Microsoft’s new 4K HDR game console is a beast, and these are the best looking games on it so far.
The Xbox One X is finally here, and there are already a number of high profile titles on the console that have received patches that greatly improve their visuals, allowing the new games to play in true 4K on the console.,
We now know that there are 130 enhanced games confirmed for the new console, but not all of them are created equal. Though the Xbox One X is capable of 4K / HDR at 60 frames per second along with Dolby Atmos sound, not all games are guaranteed to have all of these improvements. Some will support all of them, while some will support HDR and nothing more.
With this in mind, we’ve created a list of the best games that push the console to its limits. Here you’ll find the games whose patch details confirm they’ll push at least two of the console’s capabilities, whether that’s 4K, HDR or Dolby Atmos.
We’ve also included details on some upcoming titles with confirmed Xbox One X enhancements in the works in an effort to keep you informed of what’s on the horizon for the 4K-ready console.
The vast majority of the Xbox One X-enhanced games on this list, however, have been played by TechRadar staff, either in preview form or in their final retail state. Read on for our in depth impressions of the best Xbox One X games.
It’s also worth keeping an eye on the regularly updated list of Enhanced titles on Major Nelson’s website .
The fourth entry in the Gears of War series already looked great on the original Xbox One, however, it looks damn-near astonishing when enhanced for the Xbox One X. Once patched, new advanced video options appear in the game’s settings which give the player control over every major area of its presentation.
You can choose whether you want to place preference on detail (offering native 4K resolutions and textures at 30 frames per second) or performance (locked 60 frames per second and increased graphical detail). While the jump in detail is noticeable when playing the game at 4K, the performance mode looks nearly as good in terms of textures, with the added bonus of running at a buttery-smooth frame rate.
And, while the Xbox One S already provided Gears of War 4 with HDR settings, they’ve received a boost here to work in conjunction with the game’s 4K rendering, allowing for its wider color gamut to be displayed in much greater detail. You’ll find a much-appreciated HDR brightness slider in the settings, and if you want to get a real picture of the difference between standard and high-dynamic-range, you can split the screen and see them both side-by-side while playing the game.
Although it’s a slightly older release, The Coalition has done a great job to turn Gears 4 into a poster child for what the Xbox One X is capable of.
Right from its opening chapter, which takes place during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, Call of Duty: WWII astonishes with its graphical presentation.
We’ve all come to expect the Call of Duty series to provide 60 frames per second gameplay, regardless of platform, but when that framerate is used in conjunction with the Xbox One X’s 4K resolution boost and HDR functionality, the game takes on an extraordinary level of detail and visual clarity.
The opening mission, which recreates the D-Day invasion of Normandy, feels more realistic because of the Xbox One X. Witness, for instance, the realistic textures of fabric on uniforms and realistic skin textures found on faces.
Or how about the way the ocean sprays fine mist and water all over you as your landing craft crashes through the waves on your approach to the beach? The game’s steady framerate, incredibly high resolution and high-dynamic-range colors and lighting, gives the game an almost unnerving quality when played on Xbox One X.
Like many other Xbox One X-enhanced games, Call of Duty: WWII has HDR sliders that allow you to tweak the game’s brightness and white balance to your liking – a much-appreciated addition that we hope carries over to all enhanced games going forward. Quite frankly, we want all games on the console to look this good.
Forza Motorsport 7 was Microsoft’s poster-child for the power of the Xbox One X and thus far it’s the game that’s received the most attention in terms of performance assessments.
As a first-party title, the game’s development team has been able to take full advantage of the Xbox One X’s power. The game’s patch promises 4K resolution at 60 frames per second with HDR support.
Having played the Xbox One X-enhanced version of the game for several hours, we’re still blown away by how good it looks and how smooth it runs. The game’s One X enhancements are most noticeable in its various environments, which show exceptional definition. We pelted our Porsche 911 GT2 RS around the rocky desert hills of Dubai and were astounding by the level of detail found in the rock faces surrounding the track.
Thanks to HDR, the sunlight hitting the track and our vehicle looked brighter than ever. The 4K resolution also allows developer Turn 10 Studios to recreate the cars and their interiors to an astonishing degree of detail. This is especially evident in cars with Alcantara upholstery (pictured) – the fuzziness of the suede-like synthetic material looks just like the real thing!
It’s not all about sunny weather, though – we also had the opportunity to race around the famous Nürburgring track in a Nissan GT-R during heavy downpour and were incredibly impressed with how realistic the rain and weather effects appeared.
The combination of 4K, HDR and locked 60 frames per second brings with it some incredibly detailed and realistic visuals with crisp and responsive gameplay. Buckle up for a truly show-stopping Xbox One X demo disc in Forza Motorsport 7.
Read our full Forza Motorsport 7 review
As you’d probably expect, Assassin’s Creed Origins uses the power of the Xbox One X to make some serious visual impact. The game renders at 4K (although those without 4K screens will still benefit from an oversampled 1080p resolution) and supports HDR, too.
The high resolution support means that the game’s environments and characters are seriously detailed with highly realistic textures and the console’s CPU power means the quality is maintained from longer distances.
However, It’s HDR that makes the game really shine, creating greater contrast between bright sunlight and flames and shadows. This adds real depth to the game world, capturing the blinding brightness of the Egyptian sun and making the shade of tombs feel mercifully cool. As with most Xbox One X-enhanced games that we’ve tested, Assassin’s Creed Origins has an HDR slider that allows you to manually adjust the game’s paper white balance level, as well as the television’s brightness nits.
Having played several hours of the game on Xbox One X, we found the game to be visually impressive with wonderful textures and a remarkably consistent frame rate given everything that was happening on screen at once.
Read all about it in our Assasins Creed Origins hub .
We’ve had a chance to play Rise of the Tomb Raider at a recent preview event where we came away impressed by the work-in-progress patch.
The final version will support three modes, so you can tailor what exactly you want the console to prioritise with the game. High frame-rate has the game run at 1080p with enhanced textures, and upscaling to reach 4K. This mode is probably the worst looking of the three, but comes closest to maintaining a locked 60fps framerate.
Native 4K mode, as the name suggests, prioritises rendering a full 4K’s worth of pixels, even if this involves bigger hits to framerate, which can make the game judder in its more intense scenes, even though the game is targeting a more modest 30fps. However, since the version that’s been played so far isn’t final these performance problems may not be present in the final version of the patch.
Finally, the ‘Enriched 4K’ mode strikes a nice balance between the two. It features a more advanced form of upscaling, so even though it’s not native 4K, it’s close enough that it still looks decent.
In all three modes, the implementation of HDR was a treat. Light peeking into each tomb we explored had a fantastic brightness to it, while water had a fantastic level of glimmer and shine.
We won’t know for sure how well the game handles native 4K until the final version of the patch is released, but the amount of customizability on offer suggests there might just be something for everyone.
Continuing the trend of giving users the option of how to use the X’s extra graphical horsepower, Shadow of War features two different graphical settings. You can either have the game favor resolution or favor quality.
Choose to favor resolution, and the game will attempt to get as close to 4K as possible (falling back on dynamic scaling when this isn’t possible).
Opt to favor quality and the improvements will be wider-ranging, but won’t bring the same benefits to resolution.
