The Xbox Series X and Series S don't have a vast batch of exclusive games, though more are coming this year, and both consoles still have a healthy batch of games that are very worth your attention.
On this list you'll find games that while are cross-generation work best on the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, such as Halo Infinite and Elden Ring, and Forza Horizon 5; all of which are must-play titles. And looking forward to next year, we can expect the likes of Starfield to be a contender for a spot on this list.
So with that in mind, read on for a full list of our choices for the best Xbox Series X games.
1. Halo Infinite
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After two previous Halo games that were a tad lackluster, Halo Infinite comes soaring back to success... literally thanks to the new grappling hook that lets you swing across chasms and scale cliffs with ease.
Seemingly taking the original game's Silent Cartographer mission and running with it, Halo Infinite is a semi-open-world game where you can tackle a variety of mission and tasks in any order you like and in a manner of ways such as sniping down enemies from afar of charging in with a huge Scorpion tank. Some more variation in environments and a tighter story would be apricated. But in terms of pure Halo fun and actions, Halo Infinite is a storming success and a must-have for anyone who wants an excellent first-person shooter on the Xbox Series X.
2. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
Assassin's Creed Valhalla is the latest entry in Ubisoft's long-running historical action/stealth series. This time around, you'll take control of Eivor: a Viking warrior, who must establish a new home for his clan in the wilds of medieval England. All of the usual Assassin's Creed activities are here - scouring the countryside for quests and treasure, hunting down Templar agents, building up your arsenal of stealth and combat tools, and so forth. But this time around, you'll also build a settlement, travel in a longship and raid monasteries, as any good Viking should.
On Xbox Series X, Assassin's Creed Valhalla loads quickly and aims for a steady 4K/60 frames per second performance. Not only is the game gorgeous, but it runs seamlessly, and never makes you wait long to jump back into the action, whether you're fast-traveling across the map or retrying a difficult combat encounter.
3. Forza Horizon 5
Following in the footsteps, or tyre marks, of Forza Horizon 4, Forza Horizon 5 has pretty much perfected the open-world driving and racing formula of the series. Now set in Mexico and making use of the Xbox Series X's power, the game not only looks extraordinary, it plays like a dream.
There's huge amount of content to get through, across variety of Mexican environments and locals. And car handling works better than ever, offering a dose of realism without being too po-faced about it. For lovers of cars or people who don't care about them, Forza Horizon 5 is still very much a top Xbox Series X game you really should try out.
4. Gears 5
It could be argued that when Gears of War 4 came out, the Gears franchise was running out of a bit of steam, at least on the single-player side. But Gears 5 is a triumphant return to form for the series. Naturally, it comes with flashy cutscenes full of the bombast one expects from a Gears game. But it also dips its toes into the realms of horror, teasing out a creeping dread between bouts of frenetic action. The fundamentals of a Gears game are still present, with the satisfaction of nailing a quick reload still tickling the action game glands.
Gears 5 is also a very pretty game, as in "bite-the-back-of-your-hand" pretty. The extra power of the Series X ramps up the texture and shadow details, as well as adding a form of "lite" ray tracing. Running at 4K with a pretty stable 60 fps is basically the only way to play Gears 5.
5. Sea of Thieves
Have you ever wondered what it might be like to fill the boots of a semi-cartoon pirate sailing the open seas with four fellow shipmates, plundering islands and sinking other ships just for the sheer joy of it? If the answer is yes, then Rare’s Sea of Thieves is the game for you.
What started out as a bit of a thin experience on the Xbox One and PC has matured into a much deeper game full of secrets, including a gigantic kraken to take on. The optimized version for the Xbox Series X will run at 4K and a smooth 60 fps, making the whole experience plain sailing on Microsoft's new flagship games console.
6. Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Following on from the critically-acclaimed Ori and the Blind Forest, Ori and the Will of the Wisps is another fantastic chapter in the sumptuously detailed 2D platform game. What you get here isn’t just a generic platformer, but an open world based in a forest made up of multiple regions, styled to come alive in 2D. The game is stuffed full of attention to detail, from the way background art shifts as you move Ori through the world, to the creepy movements of enemies. And it’s all punctuated by a soaring music score that almost tells a story by itself.
This game already ran well on the Xbox One X. But on the Series X, and indeed the Series S, Ori and the Will of the Wisps will run at a super-smooth 120 fps, if you have the hardware to take advantage of the frame rate. As it’s part of Xbox Game Pass, there’s very little excuse to miss out on Ori and the Will of the Wisps.
7. Resident Evil Village
While Resident Evil is a franchise best associated with PlayStation, it's been a multiplatform series for a while and the latest entry in the series, Resident Evil Village, is great on Xbox Series X. On Microsoft's console you get access to ray tracing and the Smart Delivery system, which means if you purchased it on Xbox One you get a free update to the Series X and Series S version.
As for Resident Evil Village itself, it's an excellent horror-meets-adventure game. In our Resident Evil Village review, Henty T. Casey noted: "Resident Evil Village is the most engrossing game I've played in forever, with a twisted labyrinthine story that hooks you in and pulls you down rabbit hole after rabbit hole."
8. Hitman 3
The final entry in the World of Assassination trilogy, Hitman 3 is a cumulation of all developer IO Interactive has learned from its previous Hitman games. While Hitman 3 doesn't introduce much to the game, it’s basically the finest iteration and implementation of all the systems the reboot of Hitman brought in from 2016 onwards.
As such you’re looking at a game with a suite of near-perfectly constructed missions, filled with interesting ways to dispatch various targets. These range from clever deception to simply shoving someone off the world's largest building. Stand-out missions involve infiltrating a warehouse rave in Berlin and exploring the neon and rain-soaked streets of China’s Chongqing, to infiltrating a country manor house in a wind-swept and bleak segment of England’s Dartmoor. But beyond the locations, the structure of the missions are rich and deep. You can follow a variety of opportunities that arise to carefully kill a tricky target, or you can switch off a load of hints and figure things out for yourself. Either way, you’re in for one of the finest stealth experiences on the Xbox Series X.
9. Microsoft Flight Simulator
Having first made its debut on Windows 10 PCs, Microsoft Flight Simulator is now out on the Xbox Series X and Series S, allowing you to live out piloting fantasies from the comfort of your couch.
We described Microsoft Flight Simulator as the perfect pandemic game, letting you take to the virtual skies of a realistically mapped Planet Earth, while remaining inside an relatively COVID-19 safe. But now it has landed on Microsoft's new consoles it gets optimizations for both meaning you don't need a massively expensive PC to play it. So now's the time to kick back an jet, or biplane off into the clouds without worrying about needing a pilot's license or causing horrific mechanical death.
10. Star Wars: Squadrons
While it's a cross-platform game, Star Wars: Squadrons has been given the Xbox Series X optimization treatment, meaning it now hits higher resolutions and framerates, with the latter going up to 120 frames per second. So arguably the Xbox Series X is one of the best places to play this arcade-like space combat simulator.
And what a space combat sim it is. Star Wars: Squadrons puts you in the cockpits of various Rebel Alliance and Galactic Empire fighters and bomber craft allowing you to live out your zero-g dog-fighting fantasies in a galaxy far, far away. And it's all swaddled in a rather lovely modern graphics engine. The game really captures that feeling of battling it out in a lived-in sci-fi setting and pulling off manoeuvres that see you shake a pursuing TIE fighter and then blast it to pieces in the vacuum of space. And the neat controls mapped onto the latest Xbox Wireless Controller means the game is a joy to control.
11. Destiny 2: Beyond Light
While is not an Xbox Series X exclusive, like a good few of the games on this list, Destiny 2: Beyond Light is still one of the best games you can play on the Xbox Series X. Building upon its predecessor, Destiny 2: Beyond Light launched alongside the Xbox Series X and brings with it 4K resolution, speedy load times, and overall smoother performance than it gets on the Xbox One.
And that means you can get 60 frames per second first-person shooter action from the original creators of Halo, meaning the game offers excellent gunplay in a massively multiplayer environment. If you have a group of friends into shooters, then Destiny 2: Beyond Light is very much the game you'll want to give a go.
12. Alan Wake Remastered
Alan Wake Remastered is, as the name would suggest, a refreshed take on the original Alan Wake, with modern graphics and tweaks for the latest games consoles. Somewhat of a cult classic, the remastered version of Alan Wake not only throws in all of the game's DLC but also ensure it run better than ever.
It doesn't competently overhaul the original game but there are welcome improvements to visuals and to make visiting Bright Falls for the first time or coming back to it as a veteran of Remedy's creeping horror game, a treat. As such, Alan Wake Remastered is an easy recommendation for anyone who’s not experienced the joys of using a flashlight to take down nightmarish enemies. Of course if horror games and reworked classics are not your cup of tea, then perhaps you might want to scroll back to the top of this list.
13. Elden Ring
Dark Souls fans, listen up! If you've always wanted an open-world Souls game then Elden Ring is the one for you. It offers an expansive world pitted with dungeons, bosses, monsters and other enemies. But if any get too tough, then you can use the open world to bypass them, returning later when you have better weapons, gear and experience.
As the first foray into a true open world, Elden Ring is another Souls-like triumph. it might lack the extremely polished structure of Dark Souls or Dark Souls 3, but it still offers a compelling experience for fans of tough but fair games draped in a dark fantasy setting.
14. Red Dead Redemption 2
While it's not an Xbox Series X game first, Red Dead Redemption 2 is still a one of the best looking and best playing games you can buy right now. And thanks to the SSD of the Xbox Series X, the occasionally painful lengthy loading times are much reduced. The game also benefits from the Xbox Series X's Quick Resume function, mening you can bounce between it and other tiles on this list.
Red Dead Redemption 2 also has an extensive online multiplayer mode that's well worth checking out after you finish the main game. But even that alone should net you a huge open-world that's dripping with life that you can watch trot or hop by, or end with your shooting irons.
15. Deathloop
After some time as a PS5 and PC exclusive game, the Xbox Series X and Series S now have access to Deathloop, one of the best games of 2021. In Deathloop, you fill the boots of Cole, an amnesiac pseudo-assassin with a few superpowers and plenty of wise cracks. Your mission, as you find out, is to kill seven visionary characters in a single run, as you happen to be caught in a time loop where dying or moving from one time of day to other progresses the loop giving you limited opportunities to kill your targets.
That premise sounds confusing, but Deathloop gives you plenty of clues on how to complete this mission, while letting you run lose with all manner of weapons and powers, as well as a beefy kick that can send enemies flying; it's one of the most satisfying first-person games I've played in a while. And the soundtrack is simply excellent. Without giving too much away, Deathloop is a must-play game.
16. Halo: The Master Chief Collection
While it's not an Xbox Series X game — none of the games here are Xbox Series X exclusives — Halo: The Master Chief Collection is a must-have for Xbox fans. It has all the Halo games up to Halo 4, which arguably means it has all the best Halo games, though 4 is a tad lackluster. And that means access to a series of brilliant first-person shooter campaigns, as well as a mix of multiplayer options for what was and is still one of the best multiplayer experiences on game consoles.
The optimized version for the Xbox Series X and Series S means you get a boosted frame rate and 4K resolution, as well as the benefit of super-fast loading times. It's also part of Xbox Game Pass so there's no reason not to give the Halo games a go if you've somehow missed them so far.
