Best Xbox One games for 2020
The Xbox One X is currently the most powerful console on the market and my personal choice when it comes to multi-platform games. Yes, that Xbox Series X. is due by the end of 2020, but that won’t help you if you’re currently tied to the home due to the corona virus. And if you invest in one of these games, they are also backward compatible with this console.
Bottom line: if you have a 4K TV you want to show, you could do much worse than the current Xbox One (if you can find one in stock). With that in mind, here are some of our favorite titles for the Xbox One platform.
Before you buyHowever, please note the following:
- We’ve added links to the digital version of each game in the Xbox Online Shop if you don’t want the disc version (available from linked retailers using the red buttons).
- Apex Legends and the basic version of Fate 2 You can play for free (for Xbox Live subscribers). Just use this digital link to download them.
- In addition to these freebies, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can currently receive Outside Worlds, Red Dead Redemption 2, Ori and the Blind Forest, Monster Hunger World, Gears 5, Halo 5, Metal Gear Solid V, The Witcher III and What Remains and Rocket League at no extra charge. (Note that many of these titles will likely be removed from the Game Pass system at a later date.)
- Some titles, such as Inside, Cuphead and The Witness, are digital titles only. If you buy them from a retailer, you will only receive a download code.
With these reservations … continue to the games.
activation
See digital version at Microsoft
Aside from the endless online discourse on its difficulty, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is another masterpiece from Dark Souls developer From Software.
Sekiro shares a bit of the DNA that made Dark Souls so compelling, but it’s absolutely a brand new beast that’s even more different from the Souls series than Bloodborne. It requires learning an entirely new skill (mainly parrying), but it’s worth the initial pain.
An early contender for the game of the year.
Mobius Digital
See digital version at Microsoft
Outer Wilds is an early contender for the game of the year and just … crazy. Outer Wilds is a strange science fiction puzzle to be discovered. It is located in a lively, breathing solar system that is small at the same time, but also enormous in its ambition and execution.
It is a game full of breathtaking moments that feel as organic as few games can. I cannot stress this enough: play this video game.
Respawn entertainment
See digital version at Microsoft
Well, this game came out of nowhere.
Apex Legends is the game nobody saw coming. Fortnite literally ruled our cultural universe in 2018, but now its position on the Battle Royale genre is being questioned by Apex Legends for a reason. Apex Legends was designed by the core team at Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and more recently by the excellent Titanfall series and feels so good by the minute. Look for this game to stay with it.
Screenshot of CNET
See digital version at Microsoft
You will want to give Assassin’s Creed Odyssey some air. The leader rolls after five hours, for heaven’s sake! But as soon as the game starts, it really starts. This is what a game looks like that was made by hundreds of people. Beautiful, massive, polished. A very well made open world video game.
See digital version at Microsoft
There is a resident evil cycle. It does something bold and innovative (see Resident Evil 1 or Resident Evil 4) and then relies on that success for a few sequels before it comes back together.
Thank God, Resident Evil 7 This is what it looks like when the series comes together. It is the first relevant and essential Resident Evil game in over a decade. It is very good indeed.
See digital version at Microsoft
Monster Hunter: world is the latest entry in the Monster World series “Big in Japan” and a bumblebee. The best thing is that it is relatively accessible to new target groups.
It’s a good place to start: earlier games in the series were played on the Wii or on handheld consoles. This is the first time in a while that Monster Hunter has appeared on a state-of-the-art console, and Monster Hunter: World is taking full advantage of this mathematical grunt.
Celeste
See digital version at Microsoft
Celeste is an early contender for the 2018 game. It’s a brutal Super Meat Boy-style platformer, but innovative in a number of interesting ways. It affects your expectation of what jumping looks like in a video game.
It is also incredibly tight in terms of its design and offers one of the finest balanced learning curves. Extremely good stuff.
NetherRealm Studios
See digital version at Microsoft
Mortal Kombat is still kicking and may be better than ever. To ignore. Once upon a time, Mortal Kombat, a playful, violent competitor to the great Street Fighter II, is now a spectacular fighting game in its own right, with its own strengths. This is the best Mortal Kombat game yet.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
See digital version at Microsoft
You could make the argument that Metal Gear Solid V. is one of the best open world games ever. It is certainly one of the most malleable universes ever created and one of the fastest responding to player input. Damaged by internal conflicts between Konami and the game’s creator, Hideo Kojima, the end is extremely messy, but there are 40 hours of absolutely perfect stealth goodness in the open world before you get there.
Inevitable.
See digital version at Microsoft
You can’t get Bloodborne on Xbox One, though Dark souls 3 is the next best.
From Software hasn’t played a bad game yet and Dark Souls 3 is pretty high in the pantheon of the “Souls” gene. That said, it’s the best of an already extraordinary bunch.
Souls games are not for everyone, but you owe it to yourself to try Dark Souls 3.
The witness
See digital version at Microsoft
Braid is the creator of a video game like you’ve never played before.
The witness is like the super metroid of puzzles.
It is a universe waiting to be unlocked. Only you don’t need any power-ups to continue. You have to start up your garbage brain. That sounds boring, but it really isn’t. It is a fascinating design exercise and one of the most unique video games I have ever played.
Blizzard Entertainment
See digital version at Microsoft
Overwatch Maybe Fortnite and PUBG are beating it to death in terms of mainstream appeal, but there is still a huge audience that returns night after night.
Mainly because Blizzard literally has no idea how to play such a game is not convincing at every possible level.
If you’ve been to Team Fortress before, this is your new jam. If you like online shooters any shape, this is also your new jam.
Hop in.
