The best Xbox One games are a brilliant way to work your way through the top titles available on Microsoft's last-gen console. Plenty of these are available on Game Pass, and thanks to backwards compatibility they're also playable on Xbox Series X - and usually with a lovely next-gen patch too for upgrades to graphics and performance.
So aside from all the upcoming Xbox Series X games and upcoming Xbox One games on the horizon, you'll have plenty of time to play through your Xbox One backlog.
Without further ado, let's get into our picks for the best Xbox One games, which we'll keep updating as new releases prove they deserve a spot on the list. Oh, and be sure to check out our cheap Xbox game deals page if you see anything you fancy here - we're always on the lookout for bargains concerning the biggest and best Xbox One games.
30. Final Fantasy 15
The Final Fantasy name isn't exactly synonymous with Microsoft's console, but we're happy just the same as Final Fantasy 15 is easily one of the best RPGs of the year, and one of the best Xbox One games. It blends the vast open-worlds of Western RPGs with Final Fantasy's hallmark over-the-top anime absurdity to great effect, crafting a world based on the highways and byways of Middle America while filling that world with ferocious monsters, massive crystals, and powerful magic. There are times when Final Fantasy 15 feels like an idiosyncratic mishmash of ideas, but when you throw everything together - the strange world, the thrilling, real-time combat, the lovable characters who stick with you for your entire journey - it becomes something much greater than the sum of its parts. It becomes one of the best Final Fantasy games in ages; a game well worth the wait.
29. Cuphead
After delays that led to maybe just a touch of apathy, Cuphead is here and has instantly become one of the best Xbox One games of all time - especially if you like shooters. While the presentation is crafted beautifully from 1930 cartoon art - things like Betty Boop shorts and Disney's Silly Symphonies - this takes gameplay cues from sources like Mega Man, Contra, Metal Slug, and Gunstar Heroes. The levels aren’t huge but it’s the challenge, not the size that matters here as you dodge bullets and learn enemy patterns. Everything tests your skills and reactions in a range of interesting ways and, most importantly, are a joy to beat.
28. Halo: Master Chief Collection
*braces for complaints* Yes, we are well aware of the problems that plagued this particular entry, but now that it works, there's no doubting the craftsmanship here and its place in our best Xbox One games list. Bungie's genius meets 343's love in a package that truly does justice to an industry-shaking legacy. Buffed-up, revarnished and back in the shop window, The Master Chief Collection leaves us to wonder if Halo always looked so lovely. And you know what? It more or less did.
27. NieR: Automata - Become as Gods Edition
It's a little late to the Xbox One party but a wait that's been worthwhile as Nier: Automata - Become as Gods Edition, brings a 4K edition of Platinum's esoteric action adventure complete with DLC and extra costumes. It's a strange and unusual game about androids questioning the nature of existence via beating up robots and cleverly crafted homages to other games - when you're not mastering the acrobatic gunplay, the camera plays with angles that turn this into things like a topdown shooter, or aside scrolling brawler. Other interesting ideas see things like a chip system that lets you automate parts of the game you might struggle with. For example, if you're not great at dodging, an auto-evade chip can take care of that for you, while leaving every other facet of combat under your control. It's odd, inventive and fascinating game hitting Xbox in its most definitive edition.
26. Rainbow Six Siege
The first few minutes of a Rainbow Six: Siege match feel more like a slasher film than an all-guns-blazing FPS. The pitter-patter of combat booted feet sounds through the roof. Defenders erect Home Alone defences. Was that the whine of a rappel buckle? It's a sense of tension that beats most horror games. And once all hell does break loose, you're suddenly thrown into the midst of deep, strategical, brutally unforgiving warfare. Ripe with tactical options and built for "one more go" appeal, this is by far Xbox One’s smartest multiplayer shooter.
25. Rise of the Tomb Raider
The best entry in Lara’s rebooted trilogy is an amazing advert for Xbox One X. While Rise of the Tomb Raider looks fairly impressive on the base console, play this Siberian-set sequel on Microsoft’s supercharged system and a 4K television, and the trinket-scavenging action looks incredible. Expanding on the hub areas of the first game and making those Challenge Tombs more intriguing than ever, Lara’s frosty adventure combines sharp Uncharted-style shootouts with platforming sections that give you more agency than PlayStation’s poster boy ever trusts you with. Is the story mostly nonsense? Sure. But when you’re wading through the most impressive virtual snow on Xbox and sticking your pickaxe into a furious grizzly’s throat, you’ll forgive the gaping plot holes.
24. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
FromSoftware’s hack-and-slash hit proves itself an even more brutally tough customer than Dark Souls. Yet despite being furiously tough, the masterfully balanced Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice never feels overly unfair. Encouraging controlled bouts of aggression, this is a game that rewards seriously steely nerves. And how about those boss fights? Demanding expert parrying and unblinking attacks, even the most skilled shinobi can end up getting downed by a monstrous ape and its poisonous poo. Don’t ask. Yet master Sekiro’s sharp, responsive combat and toppling its hardest enemies offers cathartic highs that are tough to top.
23. Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus
Wolfenstein: The New Order is one of the most unique, brutal, brave, hilarious, and intelligent shooters of the generation so far. MachineGames' sequel, The New Colossus, confidently doubles down on all of that. Moving BJ Blazkowicz's very personal war further into the alternative-universe '60s, and transposing it to an America under Nazi rule, The New Colossus is uncompromisingly relevant. It's a smart, sensitive, and emotive discussion of callousness, prejudice, and cruelty, that nevertheless knows how to be fun at all times. A biting portrait of human failures and social horrors, that does its biting with big robot teeth and hatchet blades. It's a game that exemplifies heart and brains throughout, but never with more unremitting flair than when it comes to the noble art of tearing Nazis to shreds with bloody and balletic style.
22. Devil May Cry 5
Capcom has outdone itself with Devil May Cry 5, building off all the best bits of Ninja Theory's brilliant DmC in terms of aesthetic and style, then calling back to the series' beloved, finger-blistering history with its combo-heavy action and cast of fan-favorite characters. Our three heroes - Nero, Dante, and dapper newcomer V - all have distinct, over-the-top fighting techniques featuring fantastical weaponry (or animal companions, in V's case) for wildly divergent playstyles. Our Devil May Cry 5 review puts it nicely: "It looks better than ever, plays better than ever - it's Devil May Cry better than ever."
21. Resident Evil 2 Remake
There are comebacks and then there's Resident Evil 2 Remake. The decision to completely recreate the horror classic with a game that not only honours the 1996 original, but feels just as influential and relevant has paid off. It takes the original set up of a zombie outbreak in Raccoon City and crafts a gorgeous looking game with new controls and camera that feels as fresh as it does scary, as you fight zombies, jump scares and the always chasing MR X to stay alive. It's a slick, great looking and an essential buy for horror and action fans alike.
See the top 20 best Xbox One games by reading on!
