Overview
- Website
- microsoft.com
- Average Review Score
- 6.8/10
- Average Game Rating
- 8.09/10
Review Age Of Mythology: Retold (Xbox) - Microsoft's Godly RTS Classic Revitalised
Go beyond history
Age of Mythology might not be a major numbered entry, but it's still played a significant role in the Age timeline – transitioning the series from 2D to 3D following the success of Ensemble's real-time strategy king, Age of Empires II. Mythology wasn’t just there to fill the void when it landed on PC in 2002 and is still...
Review Sea Of Thieves - In Truly Ship-Shape Condition Two Years After Launch
It's a pirate's life for me
When Sea of Thieves initially set sail in 2018, it was met with somewhat mixed reviews. Rare's pirate playground is undoubtedly a masterful creation; a vast, dynamic, hyper-stylised sea world dotted with mysterious islands and skeleton forts in which players are set free to create their own grand adventures. However, it...
Review Forza Horizon 4 - The Best Racing Experience On Xbox One
Fuel Britannia
Offshoots aren’t meant to surpass their source material. They’re meant to be unusual curios that take an existing concept in twist it in ways the mainline series never could. When the original Forza Horizon casually rolled up onto the scene in 2012, no one really expected it to attract the fan base that it did, but eight years on...
Review Forza Horizon 2: Storm Island (Xbox One)
Making it rain.
When crafting a DLC package of any significant weight for a game that has gone down really well with gamers and critics alike, developers have to be careful. What they add can’t interfere with the mix that they already had, as they really don’t want to be messing with a successful formula. Playground Games found a way to ensure...
Review D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die (Xbox One)
Look for D
Remember Deadly Premonition? It’s one of the most divisive games ever to be released upon the world. Poor production values, bizarreness to the extreme, and campy…well, everything else, meant it was one of those wonderfully weird games that either clicked with you, or it didn't at all. Now, four years after the release of Deadly...
Review Kinect Sports Rivals (Xbox One)
Do or die.
To say that Kinect Sports Rivals is a high-profile title for Xbox One would be something of an understatement. Being the only game (barring the violently bad Fighter Within, which barely passes as a game) available that’s been designed for the much-maligned Kinect device that’s included with every console, people were looking to...
Review Killer Instinct (Xbox One)
C-C-C-Combo Breaker!
Fans have been asking for it for years and finally Killer Instinct has returned, albeit with a new developer - Double Helix - who have adopted a free-to-play model for the game's characters, which is also now sporting fancy new visuals. However, fans can relax their cynicism and rejoice, as Killer Instinct on Xbox One retains...
Review BattleBlock Theater (Xbox 360)
The Behemoth Is Back
BattleBlock Theater is an Xbox Live Arcade platform puzzle game from The Behemoth, who are the developers of the excellent Castle Crashers and slightly-less-excellent Alien Hominid HD. The graphics are cartoonish, it features a good deal of laughs and some tricky puzzles that will test your dexterity later on. Also, it allows...
Review Kinect Party (Xbox 360)
Ain't no party like a Kinect Party.
Depending on when you pick it up, the decision on whether or not to get Kinect Party is a bit of a no-brainer. For a while after release day, it was available for absolutely no charge and should you have missed out, the price is 800 MSP. The product itself is also a bit of a no-brainer at times too, and while...
Review Red Bull Crashed Ice Kinect (Xbox 360)
Born slippy.
If you aren’t aware of what Red Bull’s “Crashed Ice” event series is, then you’re missing out. In short, the sport of ice cross involves a bunch of ice skater types starting at the top of an icy track that contains all manner of twists, turns, bumps, and jumps, and they have to race to the finish line in the fastest possible...
News Indiana Jones And The Great Circle Will Run At 60FPS On Both Xbox Series X And S
id Tech doing the business
One final round of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle previews have landed today - including ours, where we came away very impressed by what we played earlier this month. Alongside these previews, a few outlets have also posted some interviews with the dev team, and one from
News Xbox's Phil Spencer Congratulates Black Ops 6 Team On 'Phenomenal Accomplishment'
And reveals his order of play
The arrival of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is arguably the biggest Xbox drop all year and if you were wondering at all - yes, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has also jumped in on the action. After congratulating Activision's teams on their "phenomenal accomplishment" with the latest entry in the long-running series, he mentioned...
News Xbox App's New Home UI Update Available Now To Xbox Insiders
Introducing a "new home experience"
Microsoft has released a new "home experience" today for the Xbox app on Windows and it's available now to Xbox Insiders. The team has listened to feedback and has been testing different designs, it's now used this to create a unified Home UI experience - combining the best content from Game Pass and the...
Talking Point Xbox Released One Of Its Best-Ever Exclusives 10 Years Ago Today
Going into overdrive
It's often spoken about that Microsoft had one of its poorest runs for exclusive games back in the Xbox One era, but the first few years of that generation were hugely overlooked in our book. Earlier this month, we talked about one of the team's standout launch Xbox One games in Ryse: Son of Rome, and today marks the anniversary...
News Xbox Is Adding New Options For Uploading & Editing Custom Gamerpics
Included in a new Xbox Insider update
Microsoft has released patch notes for a new Xbox Insider update, and this one contains some interesting console changes coming from Team Green. We've got new Store notification options and controller calibration features, but also some major changes to the way custom gamerpics work. As detailed in the patch...
News Phasmophobia Frame Rate Targets Revealed, Xbox Series X The Only Console To Hit 120FPS
PS5 & Series S miss out
Spooky ghost hunter Phasmophobia finally hits consoles this week, including Xbox Series X|S, and ahead of launch the team has revealed all of the game's technical details on each platform. The good news here is that both current-gen Xbox consoles hit 60FPS - which is nice to see, especially for Xbox Series S. However, what's...
News Microsoft Boasts About Owning '20 Franchises That Have Generated Over $1 Billion'
Including ActiBlizz and Bethesda games of course
Microsoft's Satya Nadella has certainly been in the headlines today and not always in the most positive light, but one section of the CEO's recent annual company update at least talks about some of Xbox's more positive achievements in recent tim
Feature Black Ops 6 Campaign Review (Xbox) - Supernatural Surprises Elevate This Year's Call Of Duty
Dark ops
Call of Duty is back, this time with another Black Ops entry for the first time since 2020's Black Ops Cold War. Just like that four-year old COD title, Black Ops 6's campaign has been put together by Raven Software - but this time around you can really feel the extra development time. Four years in the making and featuring an actual
News Microsoft CEO Gaming Division Update: 'We Continue To Extend Our Content To New Platforms'
"We are bringing great games to more people"
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Following rumours about Xbox's PlayStation 5 ports slowing down, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has briefly touched on the company's gaming division in his annual letter to shareholders, acknowledging this new strategy codenamed "Project Latitude": Satya Nadella:
Rumour Xbox's PS5 Ports Have 'Slowed Down' Following Indiana Jones Announcement
"Halo and Gears are still RED LINES to this day"
Most of us know by now that Xbox has begun bringing select titles to PS5 this year, with the trend set to continue next spring with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
News Xbox Boss Namedrops Marvel's Blade & Everwild Following Recent Studio Visits
Phil has been busy!
As of late, the Xbox exec team have been a bit quieter on social media, especially in the wake of Microsoft's recent studio closures and developer layoffs. However, Phil Spencer has been breaking that trend recently with a return to the Threads platform - and the boss has delivered some interesting Xbox Game Studios updates over...
News Free Play Days: Try These Xbox Games For Free (October 24-27)
Included with Xbox Game Pass
Welcome to your latest Xbox Free Play Days roundup! This week, Microsoft has brought three games to the program, although two of them are already a part of the main Xbox Game Pass library in Fallout 76 and MLB The Show 24. Here's your full Xbox Free Play Days lineup this weekend: Fallout 76 MLB The
News Helldivers 2 Dev Says Xbox Version 'Isn't Up To Us', But It 'Could' Happen
But it's ultimately up to MS and Sony
The gaming world went a bit bananas for Helldivers 2 earlier this year - its PS5 and PC launch was massive and the game went on to be more popular than any of us ever imagined. Even way back when, there was talk about an Xbox version (with Phil Spencer even commenting on the situation), and now such a...
News Four Years Later, Xbox Series X Is Now Outselling Xbox Series S In The US
According to fresh sales data
Microsoft's decision to launch two completely different consoles as part of its current-gen gaming strategy was always a bold one, and for a long time, its been the cheaper console that's thought to have sold more units overall. However, according to new data from Circana (NPD Group), Xbox Series X is finally outselling...
News Halo Veteran's Return To The Series Is Just Speculation For Now
What will Joe Staten do next?
Yesterday, news surfaced about Netflix Games shutting down its Team Blue studio – a development team that was reportedly working on a new 'AAA' project with the help of Halo veteran Joseph Staten. Following this studio update, there are rumours swirling around the Halo and Xbox community about Staten potentially...
News State Of Decay 2 'Legacy Awaits' Is The Game's Final Major Update On Xbox
"So long and thanks for all the brains!"
Undead Labs has announced that, with the help of support team Wushu Studios, Legacy Awaits will be the final major content update for State of Decay 2. Launching as a free patch across PC and Xbox — including Game Pass — the title's 38th update brings a collection of new and returning outfits, vehicles...
News Xbox's New Wireless Headset Is Out Today, Featuring Battery Life & Audio Improvements
"The next evolution of the Xbox Wireless Headset"
Earlier this month, we reported on rumours of a new version of the Xbox Wireless Headset, and today Microsoft has confirmed its existence. In a new Xbox Wire blog post, Team Green reveals that "the next evolution" of its official headset launches today, with a host of fresh improvements. The...
Random Xbox's New Robot White Series X Removes One Small Detail
"Green on white would have looked weird"
Last week, Microsoft launched a trio of Xbox Series X and S models. While we've already seen some teardowns going into more technical changes, there's one other small difference with the 1TB All-Digital Xbox Series X (Robot White) model doing the rounds. As highlighted by the Xbox subreddit, app
Guide Black Ops 6 Preload Now Live - How To Download On Xbox One & Series X|S
Get ready for the Game Pass launch!
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 launches this week on Xbox Game Pass, and the team has now set preloads live across all platforms. The game is coming in at around 100GB on Xbox Series X - where you can download Black Ops 6 right now and get ready for Friday's launch. It's also available to preload on Xbox Series S and...
News Microsoft Adds New Xbox Series X|S Dynamic Background For Black Ops 6 Launch Week
Feelin' like 2010 all over again
Yep, it's officially Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 launch week, and Microsoft is going all-out as it prepares for its first-ever COD launch on Xbox Game Pass. Following on from last week's new line of BO6 accessories comes a brand-new
News Multiple Xbox Cloud Gaming Improvements Reportedly On The Way
Big updates are expected next month
There have been ongoing updates about Xbox Cloud Gaming recently, with reports and even some evidence suggesting Microsoft is gearing up to allow users to stream their games soon. Along with this, The Verge's senior editor Tom Warren has now shared some new information, revealing more about Microsoft's upcoming...
Guide Call Of Duty Black Ops 6: Release Date, Release Times & Xbox Game Pass Details
Everything you need to know for BO6
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is one of Microsoft's biggest releases of the year, with the game's arrival fast approaching at the end of October. It's safe to say there's been quite a bit of hype behind this one - especially with its inclusion in Xbox Game Pass on day one. So, we're going to round up all of the...
Rumour Call Of Duty X Halo Crossover Apparently Got Axed
Leak says it was coming to MW3, so how about BO6?
With Activision now part of the Xbox family, there have been talks about all sorts of game franchises coming together and collaborating. We've already seen this with certain games, but one crossover we're yet to see is Call of Duty X Halo. According to the latest rumour, there was a point in time...
News Microsoft Unveils Huge Collection Of Call Of Duty Black Ops 6 Xbox Accessories
The controllers are available now!
Xbox is heading into the holiday season with a huge Call of Duty game on the horizon, and to celebrate the upcoming launch of Black Ops 6 on October 25th, the team has designed a bunch of new hardware accessories for fans to sink their teeth into. Within this Call of Duty collection, we've got some Xbox Design Lab...
News Xbox Settles Lawsuit With 'Gamers' Who Tried To Sue Over Activision Blizzard Deal
It had been ongoing for nearly two years
Right, where to begin with this one?! If you cast your mind all the way back to December of 2022, you may remember a story here at Pure Xbox about a group of random "gamers" who were suing Microsoft over the company's attempt to acquire Activision Blizzard. Basically, the lawsuit claimed that the...
News Indiana Jones And The Great Circle Will Run At 60FPS On Both Xbox Series X And S
id Tech doing the business
One final round of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle previews have landed today - including ours, where we came away very impressed by what we played earlier this month. Alongside these previews, a few outlets have also posted some interviews with the dev team, and one from
News Xbox's Phil Spencer Congratulates Black Ops 6 Team On 'Phenomenal Accomplishment'
And reveals his order of play
The arrival of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is arguably the biggest Xbox drop all year and if you were wondering at all - yes, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has also jumped in on the action. After congratulating Activision's teams on their "phenomenal accomplishment" with the latest entry in the long-running series, he mentioned...
News Xbox App's New Home UI Update Available Now To Xbox Insiders
Introducing a "new home experience"
Microsoft has released a new "home experience" today for the Xbox app on Windows and it's available now to Xbox Insiders. The team has listened to feedback and has been testing different designs, it's now used this to create a unified Home UI experience - combining the best content from Game Pass and the...
Talking Point Xbox Released One Of Its Best-Ever Exclusives 10 Years Ago Today
Going into overdrive
It's often spoken about that Microsoft had one of its poorest runs for exclusive games back in the Xbox One era, but the first few years of that generation were hugely overlooked in our book. Earlier this month, we talked about one of the team's standout launch Xbox One games in Ryse: Son of Rome, and today marks the anniversary...
News Xbox Is Adding New Options For Uploading & Editing Custom Gamerpics
Included in a new Xbox Insider update
Microsoft has released patch notes for a new Xbox Insider update, and this one contains some interesting console changes coming from Team Green. We've got new Store notification options and controller calibration features, but also some major changes to the way custom gamerpics work. As detailed in the patch...
News Phasmophobia Frame Rate Targets Revealed, Xbox Series X The Only Console To Hit 120FPS
PS5 & Series S miss out
Spooky ghost hunter Phasmophobia finally hits consoles this week, including Xbox Series X|S, and ahead of launch the team has revealed all of the game's technical details on each platform. The good news here is that both current-gen Xbox consoles hit 60FPS - which is nice to see, especially for Xbox Series S. However, what's...
News Microsoft Boasts About Owning '20 Franchises That Have Generated Over $1 Billion'
Including ActiBlizz and Bethesda games of course
Microsoft's Satya Nadella has certainly been in the headlines today and not always in the most positive light, but one section of the CEO's recent annual company update at least talks about some of Xbox's more positive achievements in recent tim
Feature Black Ops 6 Campaign Review (Xbox) - Supernatural Surprises Elevate This Year's Call Of Duty
Dark ops
Call of Duty is back, this time with another Black Ops entry for the first time since 2020's Black Ops Cold War. Just like that four-year old COD title, Black Ops 6's campaign has been put together by Raven Software - but this time around you can really feel the extra development time. Four years in the making and featuring an actual
News Microsoft CEO Gaming Division Update: 'We Continue To Extend Our Content To New Platforms'
"We are bringing great games to more people"
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Following rumours about Xbox's PlayStation 5 ports slowing down, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has briefly touched on the company's gaming division in his annual letter to shareholders, acknowledging this new strategy codenamed "Project Latitude": Satya Nadella:
Rumour Xbox's PS5 Ports Have 'Slowed Down' Following Indiana Jones Announcement
"Halo and Gears are still RED LINES to this day"
Most of us know by now that Xbox has begun bringing select titles to PS5 this year, with the trend set to continue next spring with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
News Xbox Boss Namedrops Marvel's Blade & Everwild Following Recent Studio Visits
Phil has been busy!
As of late, the Xbox exec team have been a bit quieter on social media, especially in the wake of Microsoft's recent studio closures and developer layoffs. However, Phil Spencer has been breaking that trend recently with a return to the Threads platform - and the boss has delivered some interesting Xbox Game Studios updates over...
News Free Play Days: Try These Xbox Games For Free (October 24-27)
Included with Xbox Game Pass
Welcome to your latest Xbox Free Play Days roundup! This week, Microsoft has brought three games to the program, although two of them are already a part of the main Xbox Game Pass library in Fallout 76 and MLB The Show 24. Here's your full Xbox Free Play Days lineup this weekend: Fallout 76 MLB The
News Helldivers 2 Dev Says Xbox Version 'Isn't Up To Us', But It 'Could' Happen
But it's ultimately up to MS and Sony
The gaming world went a bit bananas for Helldivers 2 earlier this year - its PS5 and PC launch was massive and the game went on to be more popular than any of us ever imagined. Even way back when, there was talk about an Xbox version (with Phil Spencer even commenting on the situation), and now such a...
News Four Years Later, Xbox Series X Is Now Outselling Xbox Series S In The US
According to fresh sales data
Microsoft's decision to launch two completely different consoles as part of its current-gen gaming strategy was always a bold one, and for a long time, its been the cheaper console that's thought to have sold more units overall. However, according to new data from Circana (NPD Group), Xbox Series X is finally outselling...
News Halo Veteran's Return To The Series Is Just Speculation For Now
What will Joe Staten do next?
Yesterday, news surfaced about Netflix Games shutting down its Team Blue studio – a development team that was reportedly working on a new 'AAA' project with the help of Halo veteran Joseph Staten. Following this studio update, there are rumours swirling around the Halo and Xbox community about Staten potentially...
News State Of Decay 2 'Legacy Awaits' Is The Game's Final Major Update On Xbox
"So long and thanks for all the brains!"
Undead Labs has announced that, with the help of support team Wushu Studios, Legacy Awaits will be the final major content update for State of Decay 2. Launching as a free patch across PC and Xbox — including Game Pass — the title's 38th update brings a collection of new and returning outfits, vehicles...
News Xbox's New Wireless Headset Is Out Today, Featuring Battery Life & Audio Improvements
"The next evolution of the Xbox Wireless Headset"
Earlier this month, we reported on rumours of a new version of the Xbox Wireless Headset, and today Microsoft has confirmed its existence. In a new Xbox Wire blog post, Team Green reveals that "the next evolution" of its official headset launches today, with a host of fresh improvements. The...
Random Xbox's New Robot White Series X Removes One Small Detail
"Green on white would have looked weird"
Last week, Microsoft launched a trio of Xbox Series X and S models. While we've already seen some teardowns going into more technical changes, there's one other small difference with the 1TB All-Digital Xbox Series X (Robot White) model doing the rounds. As highlighted by the Xbox subreddit, app
Guide Black Ops 6 Preload Now Live - How To Download On Xbox One & Series X|S
Get ready for the Game Pass launch!
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 launches this week on Xbox Game Pass, and the team has now set preloads live across all platforms. The game is coming in at around 100GB on Xbox Series X - where you can download Black Ops 6 right now and get ready for Friday's launch. It's also available to preload on Xbox Series S and...
News Microsoft Adds New Xbox Series X|S Dynamic Background For Black Ops 6 Launch Week
Feelin' like 2010 all over again
Yep, it's officially Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 launch week, and Microsoft is going all-out as it prepares for its first-ever COD launch on Xbox Game Pass. Following on from last week's new line of BO6 accessories comes a brand-new
News Multiple Xbox Cloud Gaming Improvements Reportedly On The Way
Big updates are expected next month
There have been ongoing updates about Xbox Cloud Gaming recently, with reports and even some evidence suggesting Microsoft is gearing up to allow users to stream their games soon. Along with this, The Verge's senior editor Tom Warren has now shared some new information, revealing more about Microsoft's upcoming...
Guide Call Of Duty Black Ops 6: Release Date, Release Times & Xbox Game Pass Details
Everything you need to know for BO6
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is one of Microsoft's biggest releases of the year, with the game's arrival fast approaching at the end of October. It's safe to say there's been quite a bit of hype behind this one - especially with its inclusion in Xbox Game Pass on day one. So, we're going to round up all of the...
Rumour Call Of Duty X Halo Crossover Apparently Got Axed
Leak says it was coming to MW3, so how about BO6?
With Activision now part of the Xbox family, there have been talks about all sorts of game franchises coming together and collaborating. We've already seen this with certain games, but one crossover we're yet to see is Call of Duty X Halo. According to the latest rumour, there was a point in time...
News Microsoft Unveils Huge Collection Of Call Of Duty Black Ops 6 Xbox Accessories
The controllers are available now!
Xbox is heading into the holiday season with a huge Call of Duty game on the horizon, and to celebrate the upcoming launch of Black Ops 6 on October 25th, the team has designed a bunch of new hardware accessories for fans to sink their teeth into. Within this Call of Duty collection, we've got some Xbox Design Lab...
News Xbox Settles Lawsuit With 'Gamers' Who Tried To Sue Over Activision Blizzard Deal
It had been ongoing for nearly two years
Right, where to begin with this one?! If you cast your mind all the way back to December of 2022, you may remember a story here at Pure Xbox about a group of random "gamers" who were suing Microsoft over the company's attempt to acquire Activision Blizzard. Basically, the lawsuit claimed that the...