The Xbox Series X isn’t lacking in games to suit any taste. The best Xbox Series X games range from FPS games and open-world games, to platformers and everything in between. Plus, if you’re a subscriber to Game Pass then your library of games is already packed with amazing titles ready to go. Xbox has been great about getting all the best indie games on its console but finding them can be a chore. These games are able to take bigger risks and try out ideas that you won’t find anywhere else. Not all these risks pan out, so we suggest consulting our list of the best indie games on Xbox Series X first.
Even more indie games are on the way, so keep an eye on all the upcoming Xbox Series X games.
Chicory: A Colorful Tale
80%
El Paso, Elsewhere
If you cut your teeth on the fast and brutal combat of Max Payne, then El Paso, Elsewhere is just what you need to fill the void until its remakes come around. Replacing normal gangsters and thugs with vampires, werewolves, and other demonic forces, you run, dive, roll, and shoot your way through swarms of monsters in this game that is so much more than just a throwback to games of that era. The story, style, and feel are completely its own and a bloody great time.
Spelunky 2
81%Spelunky remains one of the best indies of all time, but the new launch of Spelunky 2 took its randomized roguelike formula and perfected it. Like the original, you play as a treasure hunter diving into procedurally generated levels that change every time you die — and you’re going to die a lot. Yet after each death, you’ll improve your skills and learn more about how to spot deadly traps and deal with the deadly monsters you encounter. While the original had four worlds with four levels each, Spelunky 2 adds branching paths so you can choose different worlds to explore, with seven areas in a single playthrough and up to 16 different areas you can end up in based on your choices. It also includes new doorways — letting you go into caves behind each level that bypass the main area and add new treasure and traps — as well as new weapons, allies, and mounts to ride. You can now explore Spelunky 2‘s caves in an online co-op with a friend or compete for the high score in the Daily Challenge mode, which gives everyone the exact same cave configuration. It’s a bizarre game with weird but deadly enemies and comically exasperating deaths. Yet when you reach a new level or discover a new secret, it feels that much more rewarding.
Phogs!
70%Hades
93%
Celeste
87%Celeste, an indie game from Towerfall developer Matt Makes Games, is a deceptively simple game. Ostensibly a game about protagonist Madeline’s journey to the top of the titular Celeste mountain, we gradually learn about her emotional troubles and the colorful cast of characters she meets along the way. But this isn’t actually an adventure game at all. Madeline climbs the mountain with simple yet deep jumping mechanics that make for some tremendously creative levels. The hazards thrown in your way later in the game are always just challenging enough to slow you down. With tons of collectibles to find and special “B-Side” levels to unlock, Celeste keeps you climbing the mountain for hours.
A Space for the Unbound
82%Coming-of-age stories can so easily miss the mark or come off as too preachy. A Space for the Unbound bucks the trend not only by placing it in an uncommon setting for the genre, Indonesia, but also in its themes. This is a story about high school sweethearts in the 90s, where a mysterious force is attempting to end the world right as they are about to graduate. That’s just the background, however, as the bulk of the game is focused more on the intimate, smaller-scale stories of the main cast. It might sound a little cliche and boring, but if you let it, this game will resonate with you in a meaningful way.
Unto the End
70%Haven
71%Dead Static Drive
Lake
69%
