2 years in, the Xbox Series X/S still lacks even one killer exclusive

It’s November, and that can only mean one thing in the world of video game history: It’s time for a bunch of console anniversaries to pile up all at once. One of the youngest milestones this month is the second birthday of the current couple of xbox consoles, and taking a step back to consider the past two years doesn’t exactly paint the most flattering picture.

After two years, I take a step back and look at Xbox Series X and S, and I realize… Does this thing really have must-have exclusive games? Is there a game you can point to that will make you feel great about your purchase? I’m not even strictly talking about true exclusives here. Cross-gen gaming is a reality and a necessity right now for numerous reasons, which is why I’m okay with popular Xbox Series games being on Xbox One as well. But even counting them, there’s just… not much to what to shout At least there isn’t much that isn’t available on PlayStation.

A good yardstick to measure these two years is the list of the highest-scoring Xbox Series X and PS5 games on Metacritic so far. Some things are shared: both have Elden Ring in the top spot, with Hades and Persona 5 Royal securing the bag in cross-platform terms. Many of the same games dominate both lists, in fact; proof that with Covid-19 and everything else, these have been difficult years for own production.

But Sony’s roster is also marked by God of War Ragnarok, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Horizon: Forbidden West, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Gran Turismo 7, and even Astro’s Playroom, a pretty strong sextuple of proper hitters for Los first 24 months of PS5. Then, of course, there’s Sony’s long list of “really needed” PS4 game remasters. I don’t have a particular desire to play The Last of Us or Spider-Man again, to be honest, but when viewed through this lens, that of padding the difficult first few years of new hardware, these ports suddenly seem more necessary. . They add value to hardware.

The Xbox roster has Forza and Flight Sim, both of which are absolutely excellent, but is that all? There’s also Halo Infinite, of course, but while I thoroughly enjoyed that game’s campaign, it’s absolutely fair to say that it’s been severely damaged by a failed launch that still sees the game lacking co-op play and a glacial multiplayer update cadence.

I will be honest with you. Of the consoles, I vastly prefer the Xbox Series. I like the Xbox OS better (although it’s certainly a lesser-of-two-evils situation), I enjoy cross-ownership and cross-play with the Windows Store on PC. I’m not a big fan of the Dualsense and its quickly draining battery. And, of course, Xbox Game Pass is an irresistible proposal, without a doubt the best offer in games at the moment. As a result, I use my Xbox a lot more… but I mostly use it to play old games, dabble in Game Pass indies, or watch Goddamn Andor on Disney+.

The cool new games I want to play, both available now and those yet to come, are mostly on PS5, either by virtue of Sony’s seemingly more efficient in-house development pipeline, or through the signing aggressive exclusivity agreements with third parties, such as Square. Enix for Final Fantasy 16 and Forspoken. Regardless of how one feels about the methods used, Sony is certainly winning that specific battle.

In a sense, I suppose that means that little has changed in the last two years. In VG247’s hardware review, published five days before the machines were released to the public, I described living with the consoles as cool. I talked about how Quick Resume is magical and how the performance boost on older games is great to see and experience. I said playing older games with features like auto HDR, ultra-fast loading, and fast resume “really feels like the future, even if the games are a decade old.” It’s still an awesome party trick, but after two years, it’s getting a bit worn.

“Then there is the Xbox Series X,” I wrote. “That’s touted by Microsoft as the ‘fastest, most powerful game console ever’; I take it as a mission statement. And you know what? Can be! On paper, the specs look fabulous; and as a great value for money. But there’s nothing exclusive here at launch to help really prove that, so the mission remains a question mark. It is TBC, it should be tested in the future, with software. The software is always what matters; without it, the hardware is useless, no matter how fancy.”

That TBC still feels like a TBC, two years later. Which is amazing. Where did the time go? More gray hairs have arrived, but I’m still waiting for games.

At the same time, the future looks promising. Right? Starfield approaches. Hopefully 2023 is the year that we might finally start learning more about Fable, Avowed, or Perfect Dark. You may not be entirely convinced that Everwild exists, but Hellblade 2 feels corporeal and at your fingertips. There are a couple of relatively imminent games that, while smaller, also seem like absolute belts: Pentiment, Minecraft Legends, and High on Life all blew me away at Gamescom.

So it’s not all bad news. In fact, I think Xbox is building a portfolio of its own that will eventually match Sony’s efforts, even if there are some huge blind spots that still need to be addressed, like Japanese-made games and Japanese RPGs in particular. After such a disastrous time with Xbox One, it’s only natural that it would take time to rebuild the infrastructure needed to deliver those games. But, crikey, that future still feels far away, doesn’t it?

As a report card for the first two years, it makes for bleak reading. I love my Xbox Series X. I love having a Series S in a different room and the ease with which I can switch from one to another. I just wish there were more games that actually made me hungry to turn on those specific consoles.