10 Exclusives Xbox Series X Needs to Compete With PS5 Out of the Gate

Last month, Sony gave us a glimpse of what’s to come on PS5. Alongside a handful of new third-party titles and remasters of best-sellers like GTA V, we also got our eyes on 11 new PS5 exclusives. Minus Astro’s Playroom which will be included on every PS5 to get you to grips with the new controller, we’ve taken a look at the 10 PS5 exclusives shown, and looked to match them up against their potential Xbox Series X counterparts that could be revealed or shown off during the Xbox 20/20 July event.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales – Fable 4

Far from a straight match-up, but with some similarities, Spider-Man: Miles Morales on the PS5 could easily be matched up by Fable 4 for the Xbox Series X.

Both Spider-Man PS4 and the Fable series have gained critical acclaim and are beloved by their fans, and calls for a return to their worlds have been loud and clear since their last entries respectively.

Where Spider-Man’s superhero focus weaves itself into every facet of the gameplay, the Fable series has always been more traditional in its open world exploration. However, with huge worlds to explore and some incredibly compelling gameplay at the heart of both titles, this would be a face-off for the ages.

Now let’s just hope Microsoft finally reveals Fable 4 and puts us all out of this horribly long wait.

Gran Turismo 7 – Forza Motorsport 8

Obvious choice is obvious. Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport are both racing sim series with a mind-boggling amount of content to keep the disc spinning inside your system for months.

Following a couple of disappointing entries in the Gran Turismo series, developer Polyphony Digital appears to be going back to its roots, bringing back the beloved career campaign mode. As always, the game looks absolutely stunning in its first trailer and looks set to push the racing sim boundaries once more as it tries to reclaim its crown.

Standing in its way will most likely be the direct Xbox counterpart, Forza Motorsport 8. Despite Forza Horizon’s more arcadey gameplay resonating with more players, the Motorsport series has always been about pushing Microsoft’s hardware to its limits and challenging for top spot on the racing sim podium.

We don’t know anything about Forza Motorsport 8 yet, or even if it will show up, but we’re pretty confident it’ll be front and center showing off what the Xbox Series X is capable of.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart – Everwild

While Sony has an established arsenal of first-party studios doing its bidding, each with its own smash-hit series to work on, Microsoft’s stable of first-party studios is still settling in and finding its feet.

Insomniac Games is working on Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, a gorgeous, animated action-platformer that’s kid friendly and, if its anything like its PS4 predecessor, is sure to offer up some fantastic, compelling gameplay.

While Rare’s last project was Sea of Thieves, the developer has decided to put the high seas behind them and focus on a beautiful fantasy world that players will get to explore in Everwild.

Originally announced at XO19, Everwild is set to have players “experience new ways to play in a natural and magical world.” What that means, nobody exactly knows, but we’re pretty sure we’re going to see a little bit more on Thursday.

Sackboy: A Big Adventure – Lucky’s Tale 2

Both Sony and Microsoft are desperately after something that Nintendo already has. An iconic character that dominates the platforming scene and offers up timeless iterations every few years. In the past, both Sony and Microsoft’s attempts have failed to get anywhere close to the quality on show in the titular plumber’s titles, but that could all be set to change.

While Sackboy hasn’t been given his own separate adventure yet, only being the protagonist in the LittleBigPlanet series, we already know exactly what the team at Media Molecule are capable of. A more steamlined 3D platforming experience — without all the creative offerings of the LBP series — may be able to get closer to emulating what Mario and co are doing over on the Switch and 3DS.

Microsoft, on the other hand, have only just started delving into the platforming scene with Lucky’s Tale. While its first release received a mixed reception, we imagine Microsoft will be eager to cement Lucky’s place in their line-up as a kid-friendly, enjoyable platforming experience for when all the Locust and Covenant killing in Gears and Halo gets too much.

Horizon: Forbidden West – Halo Infinite

This is arguably the biggest match-up we could make between the PS5 exclusives line-up and what Microsoft is bringing to the table.

While details are sparse on Horizon: Forbidden West, we do know we’ll be continuing Aloy’s adventure as, surprise surprise, she ventures further afield and takes on more robo dinosaurs. We were huge fans of Horizon Zero Dawn, and expect Forbidden West will deliver yet more futuristic fun.

It’s a similar situation with Halo Infinite. Details remains sparse, but we know exactly what the developer and the series is capable of delivering. We know Halo Infinite will show up during the Xbox 20/20 July event, so it’s simply a case of waiting, but exactly what to expect from the gameplay remains to be seen.

Though Horizon and Halo certainly vary in gameplay, the two series’ futuristic feel and critical acclaim makes them one of the biggest hitters for their side’s respectively.

Demon’s Souls – The Initiative’s Next Project

Fans have been asking for a Demon’s Souls remake ever since the release of the PS4, with many arguing its the high-point of FromSoftware’s ‘Souls’ series. With a remake on the cards from Bluepoint Studios and Japan Studio, fans will get some more of that punishing, third-person action-adventure title with the fresh lick of paint and updated systems the game desperately needs.

This is where it begins to get tricky on the Xbox front, as there’s not a whole lot you can directly match up with Demon’s Souls. As such, we’re looking to one of the newly-acquired developers to step up to Demon’s Souls on behalf of the Xbox Series X here.

Given The Initiative is led by Crystal Dynamics veteran Darrel Gallagher, we could see the studio bringing some sort of action-adventure exclusive to the Xbox Series X. How closely it’ll emulate the ‘Souls’ formula is anyone’s guess, but the genre, at least, feels like a surefire bet for this talented team.

Project Athia – Hellblade 2: Senua’s Saga

Project Athia is a bit of an interesting one, as it’s developed by Luminous Productions within Square Enix, rather than a typical first-party studio offering. Still, it comes from the team behind Final Fantasy XV and will be an action game. That’s about as much as we know, other than what we can glean from the trailer.

What we can gather is that a) the game looks simply stunning, and b) it looks very story-driven, at least focusing heavily on the plight of the female protagonist.

There’s only one choice here that looks set to match-up to Project Athia and that’s Hellblade 2: Senua’s Saga. The original game focused on Senua’s struggles with her mental health as she embarked on a trip into Helheim to save the soul of her dead lover. It was story-driven with a lot of environmental puzzles to solve, and a bit of combat thrown in for good measure.

We don’t know if Senua’s Saga will change up the gameplay all that much, but the trailer sure has us excited to help Senua through the next chapter of her story.

Returnal – State of Decay 3

Housemarque made a serious name for itself at the PS4 launch when its twin-stick shooter Resogun was free on PlayStation Plus and won itself millions of fans in a matter of months. It’s premise was simple but the gameplay got increasingly challenging, and its basic graphical style was accentuated by the particle physics on display during big explosions. In other words, it was real pretty when things went boom.

With the release of the PS5, they’re bringing yet another title to the table in the form of Returnal. Rather the controlling a ship, it looks like we’ll follow the action from a third-person over the shoulder viewpoint as our protagonist explores foreign planets on-foot.

Here, we’re looking at less of a direct match-up in terms of genre, but more in terms of the ‘quality-tier’ of these titles. While Returnal could turn out to be Housemarque’s biggest and best title yet, they tend to opt for short and sweet games with plenty of replayability.

On the Xbox side of things, a State of Decay 3 from Undead Labs would offer up that same kind of replayability but in its zombie apocalypse setting. Plus, it’s the kind of smaller scale title that could perfectly compliment some of the bigger hitters like Halo Infinite at launch without hampering sales. It’d also be a nice bolster to the Xbox Series X GamePass launch line-up, too!

Godfall – Psychonauts 2

Again, Godfall is another tricky one to match-up from Xbox Game Studios’ current line-up, but we do know that recent acquisition, Double Fine Productions, is working on Psychonauts 2.

Here, we’re simply matching these up based on the excitement surrounding them. Godfall has already attracted a lot of attention thanks to its third-person melee combat and focus on loot. Meanwhile, Psychonauts 2 is… well… Psychonauts 2. The game picks up the story from the ending of Rhombus of Ruin and will have players controlling newly graduated Psychonaut, Raz.

Both titles are due to release within 2020, so this could be a true clash of the titans if they dropped around the same time.