DocksideMetacritic or Steam? How to read review scores before buying a Switch game
What a Metascore and a Steam user rating each measure, why the Switch version's own score matters, and how to use both before you buy a game on sale.
When you are deciding whether a discounted Switch game is worth it, two numbers come up more than any others: Metacritic's Metascore and Steam's user review rating. They measure different things, and each has blind spots. Used together, they are a quick and fairly reliable first filter.
What a Metascore measures
A Metascore is Metacritic's summary of what professional critics thought. It is a weighted average of scores from critics and publications, on a scale of 0 to 100 (Metacritic support). A game needs at least four critic reviews before Metacritic shows one; until then the page says "tbd" (Metacritic support). Metacritic colors scores green, yellow or red, and it notes that for games it usually takes a score in the upper 70s or higher to mark a game as clearly good (Metacritic support). Its "Must-Play" badge goes to games with a Metascore of 90 or more that at least 15 publications have reviewed (Metacritic support).
Why the Switch version's score matters
Metacritic keeps reviews separately for each platform a game was released on, so the same game can have one Metascore on one platform, a different one on Switch, and none at all where too few critics covered it. Into the Breach, for example, had separate Metascores for its PC and Switch releases as of October 2026 (90 and 89), while its iOS version still showed "tbd" with two critic reviews. For a Switch buyer, the Switch version's own score is the one to look for. A port can differ from the original in ways reviewers care about: how smoothly it runs, how it looks in handheld mode, whether anything was cut or added.
If the Switch version has no Metascore, which happens when fewer than four critics reviewed it, treat another platform's score as a hint about the game itself rather than a verdict on the Switch release.
What a Steam rating measures
Steam's rating comes from players. Each review on Steam is either positive or negative, and the store sums them up in a label that runs from "Overwhelmingly Positive" at the top down to "Overwhelmingly Negative", shown with the number of reviews behind it. A few details from Valve's documentation for developers are worth knowing:
- There can be two ratings. The top of a store page can show one for the past 30 days as well as one for the game's whole life. A gap between them tells you players' opinion has moved, for example after an update.
- Only Steam purchases count. Reviews from people who activated the game with a key are left out of the score.
- Review bombs can be excluded. Steam can leave a burst of off-topic reviews, ones about something other than the game itself, out of its score.
Two limits matter for Switch buyers. A Steam rating describes the PC version, so it says little about how a Switch port runs. And games that are not on Steam, which includes Nintendo's own, have no Steam rating at all.
When critics and players disagree
Critic reviews tend to arrive around release, while Steam reviews keep accumulating for years, so the two can drift apart. A game that critics scored modestly can win players over through updates, and a well-reviewed game can lose players' goodwill later. Neither number is "right"; a big gap is simply a reason to read a few reviews before you buy.
The number of reviews matters as much as the label. A rating built on tens of thousands of player reviews is far steadier than one built on a few dozen, and a Metascore from four critics is thinner than one from forty.
How to use both in a minute
- Look for the Switch Metascore first. If there is one, it is the best single signal for the Switch release.
- Check the Steam rating and its review count for a sense of how players who spent real time with the game feel about it, remembering that it is the PC version.
- If the two disagree, read two or three reviews, looking specifically for comments on the Switch version.
- Then weigh price and length. A great score does not make a sixty-hour game right for someone with two free evenings. Is that eShop discount any good? covers the rest of the checklist.
This is also the idea behind Dockside, our app for US eShop deals. By default it lists a discounted game only if it has a Metascore of 88 or higher (the Switch version's own, where there is one) or an "Overwhelmingly Positive" Steam rating, so either critics or players have to rate it among the best. Get Dockside free on the App Store.