It’s been 18 months since the Xbox Series X entered our lives. Touted as the most powerful console to ever exist, the matte black obelisk is now an ordinary part of my living room setup, despite the fact I had to buy a new side table to house it. It just doesn’t feel right to shove it behind a telly. Too unceremonial. While I wasn’t sold on its design initially, it’s grown on me in the months since. It’s my rectangular son.
Now I’ve spent loads of time with it, I’m accustomed to its hoover-like hum, its upright dominance of our side table, and all the features it has to offer. So, now the hype cycle has died down and it’s been a part of our daily lives for so long, is the Xbox Series X worth it? Let’s break it down by starting with the things that matter most: the games.
Xbox Series X – the games
When it comes to third-party games, we’ve been completely spoiled on Xbox. Elden Ring, Dying Light 2, Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, and Weird West, to name just a few. Of course, these games are also available on other platforms.
As for actual exclusives, we’ve had Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5, Psychonauts 2, and Microsoft Flight Simulator. Not a huge selection by any metric, but all excellent games that you can’t play on PlayStation or Nintendo Switch. Played on Xbox Series X, they’re graphically on par with a high-end PC, too.
Still, it’s here where Xbox Series X falls slightly short. In the same timeframe, PS5 has had Deathloop, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, The Nioh Collection, Death Stranding Director’s Cut, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Returnal, Demon’s Souls, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Gran Turismo 7, Astro’s Playroom, Horizon Forbidden West, and a bunch of PS4 games with improved graphics.
Seeing the two lists of games side by side is almost comical. It’s clear that Sony’s games strategy has trumped Microsoft’s, allowing PlayStation to considerably outpace Xbox when it comes to interesting new games that you can’t play anywhere else.
Of course, this is all due to change. Microsoft has spun up new studios and acquired existing ones, including Bethesda, which recently delayed its big two upcoming releases, Starfield and Redfall, into next year. But when the games start coming, they’ll come. Oh, they will come.
Then there’s Microsoft’s trump card: Game Pass. Game Pass has been such a powerful tool in Microsoft’s arsenal that Sony has been forced to respond, rebranding PlayStation Plus to offer more benefits and more games as part of its subscription service. However, it still isn’t quite Game Pass.
It’s hard to write about Game Pass without making it sound like an advertorial, but it really is that good. A library of over 500 games to download and play (or play instantly from the cloud), constantly updating with new games, many of them joining the service the very day that they launch. All of EA’s Origin Access library is here, too.
Game Pass also gives you access to every single Xbox-published game ever made, including those that will launch in the future. Looking forward to Starfield? Forget spending $60 on it, it’ll simply be part of your subscription. Game Pass continues to get better and better. No complaints here. But what about how games look?
Xbox Series X – the graphics
Obviously, games are sharper and smoother than ever before on Xbox Series X. Most offer native 4K resolutions or higher frame rates, up to 120hz, but mostly 60fps. Despite that, it’s not quite the jump we’ve seen between previous generations. Part of that is just the diminishing returns of chasing photorealism, and another part is the fact most games are still being developed for old systems alongside the new-gen machines.
There’s also still a big question mark about the Xbox Series S, the less-powerful console choice, and how much being forced to make games actually work on that console impacts how far developers can push visuals on the beefier machine. But it’s still early days, and historically the most impressive stuff comes out towards the end of a console’s life. We’ve still got time to be truly blown away.
Xbox Series X – Quick Resume and Smart Delivery
It’s funny because I’ve completely switched my position on both of these things since I wrote my initial impressions of the console at launch. Back then, Smart Delivery – which recognizes what console you have and downloads the right version of games without fuss – felt like marketing spiel. After seeing how this is handled on PlayStation 5, however, I thank Microsoft for its foresight. It’s often a real issue on PS5, and here downloading the right version of a game is so simple that you take it for granted.
As for Quick Resume, which allows you to close down your Xbox and jump immediately back into that same point in a game when you boot it back up, I’ve cooled on it. When it works, it’s great. But it’s a complete gamble on whether it’ll introduce some weird bug into your game. Then there are the times when you forget to fully close down a multiplayer game before shutting your console down and it completely craps its pants when you load it back up.
Xbox Series X – UX
While I still fire up my PS5 to play all the excellent exclusives, I’ve found myself migrating to Xbox Series X for everything else. It’s not just the massive library of games to try, thanks to Game Pass, and it’s not just because that’s where my friends have ended up. It’s because the user experience is so breezy. It’s quick to download games, quick to play them, and quick to switch between them.
The menus are simple, customizable, and make sense. The only negative is the integrated video capture, which doesn’t allow you to record videos that are any longer than a few minutes. Not only that but you’re forced to upload them before you can pull them off the system. It’s a pain in the ass. Otherwise, it’s lovely, and that’s without delving into the many accessibility features tucked away inside menus.
Is the Xbox Series X worth buying?
If someone were to ask me which of the two major consoles to get today, the Xbox Series X would be the console I’d steer them towards, thanks to its ease of use and affordable, accessible library of games. A year ago, my answer would have been different. It’s not an easy choice – after all, PS5’s exclusives have been incredible so far, and will likely only get better – but once Microsoft’s investments in new games finally begin to pay off, PlayStation will have a real fight on its hands.
Written by Kirk McKeand on behalf of GLHF.
