The Best Xbox Games of 2021

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor – January 4, 2022

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, 2021 and December 31, 2021 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 January 2, 2022.)

12 of 14 photo by Xbox Game Studios

92 Forza Horizon 5 (Xbox Series X/S)

Metacritic's #1 Xbox Exclusive of 2021.

(#2) The latest installment in Microsoft's open-world racing franchise (released this fall for Xbox consoles and PC) features a 50% bigger environment than 2018's Forza Horizon 4—an expansion allowed by Microsoft (and its Playground Games studio) taking an extra full year to work on the newest installment. This time, the setting is Mexico, where you'll be able to drive through a diverse group of settings including jungles, cities, beaches, deserts, and even a snow-capped volcano, spanning 11 distinct biomes (and nearly 600 roads) in all. Other additions include a new single-player exploration mode called "Expeditions" and a new arcade mode that scatters multiplayer minigames across the vast map.

“Forza Horizon 5 is a marvel of a game and a standout title on the Xbox Series X. It’s a near-perfect racing and exploration game that looks stunning, plays like a dream, and just begs to be played over and over again.” —Trusted Reviews

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