The 25 Best Xbox One Games

The best Xbox One games can be hard to find. There are hundreds of games available for the system, with more coming out every week. They could stop releasing new games immediately and there’d still be more games in the library than any one person could possibly hope to play over the next few years. There are so many that it can be hard to pick out the next one you should dive into.

That’s a good problem to have, of course. You generally don’t buy a game box to not play games, even if it is the “complete all-in-one games and entertainment system.”

Not all of those games can be winners, of course, so let Paste help you sort through the clutter. Every few months we’ll update this list of the 25 best games available for the Xbox One, from big budget action blockbusters to small-scale narrative standouts. Whether you just bought an Xbox One, or are still playing that Day One edition from 2013, you’ll probably find something you haven’t played yet on this list.

1 of 25 25. Gears of War 4: Gears of War 4 brings the series into a new generation with the same determined focus of its predecessors. There's no denying Gears of War 4 is a house built with blueprints; you will roadie run into cover, pop up and down like prairie dogs and chainsaw enemies in half with the infamous Lancer. What makes Gears of War 4 work is the way it satisfies those creature comforts, a need for exactly this kind of experience, polished and shiny on a new system. The Coalition had a lot to tackle when it inherited the series from Epic Games, but smart choices on when and where to innovate, and when to not fix what isn't broken, make Gears 4 a welcome surprise.—Eric Van Allen

2 of 25 24. Destiny: Initially a dull grind that was simultaneously too po-faced and too campy, Destiny has turned into a commendable MMO/shooter mash-up after a series of updates. It might not be the best time to hop into the game—the sequel is out later this year, and progress won't carry over—but there's a caste of players out there who have greatly enjoyed their two and a half years within Bungie's massive space opera.—Garrett Martin

3 of 25 23. Titanfall: The best thing about Titanfall is how little it cares for the laws of physics. Like every pilot in the game I wear some kind of rocket boot contraption that lets me jump obnoxiously high and far, and once I'm in the air I can jump again to get even higher/farther. (They call it a "double-jump"?) I can also wall-run like Mirror's Edge, gliding along the sides of despoiled military buildings as if it's my job. I can double-jump into a wall-run, leap across a gap and dance across another wall, and then double-jump again through a window into the opposing team's command center, where I immediately get shot-gunned by two or three people at once. (Usually.) This commitment to fast, graceful, patently unrealistic movement is another factor that shreds whatever kind of verisimilitude might be expected from a modern-day shooter.—Garrett Martin

4 of 25 22. Forza Horizon 3: Forza Horizon 3 has one of the most organic senses of progression ever seen in a racing game. You, as the player, constantly keep moving to explore and find the next cool thing to do. Much like discovering cars in old barns was an element in the original, this game is designed to provoke a sense of wonder and curiosity through exploration.—Jason D'Aprile

5 of 25 21. Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime: Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is a co-op game that forces legitimate cooperation without ever feeling overly strict or punitive. You and your partner have to work together to guide your ship through unexplored galaxies while searching for supplies and power-ups, and if you're good you'll quickly be able to control your ship and fight off enemies without even talking to each other. It's an almost physical link that can verge on the telepathic. The game also looks and sounds amazing, too, with its hypercolor, cartoon rave aesthetic.—Garrett Martin

6 of 25 20. Torment: Tides of Numenera: Torment does all of the things that its progenitor Planescape: Torment did so well. This is the kind of game where you can specialize in talking fast and thinking faster and never actually engage in physical combat. It's also the kind of game where you can wield a healing sword and smash life energy into your teammates in combat encounters. You can recruit a team of psychic deserters into an eternal war, and you can help a woman whose eyes have been stolen by a swarm of nanites that rewrite reality if they're released from their jar. [It] is a brilliant game ... that ends up solving some of the trickiest problems of a game that wants a player to talk, trick or fight their way out of any encounter.—Cameron Kunzelman

7 of 25 19. Dark Souls III: Dark Souls III would be a fitting end to a videogame series, and we don't get many of those. I enjoyed almost all of my time with it, but I'm not sure if I'd want another game like this to come by for a long time. As a comprehensive second draft of the best moments from the series, it left me with fond memories of everything I love about these games. And by sprucing up those moments, it gives new players a chance to finally understand why these games matter. It doesn't make sweeping changes to the series's structure or rhythms, but just this one time, it can get away with tugging at familiar heart strings. I came into this game hoping it wouldn't be "just another Dark Souls game." But I'm glad that's what I got.—Suriel Vazquez

8 of 25 18. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag: Assassin's Creed IV is delightfully earnest. It takes itself very seriously without ever devolving into tired grimness or cynicism. At its best it captures the tone of the Flynn-de Havilland classic Captain Blood and other old Hollywood swashbucklers, presenting light-hearted adventure without any winking irony. It also gets the most out of its open world design by dropping us in an enthralling real-world setting with a generous freedom of motion. It's one of the few open world games where the buildings that make up that world actually seem to matter, even if you still mostly can't go inside them.—Garrett Martin

9 of 25 17. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain: The Phantom Pain might be the only open-world game I've ever played where I can say I feel like I wasn't wasting my time on some activity that was dull or poorly designed. Even my favorite games in the genre all have at least one or two clunky activities that they force you to do over and over again for the sake of progression, tainting the experience. However, nothing feels like a chore in The Phantom Pain. It';s a game made by people who know the pieces of its construction intimately and how those pieces should connect to one another, who understand that making the small moments matter is just as important as the big picture.—Javy Gwaltney

10 of 25 16. Resident Evil 7: It's almost too on the nose, really. Did Capcom know what horrors we would all face, this coming year? Because, now, more than ever, we feel the pressure to escape this horrifying house—to tear the boards from the windows and let the sunlight stream in, and to show the world the horrors hiding inside. We don't have government-funded special forces to help us; their funding probably got cut, years ago. We're just going to have to escape this plantation on our own ... and, on our way out the door, burn it all to the ground. Salt the earth, and never look back.—Maddy Myers