Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Helldivers 2 with the best user Metacritic reviews of 2024.

The game is currently topping the user review charts on Metacritic and trading blows with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Stellar Blade has a 9.3 average score out of nearly 2,000 reviews, whereas Square Enix’s revived flagship is carrying a 9.0 based on 3,360 player scores. Another 2024 heavy hitter, Helldivers 2, has also been toppled, though the margin is much wider as the extraction shooter has an 8.2 average grade. Stellar Blade has been the source and target of several controversies, mainly to do with the protagonist’s physical looks and an accidental reference to a racial slur. It has nevertheless come out on top and is, as things stand, the best user-reviewed title of the year so far.