Games With The Best Graphics On Xbox Series X|S

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home January 31, 2025 11 Views 21 Min Read
Games With The Best Graphics On Xbox Series X|S



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After making its surprise debut at The Game Awards in 2019, the Xbox Series X left viewers and audience members alike with the promise of unprecedented power inside its tower-like form factor. And while its claim of being powerful enough to “power your dreams” seemed a bit lofty, we’d also gotten our first taste of that power during that award ceremony.

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This came through a tech demo for Hellblade 2 by Ninja Theory, showing Senua’s face being rendered in real-time with an almost impossible level of detail. Since the console launched, we’ve had quite a few games come forth, proving the machine’s capabilities. What follows are a few games that put all the extra teraflops in both the Xbox Series X and S to good use.

Updated February 08, 2025 by Sanyam Jain: If you want to push your console to its limit, one of the best games to do that would be Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl. Apart from adding that, we’ve also added more information for each game on this list!

13

High On Life

Gus' shotgun blast does explosive damage to a G3 enemy with the Flak weapon mod activated.

A day-one launch title for Xbox Game Pass, High on Life is a hectic, comedy-focused shooter with talking guns. What more do you need? It’s silly, it’s full of jokes, fourth-wall breaking, and absolute nonsense through and through.

However, whether or not this is your style of game, it’s undeniably gorgeous. It uses a cartoony style to portray the many different environments you’ll explore throughout this wild adventure, and all of it looks incredible.

With so many types of locations to explore, effects to play around with, and strange-looking sentientweapons to be way too close to you at all times, this is a worthwhile game for the visual experience alone.

12

Scorn

Scorn Interaction Panel

Launched in time for Halloween in 2022, Scorn subverted expectations by being more of a puzzle-based walking simulator than an outright horror game like Outlast. However, despite its lack of action, fans of the works by H.R Giger will find a lot to love about Scorn and its grotesque visual aesthetic.

The use of its biomechanical art design is reminiscent of the Alien films, and the game can shock and disgust the strongest stomach. The corridors and machinery look like they were created out of something once alive. Scorn is a more artistic take on the horror genre. It isn’t scary, but the visuals running in 4K on a large screen have the power to shock and disgust.

It’s only let down by the respective nature of the game and perhaps the overuse of yellows, browns, and grey. As a result, the shock value does wear off.

11

Grounded

player carries five grass planks while traversing built grass floor over high ground

As a studio better known for creating RPGs like Pillars of Eternity and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, the base-building survival game Grounded is something of a departure. However, it’s not the first time the studio has developed games outside the traditional CRPG genre. The well-received South Park: Stick of Truth is still highly regarded as one of the best-licensed video games of all time.

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With Grounded, Obsidian has created one of the best games on the console. If you grew up in the 1980s loving Honey, I Shrunk the Kids starring Rick Moranis, then Grounded is the closest you’ll get to a video game capturing the spirit, feel, and perspective of the movie. Just like Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, you take on the role of a teenager shrunk down to the size of an insect.

Your protagonist and three other teens have to survive in their backyard fending off spiders, scorpions, and more. It’s a beautiful game with a colorful art style and vibrant vegetation, ponds, and giant-sized litter that can be used for shelter. Grounded is one of the most creative and best-looking games on the Xbox Series X/S.

10

Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl

Richter rewards the player with a free Optician gas mask in Stalker 2.

If a game features an open-world as big as Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl, you can already expect it to take a lot of performance out of your device. However, the kind of graphics presented in this game takes it to the next level. As the name suggests, you’ll be playing at the center of the radiation disaster in this one.

As you explore The Zone, you’ll get to know about how it changes everyone’s personality while facing danger every step of your way. To make it even better, your choices can have a lasting impact with a whopping four different endings that you can reach.

9

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

Senua Of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice Prepares To Battle 1V1

First launched in 2017 for the PC and PS4, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice was remastered for the Xbox Series X/S in 2021, and the difference in visuals is like night and day. It’s a dark fantasy action adventure steeped in Celtic folklore and Norse mythology. The dark aesthetic doesn’t hide what is one of the best-looking games on the system despite its last-gen roots.

The Xbox Series X/S version features a new enriched mode option by adding DirectX Raytracing. As a result, reflections and shadows look better than ever, and the use of volumetric lighting contributes to what was already an atmospheric experience from start to finish.

In addition to the visuals, Hellblade has an incredible audio design that encourages you to wear headphones as the voices in a Senua’s replace waypoints and a HUD. It’s a unique experience that’s best experienced on the Xbox Series X/S and PC.

8

Psychonauts 2

A screenshot showing Raz running in Psychonauts 2

Following a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2015, Double Fine set out to make its most ambitious game yet in the form of Psychonauts 2, a sequel to the action-adventure platformer, which had made its debut on the original Xbox in 2005. Xbox Game Studios subsequently acquired the studio in 2019, which no doubt helped to inject even more resources into the project.

Thankfully, all that extra time and resources paid off in the final product, which is arguably one of the best-looking games to grace an Xbox console in recent memory. The game debuted to unanimous praise, with most of that praise being directed at its graphics and inventive level design.

The striking quality of its visuals might have more to do with its art direction than the sheer number of polygons being rendered on the screen, but it is all still brought to life so vividly on the Xbox Series X and S.

7

Sea Of Thieves

sea of thieves ships

While a little bit of an older game now, in comparison to current-gen releases, Sea of Thieves still deserves its praise for just how beautiful it is. Not only does it hold up as stunning in the absolutely nailed art style it goes for, but it also has enhancements for the Xbox Series X and S, making it even more beautiful than ever.

If you need any convincing, it won’t take long here. As soon as you set sail on that boat of yours, the ocean waves will wow you instantly – and they will continue to wow you for hours to come.

There are other aspects of the game that are beautiful as well, of course, such as the islands and caverns you can explore; but damn, that water looks incredible.

6

Halo Infinite

A screenshot showing a team of Spartans running in Halo Infinite.

It is still hard to believe that the Xbox Series X launched without Halo Infinite or any other kind of must-play title to justify its purchase.

But given how poorly received the game’s first showing had been in 2020, 343 Industries had no choice but to delay it into a 2021 launch window so that it could receive the kind of polish fans expected from a next-gen Halo game with some of the best graphics on the Xbox Series X/S.

Featured Image containing screenshots of Tell Me Why, Skyrim, and Mass Effect 3.

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The game wouldn’t come until the tail end of 2021, though, by which time it was clear that the additional year and a half of development time had paid off in spades.

Not only did it look leagues better than it originally did in that initial build, but it also boasted one of the best sandboxes featured in a Halo game, hearkening back to the freeform exploration first seen in Halo: Combat Evolved on the original Xbox.

5

The Ascent

A screenshot showing gameplay in The Ascent

When discussing the most graphically demanding games, one does not typically think that a twin-stick shooter played from a top-down, isometric viewpoint would fit the bill. Except now we have The Ascent, the debut game from indie developer Neon Giant, proving we haven’t seen everything that particular style of play has to offer.

The game was unveiled during an Xbox showcase in 2020 but failed to launch alongside the Xbox Series X as originally intended. It would instead get launched in 2021 as a timed console exclusive.

Despite being developed by a team of just 11 people, the game still serves as a worthy showcase for the capabilities of the Xbox Series consoles, wowing players with its densely detailed cyberpunk-inspired world. The fact that it had launched with some technical issues is a further testament to just how hard it was pushing the hardware.

4

Starfield

A close up of several Red Pepper plants with a barn in the background

It might not have made the “ten-year” splash that Bethesda had been hoping for, but Starfield has still sold pretty darn well, and its plethora of worlds all pop with visual splendor that sells in a way that’s far more important for us players – it sells the universe.

Lush worlds brimming with greenery. Desolate worlds full of rocks. Red-tinted worlds, strikingly hostile. Oceanic oasis worlds. And the skies, oh the skies – seeing a planet’s gorgeous rings high above you is an unforgettable moment, and Starifeld is bursting with these awe-inspiring bits.

3

Forza Horizon 5

A screenshot showing gameplay in Forza Horizon 5

The Forza games have always looked great since the debut of Forza Motorsport on the original Xbox, so when a new Forza game was announced during the Microsoft Conference at E3 in 2021, many were excited to see just how far it would push the graphics envelope. Well, nothing could have prepared us for the sheer beauty of Forza Horizon 5.

With a near photorealistic open-world and extremely detailed car models, the game is one of the best-looking racers currently available on the Xbox Series X and S, despite being a cross-gen title.

One can only imagine what a true next-gen Forza Horizon would look like once support for the Xbox One is dropped and the developers at Playground Games are fully able to tap into the capabilities of the Xbox Series consoles.

2

Alan Wake 2

Split image of Alan Wake in hallways and Sheriff Breaker

Remedy Entertainment has been semi-quietly cranking out visual feasts for years, and Alan Wake 2 is no exception. It’s one of the most exceptional games of 2023 on several counts, but the graphics are absolutely one of them.

The way they imbue the game’s eerie world with an incredible atmosphere lets every winning aspect of Alan Wake 2 shine all the brighter… or darken all the deadlier.

We wish Remedy’s games sold more robustly than they do, but those of us who have scooped up Alan Wake 2 know exactly how nicely the developer has grasped modern tech, including the Xbox Series consoles.

1

Microsoft Flight Simulator

A screenshot showing a plane approaching a runway in Microsoft Flight Simulator

Launched on the PC in 2020, Microsoft Flight Simulator is the latest entry in the long-running amateur flight simulation games series. The series had been on a 14-year hiatus following the launch of Flight Simulator X in 2006 but managed to come back with quite the bang with its latest entry, all thanks to some truly jaw-dropping visuals.

A port was launched for the Xbox Series X and S in 2021, a feat in and of itself. Leveraging the power of cloud computing, the game can stream real-time weather and flight information to simulate flying across the world like never before.

Not many video games have achieved that level of graphical fidelity, and the fact that the game can run on the Xbox Series consoles competently is technical wizardry at its finest.

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