Wow, I'm looking pretty good right now, my Borderlands 4 and Ghosts of Yotei predictions are spot-on with the latest OC averages, and my Silent Hill prediction is only 1 off.

A lot of games that threw us for a loop this year. These all scored either higher or lower than any of us had guessed:

Kingdom Come II
Civilization 7
Elden Ring Nightreign
Mario Kart World

Would have been Borderlands too, but that score is dropping pretty quickly now.

Pokémon Legends Z-A seems to be reviewing quite well for a Pokémon game, sitting at 81 on MC. Can’t say I’m too surprised based on early impressions.

The review count was too small, the score could go further down as more post launch reviews come. Pre launch reviews tend to be more generous, especially with established/popular titles.

OT:

Raising The Outer Worlds 2 to 83

First reviews are in for Pokémon Legends Z-A and it's sitting 81 for now with 32 reviews. A bit above our collective average though Pokemon scores have a tendancy to fall over time for the last many entries.

Lowering Ninja Gaiden 4 to 85.

Ninja Gaiden 4 sitting at 82 average with 84 reviews, below our prediction average (Noble's 81 is the closest prediction). The Team Ninja and Platinum co-developed action gameplay is getting generally high marks, but lots of the lower reviews are listing a weak storyline among their complaints, and many also complain about the large number of on-rails linear sections. 

@UnderwaterFunktown

Just a heads-up: My adjusted Ninja Gaiden 4 prediction score was 85 and not 84 (I adjusted it up a point minutes after posting).

Thanks for the summary, I can rest easy this time, hehe

Appreciate the honesty Fixed now

First reviews are in for The Outer Worlds 2 (and Ninja Gaiden 4 as previously mentioned by shikamaru) and they're both sitting at 82 (amazingly one point below Pokémon right now which has moved up in the world). But all these games are still below 100 reviews, so there's certainly still room for changes.