2025 felt like a wild year for Xbox as a whole. It's the year that Xbox fully went multiplatform, with most of its new games launching day-and-date on PS5 or shortly thereafter. The company also focused on its most profitable studios and franchises, canceling troubled games and studios that it'd been funding for years. Price increases to Xbox consoles and Game Pass itself also increased barriers to entry, when it'd previously been the most affordable entry point into next-gen gaming.

At the same time, its studios put out some truly great games. While no Xbox Game Studios-published titles managed to make XDA's game of the year list this year, some of its games are personal favorites of mine from 2025. Obsidian Entertainment delivered two amazing new RPGs this year, while Double Fine's first game in a while, Keeper, didn't disappoint. That's why I wanted to take the time to rank the games published by Xbox Game Studios this year.

To simplify the list, I'm not including titles published by Bethesda Softworks or Activision, so don't expect Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, or Doom: The Dark Ages on this list. Still, there are some really great games that Xbox Game Studios launched into Game Pass this year that are worth your time. With those exclusions noted, here's how I'd rank all of the games published by Xbox Game Studios this year.

7 Retro Classics

Released May 21

Retro Classics is an oddity because it isn't a straight-up remaster or game collection re-release. Instead, it's essentially a cloud gaming platform that lets players stream some retro titles that Microsoft owns the rights to. Xbox is sitting on a wealth of beloved gaming IP and franchises across all the studios it owns, so it's good to see some of those retro games being made playable. Still, the cloud gaming approach comes with its shortcomings.

If you have an unstable internet connection, you can't enjoy Retro Classics to its fullest. Any input delay also makes some of these older games that really value quick reaction time more frustrating. Pure emulation is still the best way to go if you want to play most of these classics, but it's nice that Microsoft is now offering an official way to play these games, even if it's sometimes subpar.

6 Gears of War: Reloaded

Released August 26

Gears of War: Reloaded isn't the most interesting re-release. It's a remaster of a remaster, as The Coalition had already upgraded the original Gears of War for Xbox One about a decade ago. Still, it's amazing to finally be able to play this shooter classic at a higher resolution and frame rate, even though I wish its sequel got some love as well.

Ultimately, other remakes and remasters released onto Xbox Game Pass this year impressed more. I'd rather play The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered than Gears of War: Reloaded. That said, if you've never played this Xbox classic before, or are trying it for the first time on PlayStation, then Gears of War: Reloaded is still a good time.

5 Ninja Gaiden 4

Released October 21

Like Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on our Nintendo-published games list, I'm a little less fond of Ninja Gaiden 4 than most. I was really excited to see this beloved ninja game series make its grand return this year with three brand new games, but I ultimately thought Ninja Gaiden 4 was the worst of the bunch. It had really intricate and satisfying combat, but didn't excel at that much else.

If you've enjoyed PlatinumGames' previous action games or really love a game that challenges you to master it, then you'll probably enjoy playing through Ninja Gaiden 4. Otherwise, you'll be underwhelmed by its repetitive level design and story. Because of that, I'd recommend playing Ninja Gaiden 2 Black or Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound over this game.

4 South of Midnight

Released April 8

If this were a list based on visuals alone, South of Midnight might have gotten the top spot. Compulsion Games' latest is an absolutely gorgeous love letter to the American Deep South, infusing its folklore with some gorgeous stop-motion-like graphics and a narrative about generational trauma.

South of Midnight is one of the best-looking games of 2025 and features some of the year's best performances. Unfortunately, it's let down by its gameplay, which settles for fairly basic action-adventure combat and platforming mechanics that aren't nearly as interesting as the art on display. Ultimately, I prefer the Xbox-published games that are more fun to play.

3 The Outer Worlds 2

October 29

One of two amazing RPGs released by Obsidian Entertainment this year, The Outer Worlds 2 is an enjoyable spiritual successor to games like Fallout: New Vegas. Like its predecessor, this is a satirical sci-fi adventure where players have to navigate a corporate-ruled solar system colony in order to stop an existential threat to humanity.

The Outer Worlds 2's fantastic writing and the depth of player choices are truly astounding. The combat isn't half bad either, with some fantastical weapons keeping its shootouts interesting. It's not a revelation for this style of RPG or anything, but it's all around just a really solid experience that's a lot of fun to replay with different character builds, perks, and flaws.

2 Keeper

October 17

Double Fine's Keeper has been ridiculously underrated this year. It's a brief but powerful game about a sentient lighthouse traveling around an island with a bird in different forms. It trades a sprawling open world for a very precise, intentional adventure, with the camera always placed exactly where the developers want it.

While a game like South of Midnight dropped the ball a bit on gameplay, Keeper actually features some really engaging puzzles that kept me enthralled throughout its short runtime. I don't want to spoil it too much, but if you have an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, I highly recommend downloading this game and giving it a shot this weekend.

1 Avowed

February 18

My favorite Xbox-published game of 2025 is Avowed. This is the other choice-driven RPG released by Obsidian Entertainment this year, although it's a more traditional fantasy experience as a spin-off of the Pillars of Eternity series. Thankfully, you don't need to be an expert on Pillars of Eternity to enjoy this game, which has some of the best companion characters and writing of any game not titled Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 this year.

On top of that, it features the best combat of any Bethesda/Obsidian-style RPG that I've ever played. Whether I was using a sword and shield or a gun and some magic, I actually looked forward to combat encounters in this game just as much as dialogue exchanges. While some of 2025's other amazing games may have ultimately overshadowed Avowed, which launched earlier in the year, it's one of my favorite Xbox games in a long time.

I hope Xbox doesn't forget about the games

With all of the bold, weird moves Xbox leadership is making right now, it's hard to determine just how much of a future the Xbox brand really has at this point. Does it leave hardware behind due to the increased cost of components and fully embrace being a third-party game publisher? I don't know for sure, but if that does happen to be the future, the game quality can be maintained.

While I have qualms about some of its games released this year, overall, they were all very creatively inspired and good. I'd rather see Xbox back projects like South of Midnight and Keeper than Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, which muddied its good core experience with AI-generated content. If Xbox can just stay focused on making good, innovative games, it can make it through this transformative rough patch.