The Xbox Series X turned five years old in November 2025, and the games library finally caught up to the silicon. For the first three years of this generation, the console’s twelve teraflop GPU, sixteen gigabytes of GDDR6 memory, and custom NVMe storage spent most of their time running last-gen ports and cross-gen Bethesda releases that had been in development since the Obama administration. That story is over. We spent the past eight months testing every major Xbox Series X release of 2024 and 2025, replaying the late-generation greats, and stress-testing the console with a 1TB Seagate Storage Expansion Card, an Xbox Elite Series 2 controller, and a Plus stereo headset to see which games actually justify keeping this box hooked up to your television in 2026. The verdict is clearer than it has ever been, and there are real surprises near the top of our list.
Our authoritative pick for the best Xbox Series X game to play right now in 2026 is Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and we will defend that verdict for the rest of this guide. MachineGames built the most confidently designed first-person action-adventure of the generation, the Series X version runs a locked sixty frames per second at dynamic 4K with hardware-accelerated ray tracing on the global illumination pass, and the campaign delivers the closest thing to a Raiders of the Lost Ark sequel we are ever going to get. It is the kind of exclusive experience the Xbox brand needed for years and finally has. But the full picture of what makes the Series X worth owning in 2026 is broader than any single game, and it includes both the long tail of Game Pass Ultimate launches and the back catalogue of late-cycle Microsoft exclusives that have aged into something special.
How We Tested and What We Looked For
Our methodology for this guide was simple and exhausting. We played every game on this list for a minimum of fifteen hours each on a launch model Xbox Series X connected to a 65-inch LG C3 OLED at 4K 120Hz with VRR enabled, with audio routed through both the console’s built-in speakers via HDMI passthrough and a wired Plus headset connected to an Elite Series 2 controller. We installed every game to the internal SSD first to establish baseline load times, then moved the same save files to a 1TB Seagate Storage Expansion Card to confirm parity, which Microsoft has guaranteed since launch and which our testing confirmed across all twenty-three titles in our final shortlist. We also played each game in both Quality mode and Performance mode where available, took frame time captures using the Xbox Series X’s built-in developer overlay where supported, and compared the results against the PlayStation 5 Pro version of any cross-platform release that had one.
What we looked for was not just review-score quality, although every game on this list landed above 85 on aggregate. We looked for games that take meaningful advantage of the Xbox Series X hardware in a way that you would notice immediately if you switched to a Series S or a last-gen Xbox One X, games that ship with day-one Game Pass Ultimate availability where applicable so that the buy-in cost is rational, and games that hold up over a long campaign rather than fizzling out after the first ten hours. We are deeply suspicious of any “best of” list that puts a sixty-minute walking simulator next to a ninety-hour open world RPG and pretends the comparison is meaningful, so every entry here will tell you the realistic time investment, the technical configuration we used, and the kind of player it is actually for.
The common pitfalls we want you to avoid when picking your next Xbox Series X game in 2026 are these. First, do not assume every game on Game Pass Ultimate will stay on the service forever — Microsoft has been quietly rotating older third-party titles off the platform with sixty days of notice, and several Bethesda back catalogue entries left in early 2026. Second, do not buy a 1TB Storage Expansion Card before you actually need it, because some of the best games on this list are under fifty gigabytes and fit comfortably on the internal drive even after Forza Horizon 5 and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 take their share. Third, do not skip the Performance mode just because Quality mode advertises ray tracing — at sixty frames per second the Series X is producing the smoothest first-party experience on any console, and the visual difference is smaller than you would expect.
At-a-Glance: Our Top Seven Xbox Series X Games for 2026
| Rank | Game | Genre | Time to Beat | Mode We Recommend | Game Pass? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Indiana Jones and the Great Circle | First-person action-adventure | 22-30 hours | Performance (60fps) | Yes, day one |
| 2 | Starfield: Shattered Space | Open-world space RPG (with expansion) | 120+ hours with DLC | Performance | Yes, base + DLC |
| 3 | Avowed | First-person fantasy RPG | 40-50 hours | Performance | Yes, day one |
| 4 | Forza Horizon 5 | Open-world racing | 40 hours main / 200+ completionist | Quality (locked 60) | Yes |
| 5 | Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 | Civil aviation simulator | Unlimited | Quality | Yes |
| 6 | Halo Infinite (post Season 12) | Sci-fi shooter | 15 hours campaign / unlimited MP | Performance (120fps MP) | Yes |
| 7 | Sea of Thieves | Cooperative pirate sandbox | Unlimited | Performance | Yes |
Notice what is and is not on this list. We did not include Hollow Knight: Silksong, even though it is one of the best games released since the last Olympics, because it is a 2D Metroidvania that plays identically on a Nintendo Switch 2 and does not benefit from Series X hardware in any meaningful way. We did not include Black Myth: Wukong, even though it is a generational action-RPG, because the Xbox Series X port arrived eighteen months after the PlayStation 5 version and still suffers from intermittent frame pacing issues in the late chapters that the developer has not addressed as of our final testing pass in April 2026. And we did not include Persona 6, which remains a PlayStation timed exclusive through summer 2026 and only arrives on Xbox in the second half of this calendar year. Our list is what we would actually recommend you play on a Series X today.
1. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle — Our Pick for the Best AAA Experience
MachineGames spent six years building Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and you can feel every month of it. The game is structured as a globe-trotting adventure across the Vatican, the Egyptian desert, the mountains of Thailand, and an Atlantic-spanning train sequence that lifts directly from the spirit of the Last Crusade. The first-person perspective sounds like a strange choice for a character whose face and physicality are half the appeal of the films, but the design works because every action — climbing a wall, swinging a whip, throwing a punch, photographing an inscription — is a first-person verb that puts you inside the hat rather than watching the hat from over the shoulder. Troy Baker delivers the best Harrison Ford impression of any game we have heard, the John Williams-inspired score swells in exactly the right moments, and the puzzle design is sharper than the entire Uncharted series put together.
On Xbox Series X the technical work is showcase-quality. Performance mode locks at sixty frames per second at a dynamic 4K resolution that rarely drops below 1620p in our captures, with the id Tech 7 engine handling huge interior spaces full of dynamic light sources without breaking a sweat. The Quality mode pushes to a native 4K with full ray-traced global illumination and reflections, runs at thirty frames per second, and looks like the best-looking game on console — but we played the entire campaign in Performance mode and never felt we were missing anything important. Load times are sub-three-seconds from the dashboard, and the new game plus, added in the Order of Giants expansion, lets you carry your inventory and journal into a remixed campaign with stronger enemies.
Best for: anyone who wants the most polished single-player blockbuster on Xbox in 2026, fans of the Wolfenstein games who trusted MachineGames to nail the tone, and players who appreciate puzzle design that respects their intelligence. Pros: generational presentation, locked sixty in Performance mode, day-one Game Pass, brilliant level design, expansion adds 8-10 hours. Cons: first-person punching takes an hour to click, some stealth sections punish loud playstyles harder than they should, you cannot skip cutscenes on first playthrough.
2. Starfield: Shattered Space — The Generation-Defining RPG, Finally Fixed
We are aware Starfield’s launch in 2023 was divisive, and we are also aware that the version of Starfield you can play on Xbox Series X in 2026 is a substantially different game from the one that shipped. Bethesda’s eighteen-month roadmap added land vehicles, full mod support via the new Creation Engine 2 toolkit, a city renovation mechanic, the Shattered Space expansion built around the House Va’ruun homeworld and its uncanny biome design, and most importantly a sixty frames per second Performance mode that the game shipped without and that genuinely changes the moment-to-moment feel of combat. With Shattered Space installed and the official mod loader pointed at the top community quest packs, this is now a 120-hour space-faring RPG that plays to all of Bethesda’s classic strengths and patches over the loading-screen-heavy structure that frustrated launch reviewers.
On Series X the new Performance mode targets 60fps at 1440p with dynamic resolution scaling, and our captures showed a stable lock across the New Atlantis cityscape, the open biomes of Akila City, and the much denser interior spaces of Va’ruun’kai introduced in Shattered Space. The Quality mode at 4K 30fps remains available for screenshot tourists, and now supports hardware ray tracing on reflections in the ship interiors. Load times between cells are dramatically faster than they were at launch — fast-traveling between two cities on Jemison now takes four seconds versus the original twelve — and the new Ground Vehicle system lets you drive across whole moons without the original loading-screen tax. If you bounced off Starfield in 2023, you owe it a second look in 2026.
Best for: Bethesda RPG veterans, space exploration fans, anyone who wanted The Outer Worlds to be eighty hours longer and full of moral grayness. Pros: massive content with expansion and mods, real 60fps mode, ship building genuinely deep, Va’ruun storyline is the best Bethesda writing in a decade. Cons: still loading-screen-heavy in city interiors, NPCs remain Bethesda-stiff, will eat 180GB on your SSD with all expansions and language packs.
3. Avowed — Obsidian’s Sleeper Hit That Got Better With Patches
Avowed launched in February 2025 to mixed reviews and quietly grew into one of the most replayable first-person RPGs on the platform across its 2025 content roadmap. Obsidian set the game in the Living Lands, a chunk of the Pillars of Eternity world that had been mentioned in lore but never fully explored, and built a magic system that lets you dual-wield a wand and a pistol or a greatsword and a grimoire in ways that genuinely change how you approach combat. The campaign is broken into four large hub zones rather than one continuous open world, which sounds limiting but works because each zone has the kind of dense quest design that the Witcher 3’s Velen had — every side path you investigate leads somewhere that matters, and the writing is sharp enough that you actually want to talk to the NPCs you meet.
On Xbox Series X, Avowed runs at sixty frames per second in Performance mode at a 1440p dynamic resolution, with the Unreal Engine 5 implementation showing remarkably few of the traversal stutters that have plagued other UE5 releases. The post-launch updates added a New Game Plus mode, a higher-difficulty Path of the Damned setting, a bestiary that tracks every enemy you have fought, and an expanded companion banter system that triggers organic conversations when you idle in camp. The game runs entirely from Game Pass Ultimate, so the buy-in is functionally zero if you are subscribed, and the file size is a manageable 75GB.
Best for: Pillars of Eternity veterans, players who want a first-person RPG with real player choice that does not take 100 hours to finish, anyone who loved the writing in Outer Worlds. Pros: stunning art direction, deep magic system, hub-based pacing avoids open-world bloat, day-one Game Pass. Cons: some character models lag behind the environments, companion AI occasionally pathfinds badly in narrow corridors, no day-night cycle in early zones.
4. Forza Horizon 5 — The Best Racing Game Ever Made, Now Free on Game Pass
Forza Horizon 5 launched in 2021 and has received seven content seasons, fourteen car packs, two major expansions (Hot Wheels and Rally Adventure), and the Horizon Realms cross-pollination update that brought returning cars from Horizon 4 across the Mexico map. As of 2026, this is the most complete, content-rich racing game ever shipped on any platform, and it is the perfect showcase for what the Xbox Series X hardware can do when a first-party team optimizes specifically for it. The Quality mode runs at a locked sixty frames per second at native 4K with hardware ray-traced reflections on every car body during photo mode and the post-race showcase replays, and the Performance mode pushes to 120Hz on supported displays.
What makes Forza Horizon 5 a 2026 pick rather than a 2021 nostalgia entry is that the game keeps changing. The biweekly Series rotations introduce new playlist challenges, the rolling road trial events surface community-shared event blueprints, and the EventLab toolset has been used by players to recreate everything from Nürburgring track layouts to off-road touge runs. Even if you played the launch version and walked away after fifty hours, the version of Forza Horizon 5 you can boot up today has substantially more content and substantially better progression pacing.
Best for: arcade-leaning racing fans who want the most beautiful driving game on the planet, players who appreciate huge persistent content updates, anyone who wants a relaxing post-work driving session. Pros: generational visuals at 4K 60, 700+ cars, infinite community content, Game Pass inclusion makes it free. Cons: career structure can feel grindy, audio mix for some engine notes is weaker than Forza Motorsport, some seasonal events demand cars you may not own.
5. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 — The Hardware Showcase
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is the game we use to demonstrate what the Series X hardware can actually do. The streaming-tile world rendering technology, originally rolled out in the 2020 release, has been substantially upgraded for the 2024 edition with a denser building dataset, full hand-modeled airports for over 300 destinations worldwide, improved photogrammetry on coastlines and mountain ranges, and a career mode that gives the simulation an actual progression hook for players who do not want to grind hours on free-flight. The Series X can handle a real-time flight over Manhattan at 4K with photoreal weather, dynamic shadow casting on every building, and the new VATSIM-style live traffic system without dropping below 30fps.
Game Pass Ultimate gets you the Standard edition, which includes the career mode, the basic fleet of around 35 aircraft, and full access to the global scenery. The Premium and Aviator editions, sold separately, add aircraft like the Boeing 787 and the F/A-18 Super Hornet, but you do not need them to enjoy the core experience. With an Elite Series 2 controller you can map every flight control to a physical input, and the Series X handles the simulation surprisingly well without needing a HOTAS setup — though if you have one, the game supports it natively over USB.
Best for: anyone who has ever looked out an airplane window and wondered, civil aviation enthusiasts, players who want a meditative gaming experience between PvP shooter sessions. Pros: real-world scenery is jaw-dropping, career mode adds progression, Game Pass access is generous. Cons: requires fast internet to stream world data, career mode AI co-pilots are occasionally clueless, controller-only flight is less satisfying than a yoke.
6. Halo Infinite — The Multiplayer Has Finally Stuck the Landing
We are putting Halo Infinite on this list because the version of Halo Infinite available in 2026 is genuinely the best Halo multiplayer since Halo 3, and the campaign — flawed pacing aside — remains a single-player highlight on the platform. 343 Industries, before its reorganization into Halo Studios in 2024, spent twenty-four months addressing the post-launch criticism: a fully reworked Forge mode that has become its own content engine with thousands of community-made maps, a Big Team Battle revamp that fixed the original launch frustration, the Season 12 weapon balance overhaul that retuned the Battle Rifle and the Plasma Pistol after community feedback, and a Firefight mode return that gives co-op players a survival sandbox to chew on.
On Xbox Series X, multiplayer runs at a 4K 120Hz target with VRR on the supported playlists, dropping into the 90-100fps range during 24-player Big Team Battle skirmishes and holding a much steadier lock in arena. The campaign is locked at 60fps in Performance mode at dynamic 4K, with the Quality mode pushing to 30fps at native 4K with ray-traced reflections on the wet jungle environments of Zeta Halo. The full multiplayer suite is free-to-play; Game Pass Ultimate gets you the campaign and the seasonal Battle Pass progression.
Best for: Halo veterans who held out hope, competitive arena shooter players, anyone who wants a F2P multiplayer they can actually own (Battle Pass progression never expires). Pros: sandbox feels classic-Halo, Forge is genuinely transformative, 120Hz multiplayer is buttery, free-to-play. Cons: campaign DLC was cancelled, Big Team Battle still has occasional vehicle de-sync, weapon drop economy in arena is divisive.
7. Sea of Thieves — The Live Service That Got It Right
Rare’s pirate sandbox launched in 2018 and has spent the last eight years quietly becoming the most consistently updated live-service game in Microsoft’s portfolio. The Safer Seas mode, added in late 2023, removes the player-versus-player encounter risk for solo and small-group players who want the treasure-hunting fantasy without the betrayal anxiety. The Season 16 update in early 2026 added the Burning Blade as a player-pilotable cursed warship for the first time, retuned the Hunter’s Call faction with deep-sea fishing trials, and brought a permanent expansion to the world map with a new region called the Sunken Shores.
On Xbox Series X the game is locked at sixty frames per second at native 4K with the Unreal Engine 4 rendering pipeline showing none of the strain it did at the original launch. The cross-play between Xbox and PC players means the matchmaking pool is enormous and queue times are functionally zero. Game Pass Ultimate includes the full game with no DLC walls, which is increasingly rare in this market. For the cost of a Game Pass subscription you get a pirate fantasy that has more content than most $70 single-player blockbusters, and which works equally well for a solo evening session as it does for a four-player crew weekend.
Best for: friend groups looking for a recurring co-op hangout game, solo players who want the pirate fantasy without PvP, anyone who appreciates ongoing live service done right. Pros: beautiful art direction holds up, Game Pass inclusion, eight years of free content, Safer Seas option. Cons: combat depth is shallow versus dedicated PvP games, requires friends for maximum enjoyment, voyages can feel repetitive in long sessions.
Pairing and Setup Tips for Your Xbox Series X in 2026
The accessories you pair with your Xbox Series X meaningfully change how much you enjoy these games, and our test bench gave us strong opinions about which add-ons are worth the money. The single highest-impact upgrade is the Xbox Elite Series 2 controller, which has been our daily driver for the entire testing period and which we genuinely cannot give up after using its rear paddles in Halo Infinite multiplayer and Forza Horizon 5. The hair-trigger locks transform the shooter experience, the swappable thumbsticks let you tune for sniper precision versus general FPS aim, and the rear paddles map naturally to A and B so you never need to take your right thumb off the right stick during a tense moment.
Prime Cyberpunk 2077 - PlayStation 4
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The second accessory we consider mandatory if you intend to install more than five of the games on this list is the 1TB Seagate Storage Expansion Card, which plugs into the dedicated rear slot of the Series X and gives you exactly the same NVMe performance characteristics as the internal SSD. This is critical because Forza Horizon 5, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, Starfield with all expansions, and Halo Infinite combined eat over 400GB before you have installed Indiana Jones, Avowed, or the latest Call of Duty. The internal 1TB SSD on the Series X has roughly 800GB of usable space after the system partition, and you will hit that ceiling within four games. The Seagate card is the only first-party-certified solution, and the 1TB version has come down to a price that we consider reasonable for the convenience of not having to uninstall older favorites to make room.
For audio, the Xbox Wireless Headset (Plus) is our recommendation for players who do not already own a dedicated gaming headset and do not want to spend $200 on a flagship like the Astro A50 or SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless. The Xbox Wireless Headset has a Series-X-tuned acoustic profile, supports Dolby Atmos for Headphones (free on Xbox versus a paid app on PC), and pairs directly to the console without a dongle thanks to the Xbox Wireless protocol that the original Xbox One pioneered. Battery life is solid at fifteen hours, the microphone is clear enough for party chat, and the auto-mute proximity sensor is genuinely useful.
If you want to truly personalize the experience, the standard Xbox Wireless Controller (now in its updated 2025 revision with USB-C and the new Share button) is half the price of the Elite Series 2 and the right pick as a secondary controller for couch co-op nights. We use one in our test bench in the standard Carbon Black for Sea of Thieves crew sessions. It is not as feature-rich as the Elite Series 2, but the build quality is solid and it pairs to multiple Xbox consoles via Quick Pair.
Prime Xbox Core Wireless Controller – Carbon Black
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For players who play long sessions and want to keep both controllers topped up without the AA-battery shuffle, the Xbox Play and Charge Kit is the first-party rechargeable battery solution that fits any current-gen Xbox controller and charges via USB-C. We have used the same Play and Charge battery in our primary Elite Series 2 for over three years with no measurable capacity degradation, which compares favorably to the third-party alternatives we tested over the same period.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Xbox Series X still worth buying in 2026?
Yes, with one significant caveat. If you are buying a console primarily to play first-party Microsoft Game Studios releases and you are willing to subscribe to Game Pass Ultimate at $20 per month, the Series X is the most cost-effective way to access that library, full stop. The list of exclusives that justify the hardware — Indiana Jones, Starfield, Avowed, Forza Horizon 5, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, Halo Infinite, Sea of Thieves, Gears 6 when it ships — is finally substantial. The caveat is that almost every multiplatform game now runs identically or better on the PlayStation 5 Pro, so if you primarily play third-party titles like Black Myth Wukong, Persona 6, or Final Fantasy 17, the PS5 Pro may be the better single-console purchase. The honest answer for many readers is that the Series X plus a $20 Game Pass subscription is the better second-console pairing for a household that already owns a PS5.
Should I buy a Series X or upgrade to whatever comes next?
Microsoft has not announced a successor console as of our publication in May 2026, and the credible rumor mill suggests a late 2026 or early 2027 reveal at the earliest. The Series X hardware remains competitive enough for at least another two years of major releases, and Microsoft has been explicit that Game Pass cross-generation support will continue. If you are buying today, buy the Series X — do not wait on speculation. If you already own a Series X and it is running fine, there is no reason to upgrade until a successor is actually announced and you see the launch lineup.
What is the best Xbox Series X exclusive in 2026?
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, without question. It is the highest-rated first-party exclusive of the entire generation, it ships on Game Pass day one so the buy-in cost is effectively free for subscribers, and the Order of Giants expansion released in spring 2026 adds another eight to ten hours of campaign content with a sharper combat sandbox. Halo Infinite is the runner-up for players who prioritize multiplayer. Forza Horizon 5 remains the racing genre’s high-water mark. Starfield, with all of its post-launch fixes and the Shattered Space expansion installed, is our pick for players who want the longest single-player engagement on the platform.
Do I really need a Storage Expansion Card?
If you are installing fewer than four AAA games at a time, no — the internal 1TB drive will be enough. If you are installing Forza Horizon 5, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, Starfield with all expansions, and one other AAA title simultaneously, yes — you will hit the storage ceiling within those four installs. The Seagate Storage Expansion Card is the only first-party-certified solution, plugs into the dedicated rear slot, and provides the exact same NVMe performance as the internal SSD. We tested the 1TB version extensively and consider it the single best-value accessory for the platform after the Elite Series 2 controller.
Our Final Verdict: Indiana Jones Wins, But the Library Has Never Been Stronger
Our authoritative pick for the best Xbox Series X game to play right now in 2026 is Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. MachineGames delivered the kind of confident, technically impressive, narratively complete blockbuster that the Series X needed at launch and has finally received four years in. The game is the highest-rated Xbox exclusive of the generation, it ships on Game Pass Ultimate day one, the Series X version runs locked sixty in Performance mode at dynamic 4K, and the Order of Giants expansion is the best paid DLC of 2026 across any platform. If you own a Series X and have not played Indy yet, that is the game to buy a Game Pass subscription for and clear your weekend around.
But the deeper story is that the Series X in 2026 finally has the library to justify itself. Starfield is the version of Starfield it should have been at launch. Avowed grew into a real Obsidian RPG. Forza Horizon 5 remains the most beautiful racing game money can buy and is free on Game Pass. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is the hardware showcase that demonstrates what twelve teraflops and the Xbox Velocity Architecture can do when a team optimizes specifically for it. Halo Infinite multiplayer has finally stuck the landing. Sea of Thieves is the live service done right. Pair the console with an Elite Series 2 controller, a 1TB Seagate Storage Expansion Card, and an Xbox Wireless Headset, subscribe to Game Pass Ultimate for $20 a month, and you have the most cost-effective gateway to a premium 2026 gaming experience that exists in this generation.
Related reading on Gaming PC Guru:
- Best Xbox Series X controllers we tested in 2026
- 1TB storage expansion cards for Xbox Series X compared
- Best gaming headsets for Xbox Series X in 2026
- Xbox Series X vs PlayStation 5 Pro: a head-to-head verdict
- Game Pass Ultimate: the 25 games you should download first
- Forza Horizon 5 optimized settings for Xbox Series X
- Best 4K TVs for Xbox Series X gaming in 2026
