The Best Xbox Games of 2022

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor – January 2, 2023

Which Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One games impressed professional reviewers the most during the past year? We rank the best-reviewed titles released between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022 by Metascore. Games must have at least 7 reviews from professional critics to be eligible for inclusion. If a game appears on both Xbox platforms, only the version receiving the higher quantity of critic reviews (typically the Xbox Series X/S version) is eligible for inclusion. (All scores listed here are from December 31, 2022.)

4 of 14 photo by Atari

86 Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration

(#10) A celebration of the history of one of the first gaming giants, this compilation includes more than 90 games originally released for the legendary Atari 2600 console and its successors (including the 5200, 7800, Jaguar, and Lynx). If that were all there was to Atari 50, it would be an interesting package—but that's definitely not all. Interactive timelines add a wealth of historical context including trivia and new interviews with Atari developers, and the package also includes six brand new games made in the style of Atari classics—including a modern update of Breakout and the first-ever release of the legendary vaporware Swordquest: AirWorld, which was intended to complete the SwordQuest series in the mid-1980s but was canceled.

“Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration sets a new bar of quality for both game collections and documentary series. This is not only the history of Atari, but also of games as media, entertainment and business.” —SECTOR.sk

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