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.)

9 of 14 photo by EA Originals

89 It Takes Two (Xbox Series X/S)

(#5) Released in March, the latest from A Way Out developer Hazelight Studios is another two-player-only action-adventure. While that previous game tasked you and your partner with breaking out of prison, the more emotional It Takes Two casts its two players as a bickering married couple who have been trapped inside the bodies of two of their daughter's handmade dolls. Cooperation is the key to passing a series of tests, reversing the spell, and reuniting with the young girl. Critics praised the game's inventive approach.

“Honestly, It Takes Two is one of the most pleasant surprises in video games I’ve ever had. I went in more or less expecting a fairly gimmick-laden brief but fun escapade, but it’s so much more than that. This is a game that I would recommend to anyone who longs for the kind of no-holds-barred childlike fantasy so common in the 80s but seems less common today. If that is you, don’t sleep on this real gem.” —VG247

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