Do You Agree With The 10 Highest-Rated Xbox Series X|S Games Of All Time?

Well done Forza Horizon 5 the only true AAA to release from Xbox studios since the series x released.
You gotta laugh at it all and game development at the moment across all platforms.
It seems to be a joke of an industry and a former of its once mighty self.

I don’t know the Stanley parable one.

I don’t personally think Diablo should be so high.

But the others are all certainly quality games.

Stanley Parable is a really well made game. To me the story here is that Forza is the only exclusive to make the list.

The only one I can personally vouch for is Hades, while the others I have not played and have varying levels of interest in.

It wouldn't be my top 10 that's for sure but it's not completely off base.

People aren’t realizing that some Microsoft games might not be top 10 but they are still quite high in score. Comments here are acting like they’re all just trash. They aren’t.

Just a few:
90 - Flight Simulator
87 - Psychonauts 2
87 - Hi Fi Rush
87 - Halo Infinite
86 - Age of Empires II
86 - Pentiment

There are a couple of things I get from this list , one of them is that I am apparently not the “average” gamer. The only one that I’ve played is Horizon 5.

I have gone all disillusioned about ratings ever since Starfield getting downgraded for being a Xbox exclusive. Just waiting for the 97 PS metacritic when it gets ported…

did all the first person shooter fans die? am i the only one left? not even talking online shooters.

whats with all these hack n slash sword games?

xbox really needs joanna dark to come back in a big way with good music like goldeneye and the first perfect dark.

i much rather starfield and redfall than any of those games on that list.

Great list of games. I think Hades is a touch overrated and the Stanley parable is a decent experience but its massively over scored for what it is. Still worth picking up both though.

I'm currently at the back end of Elden Ring and dear lord this game is frustratingly tough offline. Worth it for those last second wins though! Goodbye commander Niall. I had used all my flasks, less than a third of my health and threw out a charged hail Mary attack and it landed, felt absolutely amazing 👏

Not first party, but Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth deserves way more attention than it will get.

I agree with Persona, The Witcher and Like a Dragon. All others are a 7 at most for me.

They aren’t all my personal picks but I don’t see any that I believe truly don’t deserve to be on that list, from the ones I played. Personally I’d have Alan Wake 2, Hi-Fi Rush, Halo Infinite, and Hogwarts Legacy up there with BG3, Elden Ring, and P5. I enjoyed Hades but personally think it’s overrated and Diablo 5 is fun but I wouldn’t put it that high personally, but I can understand both making the cut.

Diablo 4 is the biggest surprise on this list. The campaign was good but the end game is severely lacking. Season 2 was a step in the good direction but the game is nowhere near as good to make a top 10 list.
As a Yakuza/Like a Dragon fan its great to see Infinite wealth up there. Its my favorite Like a Dragon game with just so much great content.

@Lavalera It's sad Infinite Wealth will likely be ignored. Yakuza: Like a Dragon and Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth are among some of the very best RPGs out there. Ichiban is my favorite modern day protagonist in all of gaming.

I think Elden Ring should be one, but that's only because I haven't played Baldur's Gate 3 yet.

@awp69, Psychonauts, Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment are multiplatform, Flight Simulator is rather niche and Age of Empires has it's home on PC. So it still looks rather sad.

@OldGamer999 Yay I’m not the only grumpy gamer! Lol Been button mashing since 1985 and I mostly concur.

D4 I don’t agree with, but I’m not gonna lie, I’m biased toward D2 being superior in nearly every way. D4 is still too arcady and still retains too much D3. Love them going back to dark tone however. Should have went back to a focus on skills and skill trees instead of keeping damage tied to weapons and having enemy scaling. I feel like D4 is mostly D3 reskinned.

Forza is lost on me as racing peaked at Sega Gt, Tokyo Extreme Racer and Project Gotham I feel. Those were incredibly fun racing titles.

The rest of the list I agree with, solid titles you can’t go wrong playing.

Only one out of those that’s a 10/10 for me is Hades.

@rustyduck you’re certainly not the only one here but I generally prefer competitive shooters versus story shooters. To each their own!

@MikeHiscoe There is no such story here. On Sony's box there are only 2 exclusives in the top two.

@rustyduck Maybe. There is a bunch of Indie multiplayer ones and I guess some people have dropped off the big ones. The shooter genre in PS3/360 was big, nowadays I think it's the big ones or battle royales and I am only looking at the typical singleplayer campaign only or single + multiplayer or multiplayer but big budget enough looking ones.

Besides Hades as a roguelike, Dialbo a isometric hack n slash or Stanley Parable as a puzzle game yeah the rest as open world RPGs. Some of which have hack n slash/beat em up combat systems or not.

Maybe the time of Far Cry, The Division, Avatar, being open world shooters among yes others not Ubisoft like Fallout or others by major third parties also changed things? Open worlds being a hybrid kind of changed things I think. Just if they happen to be shooter focused I guess then more fantasy/historical inspiration/modern day RPG focused with so many melee or bow/sling or otherwise thorwable ranged weapons/magic.

They don't appeal to me though. I like puzzle games (never played Stanley Parable even then my favourites are PS1/PSP, the Witness was a fine game) or hack n slashes but I while heard enough about each here I am not playing them personally but I know people that do. I seek the singleplayer campaign shooters so my scope is less even though I still look broad to see what shooters or other genres are out there.

I have been buying up the PS3/360 and older era ones I missed out on. I haven't played Bright Memory Infinite (current gen) but think it's great, while COD Vanguard/BF 2042/Halo Infinite had their moments I still had my eye on BMI. I was hopeful for Aveum and it was fine.

Most maybe are on PC I think or many shooter multiplayer ones people just aren't talking about as much don't get talked about or at least not on this site maybe?

I heard about the SWAT simulator Ready or Not yesterday for the first time (it's been out a while), I have seen ISOLO or whatever it's called on console. Probably many others like it I came across in videos somewhere but forgot the names of for those Indie shooters set in WW1 or other periods. Or the Battlefield Block one that people are into or the COD multiplayer Black Ops 2 like one people are into on PC.

Like I'm playing Fear 2, Jedi Outcast, Spec Ops The Line, Splatoon 2 (didn't get till cheap physical) or old MOH or CODs or waiting to get my hands on Singularity/Inversion/Quantum Theory eventually. Have to get back into Bodycount, RE5 and RE6 or a bunch of others on PS2-3/OG Xbox to 360. Or Red Steel 1 & 2 on the Wii, or get some rail shooters for that system. Rez was a fair rail shooter Dreamcast or PS4.

Even if not those gens I am playing Outriders or Tiny Tina, yes I got to them late.

Console ones are fine maybe these days but I haven't heard about as many and I sort of got less interested in certain ones PS4/Xbox One gen as I did racing games going downhill at times of quality of aspects I seeked at least.

Like Titanfall 2 is excellent (didn't play the multiplayer only campaign) but otherwise I sort of dropped off many shooters after then of later in that gen to now to get older gen ones or hear about some current gen but never experienced them as well multiplayer ones.

I assume the Golden Eye hype died down maybe too?

Perfect Dark will come and I think that will be great to see return.

Whatever Gears 6 is like too take or leave people's feeling on them I didn't mind 4 & 5 as much as I hated Halo 5.

I'm just as picky with racing if not more than shooters at the moment. But looking back and many old ones of Platformers (not into the Indie ones at all), Racing and Shooters of old 5-7th gen have been a blast.

To me I think the trends of RPGs and why many keep pushing them have taken off these days, they want their value for money, fine with open worlds and hour counts to be good enough and don't care even if it's filler. Maybe those worlds are more appealing to them? Nothing wrong with that though.

I'm not playing them myself I am other types of games instead. I hate open worlds, only few I play are if the side missions interest me and the moveset is good (Sunset Overdrive, Gravity Rush, Darksiders 2, Infamous, tolerate the Borderlands/Tiny Tina series), most to me are generic RPG stuff I don't care about of mission design. I grew up with the minigame side of things then RPGs so to me I kind of have that platformer minigame pickiness of PS1 but it's not like I love that design they have their issues but prefer than RPG quest tropes.

The RPG start of this year I'm completely ignoring for other old gens or odd Switch 2024 (a niche adventure game remake I bought) or still waiting on anything PS/Xbox to care about from any genre in 2024 I haven't seen any yet or I forgot what they were.

Like Dragon's Dogma/Rise of the Ronin are probably fine coming up but I'm going to skip them they aren't for me.

While I've branched out to Tactics/Hack n Slash sure even then most of the hack n slashes I'm playing are old gen or new gen but still PS4 like Valkyrie Elysium, Bayonetta (I have my DMC5 Xbox copy though to still play) or No Straight Roads.

@Dm9982 Same here. Sega GT, Tokyo Extreme Racer (more so Drift series then the regular series, or the Japan only Racing Grand Prix I always spell it in the wrong order), PGR and more (R Racing, Auto Modellista, Enthusia Professional Racing, GTI Club PSP or PS3, while Driving Emotion Type S/Group S Challenge are eh) were great.

So many 5-6th gen racers arcade or sim having a blast with playing or researching, 1 or 2 offs.

7th gen was fine, some major IPs, some not, some fair spinoffs of major IPs.

8th+ gen I have like very few I care about other than Grid Legends. Project Cars 3, GT/Forza, many other sims on PC I have heard of but have no interest in. Their business models or content don't appeal to me.

MotoGP or WRC seem safe bets if playable and not pro difficulty even on very easy like some have for me. Ride 4, MotoGP16. So older ones are where I'm going for many of those.

F1 is probably fine I just can't say other than 11 or 16.

The progression and different changes made me have less interest in GT or Forza over time. I bought Sport/Forza 5-7 but still found them to just be ok. Not bad just less exciting to play.

I do miss Grid 2008 or Tokyo Extreme Racer Drift 1 & 2 touge, or Forza Motorsport 4 hillclimbs or other types of modes. We get some odd ones but not much. GTI Club arcade ones were pretty alright. Or some others modes or management systems. I enjoyed WRC 3 on 360 a lot for it's event types.

Ride series I got into 1-3 are good, 4 while the Forza Motorsport 1&2 region system improvement is cool of depth, it was so hard (I will give it another go I may just be playing it wrong) and like MotoGP games are too pro and just annoy me.

WRC 2023's Sega GT style car builder (I think it's similar I don't know for sure). Seems cool. I haven't played it.

I've been buying up some of the older MotoGPs/WRCs with MGP 8, 9/10 and WRC 3, 4. They have been good enough.

While MotoGP16/Valentino Rossi I only bought to see how MotoGP games have been and the rally/dirt bikes seemed safe enough if the MotoGP side was too hard to play and what do you know they are and the rally/dirt bike parts are better balanced. XD

A fair list. Not really games I care for but that's fine. They still are worthy games present.

@SuntannedDuck2 Yeah that’s the type of racers I liked, where I could start with a base/junker, and mod it up slowly but surely by winning money from races. Turismo and Forza didn’t click with me because when you’d build them up to a certain level they’d bump you up and force you into another class…. Sometimes I just want a demon of a car to lead the pack like I could do with an Elise on Sega GT or R34 on TXRZ….

The closest I’ve been able to find has been on Switch, Gear Club Unlimited 1&2…. Has a rewind feature for when ya biff it into a wall, which is a blessing and curse…. Would always tick me off when I raced perfect till the last second and then biff it…. But being able to rewind any mess up also removes any penalty for poor performance lol.

Witcher 3 and Elden Ring are in the top five, so I'm happy enough with it.

All these games are sh*t. What a joke.

I kind of disagree with that list. It's just the highest rated games not the best games of the series x/s which the witcher 3 was a xbox one release.

if i had to make my own list of best games 1- Mass Effect 1&2 2- Batman Arham Asylum & Batman Arkham city, 3 - The witcher 3 Wild hunt 4- oblivion&Skyrim 5- Dragon's Dogma 1&2 6- Halo 2&3 7- Fable 1 8- Two worlds 9- lord of the ring war in the north, 10- The sims 3 11- lost odyssey that list is just a few of many that crossed my mind i lovd them all.

Out of the these, Horizon 5 is easily my favourite. I’m sure I’ll like Infinite Wealth whenever I get around to it too.

Stanley Parable was ok, but I wouldn’t put it in the top 10.

@IGN_Commenter Agree on Hades. Best game I’ve played in years. Still keep going back to it.

@Kalele it’s literally in the title that it’s the highest rated games…

@AlwaysPlaying Nah, Starfield wont get higher scores on any other console cause its just not that good.

Pretty decent list and I can see why most of them are there. Have not played the Stanley Parable, so that's one to check out for me.

Only one I would definitely not include in my top ten is persona 5 (though I'll admit I did not play the Royal edition) I've played lots of JRPG's I much prefer, and which respected my time better than this achingly slow crawl through some bland teen beats. Great style and good systems though.

Just a balance to old men moaning in here ('oh, its not the same as it was in my day, blah blah blah'), I'm older than all of them and was an adult by the time video games were a 'thing'. Played everything since the Atari VCS on all systems. There has never been such a great choice of superb games across all genres as there is right now - almost anyone who has been a long time gamer has a 'to play' list that's longer than it has ever been, and the various disparate publishing models now mean that you are not stuck pitching the same rubbish constantly to get it approved by the marketing of a large publisher.
Old men muttering into their pints about how it was better in the past deserve to be ignored, they are clearly losing perspective and becoming the butt of their own jokes. The rest of us can enjoy some great games..

Naaaa. Currently, everything is overblown in terms of scoring.

Time passes and these rankings being more and more misaligned with my personal experiences. So, I encourage people to follow their instintcts, not these scores.

I like comparing this list to the PS equivalent:

1. Elden Ring - 96
2. Balders Gate 3 - 96
3. Witcher 3 - 94
4. God Of War Ragnarok - 94
5. Hades - 93
6. Tetris Effect - 93
7. RE4 - 93
8. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - 92
9. Demons Souls - 92
10. Street Fighter 6 - 92

A lot of similarities but always find it odd how different these lists can be when they are generally on both but get such different ratings across the wide range of reviewers. Like the Stanley Parable is at 27 on PS5? Aren't they exact same game (loved that one!) while Tetris is number 26 for Xbox but number 6 for PS5?

Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth and P5R were incredible. Forza and MS Flight Sim are also exceptional 1P games for Xbox. I quit BG3 after about 25 hours as it just wasn't clicking with me. I think objectively no game should be a 99 - that is basically perfection and BG3 is objectively far from that technically. Even RDR2 or Zelda shouldn't get a 99 and they do far more to innovate.

I haven't played the rest but the Witcher 3 does look really good.

@rustyduck Have you tried the new DooM? The online multiplayer stinks and is nothing like what the series was known for...but the solo experience...once you get the new chainsaw, flamethrower rotation down (to keep your health/armor/ammo filled); it's a fast paced 1st person shooter, with great graphics, gameplay and level design. I recommend you give it a try, if you haven't already.

@PROPS im pretty sure i played all dooms. im holding my breath for a quake 4 remaster at 60 fps and quake 5(?)

boltgun on gp isn't bad, im just lost rn.

Not seeing a lot of love for The Stanley Parable in these comments but of that list it’s my favourite. And its a very strong list!

Put over 100 hours into P5 and Hades but my time with Stanley Parable will stay with me a lot longer. It’s a game that makes you think in the abstract and does very clever stuff while also being incredibly funny. The nearest thing in terms of vibe is maybe Portal but it stands alone in terms of what it does 👍

@Dm9982 Same here with Gear Club Unlimited 1 & 2 and I forget if it's the same or different Eden Games staff but still Eden games is back. I found it enjoyable, the classes weren't a bother as much, the upgrades were fine, the garage/upgrade and cosmetic station were a fun minigame and upgrades were achievable then annoying. I really enjoyed it.

The rewind can be yeah good and bad. But nice if the AI are being annoying or the track design of the highway point A to B/circuits (DLC I have not played or regular game circuit layouts) can be awkward to approach sometimes. But getting good enough Bronze to Gold wasn't too bad it was enjoyable enough without being annoying of an endgame. AI or own driving performance for sure.

Playing Gear Club Unlimited 2 made me go hmm maybe this is good prep for old NFS games and playing NFS 2 it sort of was in a way. Or Road Rash.

Otherwise besides Gear Club I went for Wreckfest just because while I have done a no upgrades runs and part of it is my driving at times or the AI, it's arcade, derby and circuits focus while a successor to Flatout in some ways does a fair job with it's silly vehicles (sofa, bus, tractors, driveable lawnmower) as it does it's serious ones of different classes. I don't find the classes, I think they are like Gear Club (since I last played Gear Club Unlimited 2), there but not intrusive.

I played the Gear Club mobile game briefly to get an idea of what Unlimited 1 was like as it's basically the same just obviously Unlimited 1 cuts out the mobile nonsense.

I too enjoy getting a cheap car and upgrading it. Building up and trying different events available to see how I go. The progression/making the car more of your own I can get that appeal even if I'm not into cosmetics as much but I get the appeal of it when I see some liveries in reviews of certain games.

Sega GT I think car builder aside on Dreamcast (not played 2002/Online but seen footage) I think the classes were fair, the two license times were a bit eh at times, the sponsors were nice, drag racing, but not classes as 'the whole focus' like GT5+ or Forza Motorsport sort of did then too far over with later entries. It turned me away too. The tick over of classes for upgrades is just dumb (also the auto upgrading was annoying as well).

To me the classes made the progression less fun in Motorsport 5+ it's why I dislike them a lot not just the FM6 modding (weight feeling the only different) and the split of side content and main content made me just get more bored with the main races.

The upgrades while I never use them in any entries of the series (which is just hilarious as it is of need for them in the first place and difficulty scaling)

Even if I can tweak the settings to my liking the classes limited things so I'd go the highest point stock car and be good to go. If not immediately, but of course credits collected to eventually buy them or use whatever candy car they'd give me and use that (well in FM1-4 terms not 5+ I don't need those fast cars or have no use for them even at the beginning of the game at low level class cough, what great game design). It made it less fun.

Gran Turismo reward cars always had issues and dead ends but at least they were fair enough at certain times. Even if the upgrades sometimes were mandatory and ridiculous sometimes.

It's why exploring the other racing games of the era I can appreciate the differences in progression and event types. Upgrades being better balanced too then having to grind and upgrade it too far to win that Gran Turismo can be sometimes.

Seeing just people mod GT4 shows a lot of it's issues for sure even if people can replay it different ways with a randomiser sure or quality of life aspects. It's fair on execution but still has issues.

I never did go for liveries but I get the appeal of it with many street racing games. Juiced/NFS I've come to see as fair games and their upgrade systems were alright ideas. Juiced's with a event to do then you get the upgrade or pink slips. Which it clearly took from other games.

I forgot Apex too on OG Xbox (Milestone in their PS2/OG Xbox experimental era) as well. I think it had similar Sega GT Dreamcast aspects to it or some part of a mechanic storyline and getting up and going and you upgrade them in a certain way. I've only seen footage that's why I don't know enough about it.

But Evolution GT was fair enough as well.

Supercar Street Challenge also did it's more body changes then upgrade changes as it was an arcade racer.

@SuntannedDuck2 Oh lord, I haven’t heard anyone else say Road Rash in awhile. Last I played that was around Sega CD / Saturn era…. Loved the games but the rubber banding AI sucked hardcore, lol.

That said, there’s a spiritual successor called Road Redemption. I got the switch version but haven’t spent much time with it. It’s got rogue elements, which may actually benefit that type of racer.

What a joke that list is. Most of them are essentially all the games that were over hyped by internet sheep, the kind of people that blindly jump on hype trains simply because they see others do it until it picks up a level of steam far beyond what it's really worth. Im sure BG3 is a fine game but there's just no way it's as good as people give it credit for. It's definitely not better than elden ring. Same with witcher 3, that game is so overrated.

@Dm9982 I have heard of Road Redemption, same with Dangerous Driving as a Burnout Successor. Not looked into them.

Yeah Road Rash has been fun. I think the combat makes it stand out still and while the art is very 90s it has it's charm.

I have noticed the rubberbanding quite a bit but I'm getting there with it. The other versions of the series seem pretty good I'll have to look at footage besides just seeing the names and learning the series.

So many old EA games I'd heard of/had to discover but never played and glad I have. Sure I played Theme Hospital or Sim Tower back in the day but many others I just never got around to.

@SuntannedDuck2 If you liked Theme Hospital and Sim Tower, I’ve got some fun news for ya….. Two Point Hospital is a great spiritual successor to Theme Hospital (you probably already know this though!)

However, a lot of people don’t know about Project Highrise, which is an amazing Sim Tower successor!