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The Xbox Series X is more or less a suped-up Xbox One, so if you’ve had trouble getting your hands on the newer machine, don’t fret. In fact, given the absence of next-gen launch exclusives, most of the best games you could play on the thing are Xbox One games, anyway. Over its seven years and three major hardware iterations, thousands of terrific games came out for Microsoft’s once-just-a-Halo machine. Here are the best of the best.
But first, there’s something we need to talk about.
Xbox Game Pass
Microsoft is unique among its console peers in that it lets you game on its platform through a robust subscription service in lieu of having to buy each game individually. For $10 per month you can join Xbox Game Pass. All first-party games join the service on their first day of release, and many major games from other software publishers end up there as well. Beyond that, a $15 premium tier also grants access to EA Play, a similar service from EA that lets you play a ton of that company’s games (including the Mass Effect series, A Way Out, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and so, so many sports titles). Of the 14 games that follow, seven of them are available on Game Pass’s $15 tier as of 8/25/2021.
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Hades
Hades is the rare roguelike in which you’re constantly moving forward. You play as Zagreus, the son of the titular god of the land of the dead. Like many of developer Supergiant’s prior hits (Bastion, Transistor) Hades is fundamentally an isometric action game. Your goal is to fight your way out of the underworld, mostly to escape your dad’s iron-fisted rule. Along the way, members of the Olympian pantheon bestow upon you some seriously game-changing powers, which shift your tactics on the fly. Then you die. And every time you die, you start back in Hades’ hall, the loadout you meticulously crafted totally gone. But the story keeps pushing forward, win or lose, as you learn the backstories of, and build bonds with, the denizens of the underworld. It might seem like Hades wants to beat you up. But it really just wants to tell you a story.
A Good Match For: Fans of roguelikes, Greek mythology, or any of Supergiant’s prior games.
Not A Good Match For: Tom Cruise’s character from Edge of Tomorrow, Bill Murray’s character from Groundhog Day, and anyone in the real world who hates running the same loop ad infinitum.
Read our review.
Study our tips for the game.
Purchase From: Microsoft Store
Hitman 3
Despite its grisly nature, Hitman 3 is pure decadence. Though it’s ostensibly a stealth game, during which you’re tasked with eliminating targets via creative methods in densely packed levels, Hitman 3 pulls double duty as a travelogue. You start out in the gold-plated halls of a Dubai supertall. Then you move on to other decadent locations: a nightclub in Berlin, a vineyard in Argentina, and so on. Plus, you can import any owned levels from the prior two games in the “World of Assassination” trilogy, and access all of them from one tidy in-game launcher. Also: there’s a train fight.
A Good Match For: Fans of puzzle and stealth games. Anyone who loved the previous two Hitman games. Fashion.
Not A Good Match For: Those seeking a standard third-person shooter. The illuminati.
Read our review.
Learn where to find every banana.
Purchase From: Microsoft Store | Amazon | Target | Best Buy
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
However big you think Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is, triple it. The latest in a string of “modern” Assassin’s Creed games (which saw the formerly stealth-action series morph into open-world role-playing games), Valhalla sends you to 9th-century Britain. You play as Eivor, a raider from Norway determined to make a new home across the North Sea, where pastures are greener and warmer. The map is divided up into more than a dozen separate regions. Each one has its own storyline, and once you start on one, you’re locked into it until you wrap up its main quest. This helps parcel out this massive game into smaller, digestible segments. There’s further stuff with optional objectives and environmental puzzles, all of which are bespoke. Turn over any of Valhalla’s many, many rocks and you’ll find something you haven’t seen before.
A Good Match For: Open-world fans who like their side-quests unique, their gear systems streamlined, and their landscapes so, so gorgeous.
Not A Good Match For: The ever-fleeting concept of free time.
Read our review.
Study our tips for the game.
Purchase From: Amazon | Best Buy | GameStop | Target | Microsoft Store
Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Once upon a time, Halo: The Master Chief Collection was a laughing stock, the exemplar of “if it can go wrong it will go wrong” in online games. In the years since, it’s grown into an essential Xbox title. Not only do you get the first four Halo games—and all their respective multiplayer modes—live together under one roof, but developer 343 Industries continues to give The Master Chief Collection attention, regularly rolling out new cosmetics, modes, and gameplay tweaks at a regular clip. Then there’s the fact that the community is, somehow, seven years later, absolutely buzzing. For a series of older games, Master Chief Collection now feels fresh as hell.
A Good Match For: Fans of first-person shooters. Halo players looking to brush up before Halo Infinite’s winter release.
Not A Good Match For: Players with space-clogged hard drives, as The Master Chief Collection is one of the biggest Xbox One games around.
Read our thoughts of its campaigns.
Purchase From: Microsoft Store | Amazon | Target | Best Buy | GameStop
Mass Effect Legendary Edition
Mass Effect Legendary Edition is Mass Effect at its best. Though BioWare’s trilogy of space-faring RPGs is—depending on which game you’re counting from—around a decade old by now, Legendary Edition makes them feel like thoroughly modern games. That means de rigueur visual enhancements—like 4K resolution, 60fps framerates, and better lighting—but also a suite of subtle gameplay tweaks. The first game received the most attention, making the shooting feel more like it does in the second and third games. (The much-teased Mako vehicle has also been vastly improved.) Between all three, there’s a uniform character creator, which allows your customized Shepard to seamlessly jump from game to game. But BioWare made damn sure to maintain the original feel of the games. This is still Mass Effect, and it’s still as good as ever.
A Good Match For: People who want to re-experience one of gaming’s great trilogies. People who want to first experience one of gaming’s great trilogies.
Not A Good Match For: Those who don’t have 150 hours to burn.
Read our thoughts on the first game’s revamp.
Purchase From: Amazon | Best Buy | GameStop | Microsoft Store
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 is a time capsule. You boot it up, you hear the punk-rock riffs kick in, and you’re instantly whisked back to that halcyon era of backward hats and one-strap backpacks. But here’s the thing: Despite the shiny new coat of paint, this redux is uncannily faithful and immediately familiar. If you played the 1999 or 2000 originals, you’ll get right back to busting out 900s, flicking double impossibles into noseslides, and stringing together manual combos that would make Rodney Mullen maybe—just maybe—break a sweat in the real world. Speaking of Mullen, he and the other playable pros from the originals are rendered in-game with their current visages. THPS1+2 is solid evidence that, yes, what is old can be new again.
A Good Match For: Anyone who played video games between 1999 and 2004. Nostalgia.
Not A Good Match For: Fans of Skate, Skater XL, Session, or other realistic skateboarding games.
Read our review.
Learn how to bust out a gazillion-point combo.
Purchase From: Amazon | Best Buy | Walmart | GameStop | Microsoft Store
Red Dead Redemption 2
From tip to tail, Red Dead Redemption 2 is a profound, glorious downer. It is the rare blockbuster video game that seeks to move players not through empowering gameplay and jubilant heroics, but by relentlessly forcing them to confront decay and despair. It has no heroes, only flawed men and women fighting viciously to survive in a world that seems destined to destroy them. It is both an exhilarating glimpse into the future of entertainment and a stubborn torch bearer for an old-fashioned kind of video game design. It is a lot, and also, it is a whole, whole lot.
A Good Match For: Cowboys, open-world connoisseurs, history buffs, and lapsed game-playing persons lured by a game whose atmosphere strikingly mimics many masterpieces of film and literature.
Not A Good Match For: Those averse to open worlds, because this sure is the open-worldest of all possible open worlds. Also, Sonic the Hedgehog fans need not apply (your cowpoke’s walking speed is the exact opposite of going fast).
Read our review.
Watch it in action.
Study our tips for playing the game.
Purchase From: Amazon | Walmart | Best Buy | GameStop | Digital
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Ori and the Blind Forest was a stellar platformer, but it wasn’t exactly approachable. Tough levels were made even more challenging by a punishing save system: You’d have to spend hard-earned energy to create checkpoints. This year’s excellent follow-up, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, does away with all that in favor of a more streamlined experience. It’ll still throw you through the ringer, but you won’t find yourself retreading the same ground over and over again—there’s a forgiving autosave system in this one. And that’s not the only modernization: there’s also a hub area, an actual arsenal, and an entire cast of supporting magical forest creatures. Best of all, the soundtrack is worth playing on repeat, and any single frame of the game belongs in a museum.
A Good Match For: People who enjoy Metroidvanias, tough platformers, or Studio Ghibli films
Not A Good Match For: Anyone who’s out of Kleenex (this game’s a tear-jerker)
Read our review.
Study our tips for playing the game.
Purchase From: Amazon | Walmart | Best Buy | GameStop | Digital
Nier: Automata
Nier: Automata will probably surprise you. It starts out as a fast-moving action game in the vein of Bayonetta or Devil May Cry, telling a story about hot robots exploring a ravaged future earth. And until the first time the credits roll, that’s what it remains. Keep playing, though, and Nier will begin to open up and transform. It shifts viewpoints and twists inside of itself, eventually unfolding in a spiral of revelations that crescendos all the way to the grand finale(s). Yes, you must “finish” Nier: Automata five times to get the complete story. But like the rest of this fantastic game, that doesn’t mean what you think it means.
A Good Match For: Fans of narrative mindfucks like the first Nier or the Metal Gear Solid games. People looking for something ambitious and unapologetically weird.
Not A Good Match For: People who like their game stories straightforward. Anyone who doesn’t like beat-em-ups or shoot-em-ups.
Read our review.
Watch it in action.
Purchase From: Amazon | Best Buy | Walmart | GameStop | Digital
Titanfall 2
Titanfall 2 gave us what we were expecting—more of its trademark fleet-footed, giant robot-enhanced competitive multiplayer. It also gave us an unexpectedly fantastic single-player story campaign, and that’s really what sets it apart. What could’ve been a series of botmatches or boring corridor shootouts instead was an uncommonly well-designed hybrid of platforming and action movie gymnastics. The spirits of Valve and Nintendo are alive and well at Respawn Entertainment, evidently.
A Good Match For: Fans of shooters, robots, wall-running, grappling hooks, and tight narratives.
Not A Good Match For: Those prone to motion sickness.
Read our review, and a breakdown of the best level.
Watch it in action.
Purchase From: Amazon | Walmart | Best Buy | GameStop | Digital
Sea of Thieves
Sea of Thieves started poorly. Server troubles and hacker-filled waters made it difficult to enjoy, but pressing on with a group of friends revealed a promising game that wasn’t quite there yet. Slowly, the waters became less rocky as free content updates brought giant shark battles and new regions to explore. The Anniversary Update pushes Sea of Thieves into its best form yet. There’s the usual hijinks with pals, but there’s also a full-fledged story mission with fantastic tombs to explore as well as a hectic player versus player arena. If that’s too much, you can just fish by your lonesome or set sail with your crew and see what happens. There was always potential here, and Rare’s put the hard work into making Sea of Thieves life up to the promise of high-seas excitement. There’s no other game quite like it, and anyone looking for a different type of multiplayer adventure would do well to leap in. Maybe you’ll get blown up by a rival crew, maybe you’ll haul a big score of treasure. No matter what, you’ll have a unique story by the end of the day.
A Good Match For: Pirate enthusiasts, people in desperate need of a beach vacation, jerkfaces, Discord pals, and anyone looking for a change of pace.
Not A Good Match For: Solo players (although some disagree), folks who hate losing all their stuff when someone sinks their ship, or anyone who wants a deep story.
Read our initial review.
Watch it in action.
Purchase From: Amazon | Walmart | Best Buy | GameStop | Digital
Forza Horizon 4
Just as there must always be a Stark at Winterfell, there must always (apparently) be a Forza: Horizon game on our list of the best Xbox One games. Forza Horizon 4 uses the same winning formula that has worked so well for every preceding game in the series, spicing things up further with a ton of new cars and, most notably, weather that shifts with the seasons. It is, to paraphrase a wise man, “The Rolex watch of Hot Wheels playsets,” a game that looks amazing, feels wonderful to play, and will remind car-lovers everywhere why they love cars.
A Good Match For: Car lovers. Driving enthusiasts. Those who like seeing immaculately rendered video game weather.
Not A Good Match For: Those who haven’t enjoyed previous Horizon games. Anyone who prefers open-world games that let you get out of your car and walk around. People hoping to see Toyota cars in a racing game.
Watch it in action and hear our impressions of the game in the same video.
Purchase From: Amazon | Walmart | Best Buy | GameStop | Digital
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
There’s no shortage of ambition in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Geralt of Rivia’s latest adventure is massive, a world you can get lost in for hours and still have plenty to do. And while many games these days have sprawling landscapes, The Witcher 3 is utterly dense. Every nook and cranny is filled with memorable characters, clever writing, and rewards for curious players. The main story is as thrilling as it is emotionally draining, and, get this, the side quests are actually worth doing! Best of all? You don’t need to have played a Witcher game to enjoy the heck out of the third.
A Good Match For: Open-world fans, especially those who enjoyed Skyrim but were disappointed by the combat. In The Witcher 3, fighting is nearly as enjoyable as exploration.
Not a Good Match For: People who value their time and social life, or those who prefer their games hyper-polished without any framerate drops or other nagging technical flaws.
Read our review, and thoughts on the game’s (excellent) free DLC.
Watch it in action.
Study our tips for the game, and catch up on The Witcher lore.
Purchase From: Amazon | Walmart | Best Buy | GameStop | Digital
Outer Wilds
“Be curious on your journey!” proclaims one of the characters in Outer Wilds. No line could sum it up better. At the onset, your silent alien hero is given a rickety spaceship and sent off to explore the universe with a single goal: Go on an adventure. Roughly 20 minutes later, the universe explodes, and you wake up on your home planet as if nothing ever happened. Soon you’ll find yourself ticking off goals and jotting down questions: Why is the universe exploding? How did that ancient alien race go extinct? What’s up with that planet that keeps disappearing when you try to land on it? And is it possible to save the universe? Outer Wilds mixes the exploration of Metroid with the time loop of Majora’s Mask to brilliant effect, and it culminates in one of the most satisfying endings we’ve ever seen in a video game.
A Good Match For: Curious gamers. Anyone who loves the idea of getting into a space ship and exploring the cosmos.
Not a Good Match For: Impatient people, or those who need combat in their games. Anyone who can’t stand finicky controls.
Read our review.
Watch it in action.
Listen to our podcast discussing tips for starting the game.
Purchase From: Available digitally on Amazon and the Microsoft store.
How has this list changed? Read back through our update history:
Update 8/25/2021: Longtime readers will note a total overhaul, completely busting through our long-standing limit of 12 games. We’ve given Monster Hunter: World the boot. We’ve also swapped Hitman 2 for Hitman 3 and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Hades and Mass Effect: Legendary Edition join the ranks. Finally, Halo: The Master Chief Collection comes home to roost, because what’s a list of best Xbox One games without a Halo?
Update 9/15/2020: We’ve added Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 because Return of the Obra Dinn couldn’t do a kickflip.
Update 3/30/20: We’ve poured out Cuphead and added Ori and the Will of the Wisps.
Update 12/26/19: The final update of the decade! Long-tenured 2016 entries The Witness and Overwatch have finally been retired, making way for Return of the Obra Dinn and Outer Wilds.
Update 5/21/2019: We’ve added Hitman 2, Nier: Automata, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Sea of Thieves, and removed Hitman, Fortnite Battle Royale, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and XCOM 2.
Update 11/12/2018: We’ve added Forza Horizon 4 and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and taken off Gears of War 4 and Forza Horizon 3.
Update 4/30/2018: We’ve added Monster Hunter: World and Fortnite Battle Royale while taking off Resident Evil 7 and Inside.
Update 10/20/2017: We’ve added Cuphead and XCOM 2 and taken off Dark Souls 3 and Grand Theft Auto V.
Update 6/7/2017: We’ve added Gears of War 4 and taken off Destiny, which Bungie has been winding down in anticipation of the sequel later this year.
Update 2/24/2017: We’ve added Resident Evil 7 and taken off Diablo 3.
Update 12/21/2016: We’ve added Titanfall 2 and Hitman while cutting Ori and the Blind Forest and Metal Gear Solid V.
Update: 10/28/2016: We’ve cut Sunset Overdrive and Assassin’s Creed Syndicate and added Forza Horizon 3 and The Witness.
Update 7/21/2016: Goodbye to Batman: Arkham Knight and Forza Horizon 2; hello to Overwatch and Inside.
Update 2/27/2016: Fallout 4 and Dying Light come off the list, while Dark Souls 3 and Rise of the Tomb Raider make it on.
Update 11/26/2015: Fallout 4 and Assassin’s Creed Syndicate make their way onto the list, edging out Dragon Age: Inquisition and Assassin’s Creed IV. We’re still keeping an eye on Halo 5’s to see if it’ll earn it a spot on the strength of its multiplayer.
Update: 10/15/2015: We’ve added Metal Gear Solid V to the list and taken off Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin. We’ve also updated our entry for Destiny to account for the Taken King expansion and cleared out old comments to make room for new ones.
Update 7/16/2015: These swaps are getting harder. After much deliberation we cut Wolfenstein: The New Order, despite our affection for the surprisingly good story-driven first-person shooter. We’re also saying goodbye to another over-achiever, Shadows of Mordor, whose best trick, the Nemesis System, isn’t enough to keep it on our ever more competitive top 12.
Update 5/5/2015: We’ve taken off Super Time Force, The LEGO Movie Videogame, and Rayman Legends to make room for Dying Light, Ori and the Blind Forest, and Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin. Nearly half of the games on this list now begin with “D.” Mission accomplished.
Update 11/25/2014: Three new games make their way onto the list: Dragon Age: Inquisition, Grand Theft Auto V and Sunset Overdrive edge out Ryse: Son of Rome, Dead Rising 3 and Titanfall.
Update 10/17/2014: We’ve cleared out Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, and Need For Speed: Rivals to make room for Destiny, Forza Horizon 2, and Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor.
Update 8/29/14: Strider hops out of the way to clear space for Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition.
Update 6/17/2014: The list continues to mature, as Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and Peggle 2 leave to make room for Wolfenstein: The New Order and Super Time Force.
Update 4/17/2014: Three games enter, two games leave. Our list hits its limit of 12 games, with Titanfall, The LEGO Movie Videogame and Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes walking on while Powerstar Golf and LEGO Marvel Superheroes exit.
Update 3/10/2014: Four games walk on to the list: Rayman Legends, Strider, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare and the newly multiplayer’d Peggle 2 bring our grand total of games up to eleven. One more and we’ll be at twelve, and will have to start cutting games to make additions.
Update 2/14/2014: Our first addition to the Xbox One Bests list is the lovely-looking Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition. Go, Lara, Go.
Want more of the best games on each system? Check out our complete directory:
The Best Xbox Series X And S Games • The Best PC Games • The Best PS5 Games • The Best PS4 Games • The Best Games On PlayStation Now • The Best Xbox One Games • The Best Games On Xbox Game Pass • The Best Nintendo Switch Games • The Best Wii U Games • The Best 3DS Games • The Best PS Vita Games • The Best Xbox 360 Games • The Best PS3 Games • The Best Wii Games • The Best iPhone Games • The Best iPad Games • The Best Android Games • The Best PSP Games • The Best Facebook Games • The Best DS Games • The Best Mac Games
Note: While some games on this list are download-only, all of them can be purchased on the Xbox One’s online store. If you buy any of these games through the retail links in this post, our parent company may get a small share of the sale through the retailers’ affiliates program.
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