The best Xbox game of 2024

It’s been a strange console generation for Team Xbox so far. It started during a pandemic and resulted in supply chain issues that made the Xbox Series X hard to come by for months, the potential killer app launch title (Halo Infinite) suffered an embarrassing but much-needed year-long delayMicrosoft tried to buy Activision-Blizzard for SIXTY-NINE MILLION DOLLARS only to see regulatory agencies around the world challenge it before the deal in the end went throughthe company sent a bona fide Game of the year (Forza Horizon 5) and also started publishes its first-party games on PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switchand Xbox boss Phil Spencer even confirmed that a handheld Xbox is on the way, though we may not see it during this hardware generation.

All the while, outside of a kickass 2021 that saw the release of the aforementioned Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 alongside Psychonauts 2, Microsoft Flight Simulator and Tunic, Xbox gamers have been waiting (and waiting) for a steady stream of first- party games. And it looked a little bleak this year – again – with Avoved pushed to February 2025, and the potentially packed pixel-art indie action-adventure exclusive Replaced slipping out of 2024. But Microsoft turned in all its homework just as the bell rang at the end of class, with STALKER 2 , Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle all land in the last six weeks of the year – and all three get A’s on assignment. Let’s discuss the honorable mentions, runners-up, and best Xbox games of 2024.

The best Xbox game of 2024

Honorable mentions

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 and Dungeons of Hinterberg both just missed out on the top of our list, but they are very much worth mentioning. The psychologically focused sequel to Hellblade was the first ever officially announced Xbox Series X gameand when it finally shipped this year, it can claim at least one title: the best Xbox game ever made. Ninja Theory’s Unreal Engine 5-powered narrative-driven adventure is a technical showpiece, a powerhouse of pixels that harnesses all of the 12.1 teraflops of power the Series X packs. It’s a bit light in the gameplay department – ​​more akin to a walking simulator than a proper action-adventure – but it’s nonetheless beautifully played and stunningly presented. It is well worth taking the time to go on this journey with Senua.

Meanwhile, Dungeons of Hinterberg’s hooky concept – a European town becomes a hotspot for visitors to come and make friends and drink beer at night after a long day of monster-slaying in the dungeons below – is coming to fruition a super nice mix of action RPG and social sim gameplay. Its cartoon style only enhanced the whole experience. This was a refreshing summer release in a season where we typically complain about the lack of interesting new games to play. But this year’s virtual summer trip to Europe to crush a bunch of monsters and collect loot while chatting it up with the locals in the pub afterwards turned out to be just the kind of vacation we needed.

Runner-Up: Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

It might not be an Xbox exclusive, but Microsoft owns Call of Duty now, and the biggest first-person shooter franchise in the world came back in a big way this year. And Xbox owners got to play Black Ops 6 on day one via Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, so there’s that.

More importantly, Treyarch, Raven, and the countless Activision support studios that put in yeoman’s work in this series every year to make best single player Call of Duty campaign this year. Historically underrated developer Raven understood that the key to a great Call of Duty campaign is variety, and in Black Ops 6 you get to do all sorts of incredibly fun things, from going undercover in a casino to freely roaming around a open world desert for hobnobbing at a Bill Clinton fundraiser and more. Its story doesn’t quite slap you in the face with a twist as good as Black Ops 1’s JFK moment, but it’s still a damn fine story that positively enhances the excellent and unpredictable campaign gameplay.

Add in one great, focused multiplayer mode and one excellent return of zombiesand Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is one of the best overall game packages you can get in 2024.

Runner-Up: STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl

The developers of STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl went through a literal version of Hell on Earth to make this deeply personal game about their native Ukraine, after Russia invaded it midway through development. That it was done at all is an incredible testament to their tenacity and human spirit, and how lucky we are that they got it done because it’s fantastic. (Side note: the 90-minute documentary about the making of this game is an incredible human story worth watching. Find it at Xbox’s YouTube channel.)

This first-person shooter sequel mixes punishing survival gameplay with brutal combat in a brooding sci-fi atmosphere to create a gameplay loop that feels refreshingly old-school, yet delightfully new and modern at the same time. Although its initial launch was marred by a host of technical issues, its fixes and updates came so often that it’s impossible to hold launch day against it. And if you just jump in now, you’ll only ever see the current, more polished version of the Exclusion Zone. Enjoy playing in the world it creates, as its developers clearly did when they built it.

Runner-Up: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024

ONE rough start put the passengers in a sour moodbut things quickly smoothed out when developer Asobo Studio stepped in with latest version of its masterpiece flight simulator. The team somehow made Flight Simulator even more beautiful and made an even more beautiful and realistic Earth than the one from 2021. They also added a lot more to do, from wildlife photography to unimaginably littering the in-game planet with every helipad in the real world. The physics were improved, as were several other systems under the hood.

Overall, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 may not be a “game” for everyone (hence the “simulator” in the title), but what it sets out to do, it does brilliantly. It’s a love letter to anyone and everyone who loves aviation, in the same way that Forza Horizon 5 was a love letter to anyone who loved cars and driving.

Winner: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

Lucasfilm chose wisely when he partnered with MachineGames to make a AAA Indiana Jones video game. The talented studio revived and modernized Wolfenstein, and before that made one of the best licensed video games of all time and one of the best original Xbox games of all time in The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. And then it is high praise when we say that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is best game this group of developers has ever made – not to mention the best Indiana Jones something since The Last Crusade 35 years ago.

Some gamers were skeptical when we found out back in January that Indy’s latest interactive adventure would primarily be played in first-person. But once everyone played it, MachineGames’ choice was quickly validated. The Great Circle completely immerses you as Indiana Jones, from the shadow of your fedora on a wall to the versatile whip in your hand to the leather jacket that squeaks as you walk—not to mention the absolute S-tier performance by the veteran voice actor Troy Baker, completely disappearing into the role of Indiana Jones, convincing your ears and brain that you’re somehow anachronistically listening to a 40-something Harrison Ford.

The Great Circle has action, of course, but that action occurs as a supplement to the real heart: adventure. Your whip can be used to stun enemies – or knock the gun out of their hands – but it’s mostly used for traversing as a makeshift rope to help you navigate the crypts, tombs, cities and dig sites you’ll want to visit around in the world. And the swelling orchestral score makes the big moments feel extra big, just like it did in the Indiana Jones movies. The writing is also spot-on, with humor being used to punctuate various scenes and making sure the tone always remains funny without ever becoming too dark or serious. Oh, and you also have to solve puzzles. So, so many puzzles both big and small. And they’re all really fun to figure out.

In short, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is not only the best Xbox game of the year, it’s the best game that Microsoft has shipped under any of its banners since IGN’s 2021 Game of the Year overall winner, Forza Horizon 5. It’s a world-changing adventure-action battle that eschews shooting in favor of battles, puzzles, whips, pranks, stories, sidequests, and setpieces. It’s brilliant, impossible to put down, and plays unlike any other first-person game out there. It easily and deservedly wins IGN’s Best Xbox Game of 2024 award.

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