Forgotten 2008 DS Game Nears Metacritic’s Top Spot
▼ Summary
– Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 currently holds the highest user score on Metacritic with a 9.5, but it faces a challenge from the Nintendo DS game *Cory in the House*, which has a 9.4.
– *Cory in the House* has a user score surpassing many acclaimed titles like *Silent Hill 2* and *The Witcher 3*, despite being poorly reviewed by critics upon its 2008 release.
– The game’s high score is largely due to a long-running internet meme that began around 2013, where users on platforms like 4chan and Reddit jokingly praised it as an anime masterpiece.
– The meme campaign saw a resurgence in January 2026, with new perfect-score reviews appearing to boost the game’s rating, and some fans are even negatively reviewing *Clair Obscur* to help it reach the top spot.
– If the influx of reviews continues, *Cory in the House* is likely to overtake *Clair Obscur* and become Metacritic’s highest-rated game based on user scores.
A forgotten Nintendo DS title from 2008 is making an astonishing climb up the user review charts, threatening to dethrone the current highest-rated game on Metacritic. The game in question is Disney Cory in the House, a licensed stealth adventure based on the Disney Channel sitcom. At present, it holds a staggering user score of 9.4, placing it above universally acclaimed titles such as The Witcher 3, Silent Hill 2, and Baldur’s Gate 3. The only barrier standing between it and the number one position is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, a 2025 RPG that currently holds a 9.5 rating. As new user reviews pour in, this unexpected rivalry is capturing attention for all the wrong reasons.
The surge in ratings for Cory in the House is not a reflection of a critical reappraisal or newfound appreciation for its gameplay. In fact, the game was poorly received upon its original release, with the only two critic reviews on Metacritic giving it scores of three and four out of ten. The high user score is the result of a long-running internet meme that began over a decade ago. Back in 2013, a coordinated campaign on forums like 4chan and Reddit jokingly promoted the title as a masterpiece, ironically labeling it an anime game and flooding its page with perfect scores.
While the meme’s intensity faded slightly over the years, a dedicated group of fans kept it alive with sporadic perfect reviews. Then, in January 2026, the campaign saw a sudden and unexplained resurgence. A wave of new user reviews, all awarding the game a perfect 10 out of 10, began appearing with humorous and exaggerated praise. One review declares it “the greatest piece of art to ever grace humankind,” while another contributor writes they are simply “doing my part” to spread the word of this “divine gift.”
The push has become so fervent that some supporters are now attempting to lower the score of the current top game. A handful of reviews for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 have appeared, arguing it does not deserve its high rating and that the top spot should belong to the DS title. This tactic of review bombing the competition highlights the meme-driven nature of the entire situation. If the influx of perfect scores for Cory in the House continues at its current pace, there is a very real possibility it will soon claim the number one position on Metacritic’s user score rankings, proving that internet culture can have a direct and bizarre impact on how we perceive legacy data.
(Source: Dexerto)
