Xbox adds over 70 classic games to its backward-compatibility library

By DeAngelo Epps November 15, 2021

During today’s Xbox 20th anniversary event, Xbox announced that 70-plus games are being added to the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S backward-compatibility libraries. It confirmed that the games support Auto HDR and many will receive resolution enhancements. On top of that, 11 of the titles are getting a frames-per-second (FPS) boost.

Since the Xbox 360, Xbox has had a preapproved library of backward-compatible games that can be played on current-generation consoles. The list of supported titles is now up to 76 with today’s announcement.

Many of the added titles are fan favorites that have been continuously requested. Those titles include the entire Max Payne, F.E.A.R, and Skate series on the Xbox One and Series X/S. The library also includes more than 20 original Xbox games including Dead or Alive Ultimate, Star Wars: Jedi Knight II, Star Wars: Starfighter, and the Otogi franchise.

Xbox confirmed that Original Xbox games will receive a resolution increase on Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One consoles connected to supported displays. The resolution increase will differ depending on the console.

4x resolution increase on Xbox Series X and Xbox One X
3x resolution increase on Xbox Series S
2x resolution increase on Xbox One S and Xbox One

The games included on the FPS boost list are:

F.E.A.R.
F.E.A.R. 3
Binary Domain
Nier
The entire Gears of War franchise
Fallout 3
Fallout: New Vegas
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Dragon Age: Origins
Dead Space, Dead Space 3
Alan Wake
Sonic Generations.

Players will also be able to toggle on and off the HDR and FPS Boost in games’ management menus. You can find a full list of backward-compatible games on the Xbox website.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

De'Angelo Epps is a gaming writer passionate about the culture, communities, and industry surrounding gaming. His work ranges…

Gaming

All cross-platform games (PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC)

Two squads of heroes clash in an Overwatch 2 trailer.

Cross-platform support is becoming more important in the world of video games. Multiplayer hits like Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 and Fortnite have pushed crossplay into the limelight, and now most AAA multiplayer games release with at least partial cross-platform support. Finding every cross-platform game is no easy feat, though, so we did the hard work to bring you a comprehensive list of games that support crossplay.

Unfortunately, there aren't any rules when it comes to crossplay, so each game handles the feature a little differently. To make matters more confusing, certain backward-compatible games on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X still support crossplay on the most recent hardware, even if there isn't an official release for that hardware.

Gaming

The best external hard drives for Xbox Series X

xbox all access price pre orders retailers 2

The Xbox Series X's 1TB sounds excellent on paper, but in reality, Microsoft's console only offers about 802GBs of storage due to updates and the operating system. You may find yourself filling up your space quickly, especially if you're looking to download every new title that becomes available on Xbox Game Pass. Let's face it, Call of Duty alone takes well over 100GBs of storage — and with the system targeting 4K resolution, games are only growing in size.

The Xbox Series X is compatible with any external hard drive up to 16TB of storage. Games optimized for the Xbox Series X can only be stored on, but not played from, an external drive due to the games being designed to take advantage of faster loading speeds and Xbox Velocity Architecture. However, when it comes to storage for your Xbox Series X, there are many options to choose from as your game library expands. We have compiled a list of external drives that will make your gaming experience seamless. Note that they will come with the proper cables needed to connect to your Xbox console.
Seagate Storage Expansion Card

Gaming

Every rumored video game console: Nintendo Switch 2, PS5 Pro and more

A PS5 sits on a table.

History would tell you that 2024 isn't a year where you should expect a lot of new game consoles. We're smack dab in the middle of a console generation and we've already seen the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series S get upgrades during it. A wave of brand new consoles is likely four years away if the precedent set by previous generations holds up.

And yet, we're swimming in hardware rumors these days. Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo all have rumored systems in the works. On top of that, we're on the verge of an early second generation for portable PCs like the Steam Deck. Companies like Lenovo and Asus are also plotting follow-ups to their own devices. It's a lot to keep track of, with scattered reports sharing rumors about the status of each. To help you stay on top of the news, we've rounded up every major gaming device that's currently in the works. You can expect to see some -- if not all -- of these in the next year.
Nintendo Switch 2