God of War Wins IGN's Big Best Video Game of All Time Poll

Bubsy II was robbed.

Well... Kratos deserved it.....

I bet their Nintendo Loving hearts have been ripped out and they dont know what to do with themselves... good!

Sorry guys its way too early for Aprils Fools Day.

How the heck did Apex beat Super Metroid
and Batman won its bracket against Dark Souls ??

The internet has terrible taste in videogames XD

Clearly fake since IGN doesn't care about anything other then Call of Duty

This is why elections have age restrictions

I like God of War as much as the next person, but there's a lot of games on this list that should've gotten out of the first round.

Also having two GTA games on the list just feels wrong lmao.

How about Assassin's Creed IV (or any game in the world) beating Civ IV 85-15? Wtf.

It was a hilariously bad poll. That being said, it’s a popularity contest so of course this won.

How dare they ever have opinions that differ from ours?! What kind of world are we living in?! Anyway, as much as I love GOW i wouldn't call it my top game. But it is in the list of my top games alongside The Witcher III, Ocarina of Time, Dark Cloud 2, Skyrim, and Dragon Age: Inquisition.

It’s a great game but ‘Best of All Time’ ???

Hardly.

You can also tell a bunch of teens and 20 year olds who never played a game more than 5 years old voted on this. So yeah, it’s laughable.

Ok... but the list of games in that entire bracket was... not good. Maybe 5-7 of the games should even be running for the honor of such a ranking event... and GTA V isn't even one that should have been on there... let alone many listed.

So good for God of War... but it didn't have much competition. The only surprise and real congrats for God of War on this list is that it beat Witcher 3... another phenomenal game.

Chrono Trigger lost in the first bracket so you know its already meaningless.

Also single elimination brackets are horrible and should never be used.

Art is subjective, but only to an extent. Chrono Trigger is objectively better than Burnout 3: Takedown.

They haven’t officially announced the winner yet. Don’t be surprised if they say GTAV won because the votes on the IGN site were suddenly skewed heavily to GTAV’s favor (nearly 10:1) before the deadline- even though the other sites had GOW at nearly a 2:1 lead. They still let the votes continue after the deadline though - that’s why it shows GOW winning now- so it will depend on timing of when the vote count ended.

Awesome game but best ever? I dont know what i'd say is the best game ever because its subjective and a personal oppinion which will attract negative and positive responses but if i really had to pick diablo 2 would probably be it..or maybe super smash tv on the snes..

I found it more criminal that SotC, P5R, and FF7 lost to the games they did. And just laughed that Bloodborne lost to one of the most overrated games but this is a popularity vote as seen by God of War winning after all lol

Clue is in the title IGN = IGNORANT

Bracket? I say fack it.

Currently playing it for the first time and despite having had other favourites of all time (like Ni No Kuni), this is by far the most well made game I've ever played. Everything flows so well that I do consider it a masterpiece like nothing else that has been released.

So, in other words, massive congrats. Well deserved.

Eh. Opinions are opinions.

Also playing it at the moment. It's a far cry from my favorite game, but I'm enjoying myself well enough.

God of war maybe but having GTA 5 in the same conversation just shows the type of readers IGN has

Rise of the Tomb Raider IS SO MUCH BETTER than Half Life 2. Half Life 2 is an old relic. Rise is an absolutely stunning modern adventure. Arkham City IS miles better than Mario 64, Poke Yellow and Dark Souls.
I think your confusing influencial games with which game is actually better. Mario 64 was a defining moment in videogames history .... its also pretty stale now and has been refined and improved upon repeatedly up until Odyssey.

God of War is an amazing game, but they lost me when I saw that GTA V beat The Last of Us.

“Best” game is far too relative and broad, though this is just a poll conducted primarily among a specific readership. I think “most influential” would be a more interesting and thus more informative survey. From Space Invaders to Pac Man to Tetris, Mario to Sonic, Sim City to StarCraft, Doom to Half Life, Metal Gear Solid to…these are the types of games that shaped the industry. Glad to see God of War recognized for its achievements though.

My 2 favorite video games franchises ever. The 2 g's .god of war and grand theft auto.no surprise that god of war 👑 is the best game ever made.word up son

I liked it but nowhere near as much as hzd. Strange how some games click and others just don’t.

would argue Arkham Asylum is better than Arkham city

@Northern_munkey. 😝 diablo 2 and smash tv snes.about max payne 3.sleeping dogs.borderlands 2.infamous.metal gear 3.bioshock.uncharted 2.red dead redemption 2.streets of rage 2.ni no kuni etc.word up son

[insert ''bahaha my favourite game is better'' comment]

@fR_eeBritney great game but surely not the best game ever.

Just shows that IGN is mostly read by teenagers.
God of War is a good game and all, but when actual long lasting classics are all beaten by recent releases it just shows the average age of the voters and a reason once again to ignore polls like this in the first place.

@playstation1995 theres too many great games i've played over nearly 40 years....just too many..

As someone who did play Mario 64, yes it was a fantastic game that pushed all boundaries, I would say that I enjoyed Arkham City more than it.
I also am not a huge fan of Half Life, just never could get into it. Not sure that God of war should be the best all time but it definitely is better than GTA5.

@Octane This shows that these contests are useless GTA 5 better then Bloodborne or Final Fantasy 7 better Breath of the Wild its way to broad i loved Breath of Fire 4 so much but cant say that its better then lets Legend of Dragoon or Legend of Legia or Koudelka. The problem games work on different levels depending on the person playing them.

@PhantomMenace84 But that the problem what is the best game? I all comes down on personal preference.

God of War 2018 is the best video game of all time? It isn't even the best God of War game.

It's a good game which I did enjoy but best game of all time? it doesn't even come close. In fact I enjoyed games like Ori and the Will of the Wisps a LOT more than that.

@Flaming_Kaiser I don't disagree at all. People may be able to agree in simpler 1-1 competitions but not many people will be able to put together the same top 10. That's the great thing about our favorites, they are almost definitely linked to some great memories we have or some experience during playing the game that links us to that game for the rest of our lives.
Still great for Santa Monica though. GoW 18 was definitely a masterpiece.

GTA V being anywhere near the top 10 is baffling tbh

Absolutely nowhere near Uncharted 2 at all 😂😂

@pip_muzz the constant comments about teenagers are wrong. As a 35-year old who has been gaming since he was 6, I can say that had I voted, my vote would have gone to God of War. For me it's miles ahead any other game I've played. Age has nothing to do with it. One shouldn't make such assumptions.

@Shigurui This x1000. God of War 2+3 are a tie for my favourite. I totally get GoW needed a fresh lick of paint after Ascension, but the new one isn't the best in the series. It lacks the puzzle design of earlier games (no gems like Hera's M C Escher style gardens), combat is lacking the depth of the earlier ones and the platforming is relegated to following the O button prompt around ledges.
The only thing it did better for me was tell a better story and have shinier graphics.
Seems story and graphics is all people look for in games these days anyway...

@naruball then by voting for God of War above Elder Scrolls, Portal, Witcher and StarCraft it tells me that you don't play a wide range of video games and focus more on story based cinematic ones...
What about God of War 2018 does it do better than other games? I can think of lots of other games that do each part of the new GoW game better. Story, combat, gameplay, puzzles... GoW isn't the best in any of these categories?!

@pip_muzz yet another assumption on your part, judging based on your person preferences. Well done.

Can’t spell ignorant without IGN

Recently did the Platinum trophy! It's a masterpiece of a game but I'm 100% sure the sequel will be even better

@Flaming_Kaiser Well no, it shows that there is no objective way to determine whether a game is good or not. The best you can do is poll as many people as possible. I dunno, they all seem good games to me, so I don't see the problem with a poll like this one.

@Octane exactly. The problem is with people who simply can't comprehend that not everyone likes they things they do. I've tried GTA in the past and never liked it. Same with Fortnite, Minecraft, etc. But had any of them won, I would have been fine with it, because I understand that many people greatly enjoyed them. That's all there is to it.

@Ilovecoffee Just their own personal preference.

who decides this list? lol where was Horizon Zero Dawn in the mix?

disappointed lol

Genuine question, why does Push Square report on another site’s poll? Just feels a bit like cheap eye balls when we know this site has the talent to write literally anything else. Unless IGN paid for the space?

@pip_muzz - GoW2 and Ghost of Sparta are my favourites, I'm in the small group of people that really liked Ascension too. I get that 2018 is an extremely well made game but I'd only rate it above Chains of Olympus in the grand scheme of things. As I said though, I like Ascension so what the hell do I know?

God of War or God of War? 🤷‍♂️

What a load of garbage. Sabre Wulf was the best of all time.

Well, obviously this bracket was started before Death Stranding: Director’s Cut was released

More fake news. It obviously says Knack II in the middle there.

You all took this way too personal.

@Shigurui I definitely liked Ascension myself, but felt that the series definitely needed a makeover after that one in order to avoid going stale. In that regard GoW 2018 did the job fantastically.
Also would rate Chains of Olympus lowest, the game felt a bit too obvious as a PSP title which Ghost of Sparta somehow magically avoided. As a game series I'd rate it as one of the all time greats.

To each his own. My personal favourite game is Metal Gear Solid 4.

It’s a great game but the best ever, nahhh.

The whole list says a lot about IGN readers, 🤣

No original X-Com on there, sad times.

Hilarious! What a waste of time that was. Rise of the Tomb raider I've started twice and can't never get passed an hour or so due to boredom vs Half Life 2 a game that spawned a million copy cats and which I've played through several times over!
Oh well guess it just shows my age...

@PapaGlitch best reply here 🤣

This just shows people have terrible memories and can't remember much after a couple of years have passed. Same with movie polls, same with music polls, slightly less with book polls.

Where's the xbox games? Can see why they needed Bethesda

@Ralizah Same exact thing here. Finally getting around to it. It's... well made. The experience is polished. I'm having a decent enough run through it, albeit on easy mode. Breath of the Wild would be top of my list for sheer perfection. Of course nothing could be more subjective. Reflects more on the IGN readership than anything else. Pretty homogeneous group, I would imagine.

I’d love it if PushSquare did some big PlayStation-centric tournament style polls like this. It would be fun. I really enjoyed it a couple years ago when we did the “Best PlayStation Character” tournament.
@LiamCroft

IGN is a load of pony

Just bought diablo 2 on the ps5 because i had to know if the remake is anywhere near as good as i remember and you know what? It really is..damn now i'm going to be playing it until the early hours of forever..so for me diablo 2 best game for now..

@Th3solution I agree! The idea of doing something similar has been floated somewhat recently.

@Octane So whats the use if i dont know who voted what its 13000 randoms its probably younger demographic so what the use.

BO1 got the most votes for the best ending ever yeah so how serious should i take this.

@Enigk
Nah it just shows it’s IGN and I’m not sure why it’s news 🤷🏼‍♂️

@Spanky I know you’re only joking but I enjoyed Knack II more than I enjoyed GTA V.

At the moment in time - GOW was my favorite game.

Did not care about playing anything else on any other system or from any other publisher. I'll give it that.

But felt the same way about Witcher 3, ZBOTW, BM:AK and Bloodborne... so lots of "best game" in there.

I have tried playing GTA-V 3 times now... always give up on it.

@PhantomMenace84 I think these things would be better maybe per generation or maybe call it what is your favorite game ever. For me Legend of Dragoon would bitchslap GTA V and i know its still not the best game ever. 🤪

@Octane Just change it to whats your favorite game of all time then atleast.

Ask a bad question, get a bad answer

I think Arkham City is better than both Mario 64 and Pokemon so I’m not surprised it won. Glad to see GTA not getting the top spot. Sick to the back teeth of that game

@nofriendo I tried Breath of the Wild and found the fact that weapons were constantly breaking really annoying. It was clearly a well made game, apart from the mute(?) and bland protagonist and the unmemorable story. The gameplay was great, so I get the praise.

@naruball Just goes to show you we all come to these games from different places, wanting and expecting different things. Not for a moment did weapon durability bother me in BotW. And the blank slate hero was the perfect foil for my own role-playing.

It's a shame so much money and attention is given to Shooty Shooty Bang Bang Vol. 37, but there's a diverse, thriving scene apart from all that I'm happy to be a part of. Good time to be a gamer, all told.

God of War is a really beautiful game, but I found it much too repetitive. I got about 8 hours in and never returned because I was bored of the formula.

@nofriendo It's definitely not perfect, but BotW would probably be top of my list for the generation as well. It rejuvenated both The Legend of Zelda and open world game design, both of which were becoming very tired and well-worn by that point. It's a magical experience from beginning to end, one that I became fully immersed in.

God of War... it's impeccably acted, technically gorgeous, and well-designed in pretty much every way. I get why people would love it. But it's also too steeped in the design fundamentals of Sony's unique brand of prestige gaming for me to ever fully embrace it. I feel like I'm just along for the ride much of the time, and it sometimes gives me those "I'd really rather be a filmmaker" vibes I always get from Naughty Dog games.

With that said, if something like The Last of Us is the platonic ideal of that sort of game, then God of War is a compromise, and they throw in enough gamey elements to make me want to keep on with it. It's also a really natural evolution of God of War's game design in the first place, as the series has always been very... cinematic, for lack of a better word.

It'll never be my favorite game, or even in my top ten for the generation, but if someone really loves the game, I understand why they probably do, and I do think it's an opinion deserving respect.

I mean, I enjoyed God of War, sure, but strip away the story and it’s pretty average gameplay. I also don’t think the story was that great, it was propped up by very good performances.

The brackets were pretty bad, but im ok with God of War winning. It's an amazing game and deserves recognition.

As much as I love it, I still don't know about best game of all time. I'm just glad GTA or BotW didn't win. They're also great games, objectively, but nowhere near best of all time either.

I totally expected BotW to win, and it would have irritated me if it did. It's nowhere near as perfect as people believe.

I think you’ll find it’s only the second best 🤔

@nofriendo well said. There's a lot of diversity in gaming, unlike the movie industry where super hero movies have almost completely taken over and most movies, regardless of quality, flop. Glad to see that all sorts of games can still find success.

Really? Over everything? IGN are the ones that said that God of War is the best playstation exclusive of all time a few weeks ago, what did we expect?

I love God of War but this tournament is meaningless and isn't worth the paper it's not printed on. Monkey's on a typewriter could have better reflected reality.

Also, these types of competitions have a well-known bias toward more recent media.

So much wrong with this. GoW was really good, but there are probably 15 better games competing in the IGN tournament alone, and there are many other games not in the tournament that are better.

Tomorrows push square story ,my mate down the pub says minecraft is the best thing since sliced bread

I would have enjoyed a game of the year from the start of home gaming to today more! But the game I played most and paid the most for in all time was "World of Warcraft" from launch to 8 years later almost exclusively on PC. Most gamers today are to young to qualify for voting on Best Game Ever.

Well deserved.

Bunch of kids voted obviously.

Yeah and Call of Duty 4 won World of Warcraft. Well among PC gamers it would be a completely different story.

Bloodborne takes a dump on Breath of the Wild.

Dead by daylight is not on this list therfore it is disqualified

I enjoyed God Of War. I saw the titles (but didn’t 100% it) ejected the game from my hovercraft sounding PS4, put it in the box and haven’t had any desire to play it again. It’s the perfect millennial game as it doesn’t demand to be replayed on a three year cycle like Ocarina Of Time, Arkham Asylum, or Super Mario World.

@Thelastjedi2007 LMAO , dead by daylight is terrible dude. it couldve won like maybe 3 years ago .

@doctommaso its obvious a lot of people never really liked GoW until the recent reboot too . almost every comment i read online from people its praise towards this remake , instead of the originals .

i still think GoW 2018 shouldve been a new IP .

IGN have clearly tried to be inclusive by having some bang average contemporary games in the bracket over some legendary/pioneering ones but I can sort of understand that. What's harder to understand is why most respondents clearly seem to have been under 25 years of age. Some rather odd results but hey, opinions.

@PaperAlien If a Nintendo game won the Sony fan base would be crying and screaming saying it’s bias. But Sony won so it’s all legit right?

@nomither6 I have to be honest, I tried GoW1 Remastered and did not like it.

@Akurusu I love Sony and really liked GoW, but yeah you have to give this award to a Nintendo game, I agree.

@doctommaso It’s good that you do! I’m just saying that whenever Sony gets recognized or receives an accolade for something it’s always fair game, but if Nintendo or any other company gets an accolade or recognition for something you’ll see the Sony fanbase scream that it’s bias or paid off. So many examples I could choose from. I’m just calling them out.

@doctommaso thats why i said the reboot shouldve just been a new franchise with the same concept instead of using GoW for it , since its already an established franchise . the reboot just drove old fans away while an overwhelming amount of new fans took over ; so the chances of classic GoW ever being a thing again is slim-to-none .

yeah i know theres more than enough of the classic GoW , but my point is why change the franchises identity instead of a new IP . it couldve been in the same universe as god of war and even still had kratos in it.

God of War 2018 is a phenomenal game, but not really close on my best of all time list. 🤷‍♂️ Oh well to each their own

Ridiculous. Neither of them deserves the title.

TLOU lost to GTAV? Damn...

If someone said I had to play through Half-Life 2 again, or Rise of the Tomb Raider again, I’d pick Tomb Raider any day of the week.

I’d also pick Batman Arkham City over Pokemon or Dark Souls. It would be close with Mario 64 though.

I would choose Arkham city over Mario any time

@Akurusu Oh yeah, I totally agree with you. I think we should all try to be more objective here.

@nomither6 I can totally see that, sure. It's so different, it could have been a new IP.

@Archius9
Great setting and story telling but poor plot.
The gameplay is fantastic though.

I'd be more surprised at the results for some of those Nintendo games if I weren't aware that IGN isn't very popular in the Nintendo community.

No. Super Metroid.

The three small time criminals simply do not stand a chance against a God-killer.

Maybe I'm old, however I'd never consider some of the games on that list "best game ever". (It's absolutely okay to like what you like.)

Wasn’t a fan of GoW. Quit half way. Outstayed it’s welcome, pacing issues and I didn’t appreciate that hub world concept.

Would have preferred a shorter and entirely linear design.

Oh….and that FOV. No, just no.

Good game, but best ever? Christ guys, what are you thinking.

This is a terrible, terrible bracket full of terrible, terrible decisions voted on by terrible, terrible people. Beat it with a spade, set it alight, bury the remains in the garden, and never speak of it again.

Well, just looking at the top 8 it's quite obvious those voters don't know what are good games.

GOW 2018 is decent (I actually played and finished it for the first time last month) but it's not close to even top 10 of all time for me.

@Akurusu Not in the slightest! Im not even that big of a fan of GoW and think something else should have won, but having watched (or used to) IGN content and coverage for years and years, its not exactly a hidden secret of their Nintendo Bias. I used to watch their specialist youtube shows like the Playstation one and the meant to be "all games" show but every single time, every single week without fail they cant help bring up Nintendo and compare everything to Breath of the Wild or slip in the massively irritating "i'd play this if it was on Switch" so yes, my original fully justified tongue in cheek comment remains

@NeThZOR
"Well, just looking at the top 8 it's quite obvious those voters don't know what are good games.

GOW 2018 is decent (I actually played and finished it for the first time last month) but it's not close to even top 10 of all time for me"

Exactly. For you. Your taste is no better than anyone else's, so to say that they don't know what good games are is hilarious and... wrong.

A lot of recency bias. Though the medium of games does continually improve and mechanics get outdated and played out.

Their top 2 were probably MY top 2 games of the last generation, depending on the wind, (GoW & Zelda: BotW) but the rest of the list is maddening.

I still think EGM had a point when they, controversially at the time, put Gameboy Tetris as the "Best Game of All Time". But point me to a game that has a more addictive "just one more go" loop cycle combined with it's universal appeal. My mum and older sister who loathed gaming absolutely LOVED Tetris and I had to fight to get my Gameboy back.

Surely "...of all time" can only be voted by people who are of an age to be able to experience every videogame that has been made?

Anyway, best game is a matter of opinion, who cares what IGN readers think 🤣

God of war is worthy of that spot , cant think of many games that can rival it , maybe witcher 3 , skyrim and tsushima .

@Ultrasmiles best of all-time. How long have you been gaming to only name such recent games? Thats the trouble with the poll, its voted on by kids or people who have no real knowledge of the last 40 years of gaming

@Integrity cuz im not nostalgia blinded , been gaming since Sega and atari. Influential games aren't necessarily the best games and you just got triggered by a fair opinion thus making yours look dumb.

@Ultrasmiles well said. Gotta love people and their assumptions about others.

"You don't agree with me, so you're either a kid or haven't played the games I've played".

Comedy gold.

@Ultrasmiles triggered? Hahaha oh my. Are you sure you're as old as you say you are using logic like that?

What does nostalgia have to do with it? Can only modern games be considered greatest? The original Elite is a great game. Cannon Fodder is a great game. Sabre Wulf is a great game. Head Over Heels is a great game. Knight Lore is a great game.

But no, that's just nostalgia to you. Babe Ruth isn't a great baseballer, that's just nostalgia.

Triggered....😆😆😆 hilarious. Then I guess you were triggered right back....even funnier 😆😆😅

@Integrity i dont even need to do anything , this is hilarious

@Ultrasmiles of course you'd find it hilarious, its your default state...Ultrasmiles 😉

So I guess this confirms IGN user base has an average age of 18?

This list is crap.

Chrono Trigger deserves to be way farther towards the top.

It’s one of those few titles from the 16-bit era that feels as fresh to play today as it did in 1995.

@fR_eeBritney I believe it. I honestly only played the first Knack (One of the first games I got for PS4 at launch.) and I enjoyed it for what it was. I keep forgetting to check out number two.

@Slippship Scrolling to see if anyone else mentioned the C64 as where started for me. Also around 84 but as a 5yo.

Can't remember the ninja series but loved CJ the elephant series from codies. Also Run the Gauntlet based on the TV series, played that to death and would like both to make a comeback.

So many others I just can't remember and that's still before master system etc. Wouldn't even want to try and narrow down my favourite game as just been so many over the years. However, not too include the birth of gaming in the poll is all kinds of wrong.

Rise of the tomb raider is a better game than half life 2 so it should beat it if such an open ended question is asked.
Have you tried to play it recently, it's not that great next to a modern game.
I remember at the time playing it, it was great with cool physics you could manipulate but games like Prey or deus ex are much better now if that's your thing.
If you are going to rate games across time it's unfair to the old ones as the new games are just so much better in everyway. And before some of you get worked up over this, it's my opinion as a 43 year old gamer who was playing Atari 2600 when I was 4 years old and never put a joystick down since then so I have played them all at the time they were released.
Old games are not as good as new ones, there was no where near the production values we have now back then, and it shows.

If you are going to discount advances in time and tech and go for the biggest impacting game I think probably one of the Mario's would have it or for me personally probably Gran Turismo, they were way ahead of everything else.

At the era half life 2 came out there where a lot of quality fps like unreal, unreal tournament, system shock and so on, not sure why people hold half life 2 on such a pedistal, it was good but not time transcending good.

@Zombie9ers " THE VOTES WERE RIGGED!!!!!"

It's an absolutely phenomenal game. Sure, not everyone will think it's the best game EVER, but it's certainly one of the best I've played, and deserves to be up there. Awards like this will always be controversial, but you'll never have unanimous agreement and God of War is without a doubt a worthy winner.

If you want to have a laugh, go to an Xbox page and watch them having a meltdown. They really, REALLY don't like it 😂

It seems that these surveys are too superficial. You can't pick just one game out of all the variety because plenty of fantastic games deserves to be called the best. I'm not saying that GoW is a lousy game. I'm just saying that it can't be the only one in the first place. To me, The Witcher and Cyberpunk are also great games. I would also include CS:GO in this list because it's a cult game that deserves respect. For me, it's a game that not only gave me a childhood but also allowed me to earn money selling skins on SkinCashier, and for me, that's a significant point. All in all, everything is very subjective.