Best Xbox Series X|S and Game Pass games of 2024

We’ve listed 10 of the best games you can play on Xbox consoles this year, in no particular order

Dave Aubrey | Dec 29, 2024

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle / Bethesda/MachineGames

2024 has been a huge year for Xbox. It might not have seen a new “Pro” console like PlayStation did, but Xbox players instead got one of the best Game Pass line-ups ever, including underappreciated indie gems, popular JRPGs, and one of the biggest action-adventure games of the year on any platform. See how we didn’t even need to mention Call of Duty?

If you’ve an Xbox player – or you’ve picked up an Xbox Game Pass subscription for Christmas – make sure you don’t miss out on these games. We’ve listed just 10 of the best games you can play on Xbox consoles this year – in no particular order – and we truly believe you should pick up and play all of them. Read on for the 10 best Xbox games of 2024.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

Indiana Jones from The Great Circle, eyeing a relic in his hands

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle / MachineGames

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is the kind of licensed game we want to see more of. It would’ve been easy for MachineGames to slap Indiana Jones into a Wolfenstein-style game, unleashing hundreds of bullets per minute while juggling grenades and drenching in blood showers. But instead, this is a game where you’ll rarely ever actually shoot a gun. Instead, you’ll be exploring sites of historical importance, collecting ancient relics, and uncovering a historical secret that should’ve remained a myth.

It’s a genuinely refreshing adventure, and we heartily recommend Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

Botany Manor

Botany Manor / Whitethorn Games

One of the most fascinating puzzle games of the year, Botany Manor features a lot of plants – as you might guess from the name – but make no mistake, it’s a complicated puzzle game where almost everything in the world factors into a puzzle somehow. A game about discovery and exploration, Botany Manor is a Game Pass highlight in 2024.

Persona 3 Reload

Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis / Sega

If you’re an Xbox Game Pass subscriber, you need to make sure you don’t miss out on Persona 3 Reload. Persona 3 is the series highlight for many long-time Persona fans, and Reload is the best version to play. Yes, it has modern visuals for those that don’t want to go back to a PS2 game, but it also has one of the best stories of the Persona series. Even if you’re a more casual RPG fan, Persona 3’s blend of RPG combat and social life sim elements shouldn’t be missed.

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess / Capcom

An action-RTS hybrid that everyone ignored, Kunitsu-Gami is genuinely brilliant. In this game you guide a shrine maiden around a cursed mountain, slowly purifying the defilement that allows demons to spawn through the Torii gates. As you go you’ll collect villagers which you upgrade into different combat classes, and they can help you fight off the demons when night falls. Classes have different abilities, ranges, and associated costs, forcing you to work smart in order to complete each stage. It’s a game that’s unlike any other, and that’s why you need to play Kunitsu-Gami.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 / Activision Blizzard

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is an amazing return to form for a shooter series that disappointed fans with its last release. Unlike Modern Warfare III, Black Ops 6 has a fully-featured multiplayer suite, a great campaign, and one of the boldest Zombies modes we’ve ever seen in the series. It’s everything you could ask a Call of Duty game for, and on top of all that, Game Pass subscribers were able to play without paying anything extra. Possibly the best ever year to be a Call of Duty fan on Xbox.

Palworld

Palworld / Pocketpair

Palworld is still one of the most successful games of the year, even though it was launched way back in January. Sure, the creatures look a lot like Pokémon, but the gameplay of Palworld is totally unique, combining survival-crafting gameplay with monster collecting. It’s a blend we’ve never seen before, and one of the most compelling takes the saturated survival-crafting genre has seen yet. Believe it or not, Palworld is a good game, and you should make sure to play it before Nintendo shuts the studio down.

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl / GSC Game World

This is one of the most divisive games of the year, but it’s hard to ignore the heart that the developers poured into Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl. It’s a difficult game; just traversing across The Zone from one settlement to another can come with a huge number of problems, including guns jamming, packs of wild dogs, and mutated monsters. That’s all without mentioning the more supernatural elements of The Zone. Stalker 2 is tough, but it’s an open-world FPS quite unlike any other.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024

A pilot walking towards a KLM-branded jet airliner.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 / Microsoft

Microsoft Flight Simulator already gave us a to-scale recreation of the Earth, but now it includes more training, tutorials, missions, challenges, and vehicles to fly through the skies with. Maybe you thought cruising from country to country in an airliner was too easy, but how about landing a helicopter on a precarious ledge on the side of a cliff? It’s all possible in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, and since it’s on Game Pass, you should absolutely play it.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2

Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 / Ninja Theory

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 is one of the best-looking games on any platform, and Senua’s actor, Melina Juergens, even won the award for Best Performance at The Game Awards 2024. It’s a more story-heavy game than the original, but Hellblade 2 is worth playing on Game Pass just to marvel at what the development team was able to achieve.

Dungeons of Hinterberg

Dungeons of Hinterberg / Curve Games

Dungeons of Hinterberg has one of the best art styles of any game released in 2024. You’ll be spending time with the people of Hinterberg at one moment, and the next you will be exploring its dungeons with new friends. It clearly takes a few cues from Persona, but that’s no bad thing. Dungeons on Hinterberg is one of the best Game Pass games of the year, and you shouldn’t miss it.

Published Dec 29, 2024

DAVE AUBREY

Dave Aubrey is an award-nominated (losing) video games journalist based in the UK with more than ten years of experience in the industry. A bald man known for obnoxious takes, Dave is correct more often than people would like, and will rap on command.