Best Microsoft Games You Should Play Right Now

Microsoft, in addition to being the biggest computer software company, is also one of the world’s biggest video game publishers and, of course, the shepherd of the Xbox brand. Over the years they have built up quite the portfolio. Let’s look at some of the best Microsoft games that are easily accessible and are worth playing right now.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020

Best Microsoft Games

Ever fancied yourself a pilot, or just wondered how it feels to fly some of the biggest and most impressive planes in the world? Well Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 has you covered, with an incredibly detailed rendition of the real world. To give you some numbers, that’s 2 million cities and 1.5 billion buildings, with 37,000 airports to take a quick stop at.

There’s really nothing in the same league as Microsoft Flight Simulator when it comes to flight sims right now, though admittedly the genre is rather niche. Despite that, even those who don’t consider themselves fans of the genre will take some pleasure from just visiting their house or home town, or crashing their plane into a friend’s. Because that’s what friends do!

Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition

Best Microsoft Games

One for all the real-time strategy fans out there is Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition. Here, you’re getting the same gameplay from 2005, with some much-needed visual improvements and optimizations. There are also two new civilizations to play as, and you get all the content from the original game’s War Chiefs and Asian Dynasties expansions pack in here, too.

Admittedly, Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition does feel rather… simple in its strategic gameplay, but that’s because it’s a game from 15 years ago with a fresh lick of paint. As long as you’re willing to accept the walk down memory lane with a fresh pair of glasses, there’s plenty of fun to be had here.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection

Best Microsoft Games

Chances are, you’ve heard of the Halo series. It’s the sci-fi epic that sees the moody Master Chief stomping around alien planets and blasting the Covenant into next week. It’s the series that helped to make online multiplayer on console what it is today. It’s… well… it’s brilliant.

And The Master Chief Collection packs (almost) every entry into one, beautifully remastered package. The only mainline entry missing is Halo 5, but you’re getting ODST and Reach alongside the mainline entries 1 through 4.

That’s a lot of campaign missions to play through either solo or with friends, and that’s where Halo truly shines. When you’re in a party with friends, chatting and having a great time playing through a campaign on the highest Legendary difficulty, or duking it out against another team in online multiplayer.

If you own an Xbox One or PC, you basically owe it to yourself to own The Master Chief Collection. Again, it’s on Game Pass, making this stupendously big collection free. Bargain!

Gears 5

Best Microsoft Games

It’s time for the Cole Train, baby!

The Gears of War series has been synonymous with three things since the first game kicked off the COG vs Locust war all those years ago: chainsaw bayonets, plenty of gore, and some serious dude-bro moments. But that’s what Gears of War is. A not-so-serious, over-the-top, third-person romp through guts, grimey corridors… and more guts.

Gears 5 retained all of that grotesque charm that we’ve come to love over the past four games, and sprawled it out across sandbox environments players are free to explore. They can take on side quests, find unique weapons, and best of all, play through the entire campaign in co-op.

Gears has never just been about its campaigns. There’s also the typical online multiplayer modes to try your hand at, as well as fan-favorite Horde, and newcomer Escape mode to really flesh out the offerings in this latest entry.

Escape sees players starting deep inside a Locust Hive, tasked with wiping out the Locust presence there. You can take it on solo or with up to three friends, and the developers continue to release more maps so you’ve always got a new challenge to take on.

Gears 5 is the most complete and robust package the series has yet to offer, and its shift away from dreary, grey environments elevates the game to be one of the most beautiful you can play on Xbox One right now.

Forza Motorsport 7

Best Microsoft Games

The racing sim genre is where some of the most realistic-looking games can be found. They’re also often the most immersive, with detailed cockpit camera views, realistic weather, and challenging Drivatar AI that takes your friend’s driving style and uses it to try and pip you for pole position.

Forza Motorsport 7 is the epitome of driving sims right now, featuring over 700 cars and 200 different configurations to put the pedal to the metal around. It runs at a buttery smooth 60fps in 4K on the Xbox Series X (and powerful enough PCs) and offers players a wealth of tuning and customization options to get that Pagani purring.

As you’d expect from a racing sim, developer Turn10 Studios has poured what I can only imagine is an unfathomable amount of time in ensuring every last car looks exactly as it does in real-life, right down to safety stickers. This attention to detail doesn’t just stop at the cosmetics.

It goes right down into the inner workings of each car, how it handles, how it takes corners, how quickly it gets off the mark. Your Pagani Zonda R feels distinctly different to the Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4. Finding the car that you just love throwing into corners and burning opponents on the straights is all part of the fun, and incredibly rewarding when you find it.

Minecraft

Best Microsoft Games

Minecraft is a game that frequently boggles the mind. People have built scientific calculators and quad-core computers. You can fall down the rabbit hole, mining away for diamonds for (no joke) hours at a time. There is an ‘end’ to the game, but so much of the fun you can have in Minecraft simply comes from being creative in it. Carving out your own corner of the enormous, procedurally-generated world, uncovering your unique world’s many secrets and little villages… and then blowing up all your friend’s stuff.

Since Microsoft bought Minecraft back in 2014, the game’s seen frequent updates bringing even more content to the wealth of creative materials already at players’ disposal.

Minecraft is the game you want to load up when its late at night and you just want something easy to just chill out with. It’s on just about every platform you can think of, too, so you shouldn’t have any problems finding it.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

Best Microsoft Games

While Moon Studios isn’t a Microsoft-owned studio, the big MS did publish both Ori and the Blind Forest and its follow-up Ori and the Will of the Wisps.

While Ori and the Blind Forest had tight and challenging platforming, an emotional rollercoaster of a story and a fantastic visual art style, its checkpoint system held it back from realizing its true potential, and players actually persevering with it enough to reach the end.

In Will of the Wisps, that checkpoint system has been streamlined to a simpler and more forgiving system. The incredible visual style looks even better than its predecessor with vibrantly colored and varied environments showing off its hand-drawn look.

The latest chapter of Ori’s story is just as emotional as its predecessor, and will drive you through the gameplay as you try to cheer that adorable little imp up. Speaking of gameplay, the metroidvania platforming of the predecessor has been refined further with new abilities and skills to utilize. You’ll be flung through the skies, chased by huge enemies and chain together multiple moves in order to reach a seemingly-impossible ledge.

I’ve not enjoyed many games in 2020 as much as I did Will of the Wisps, I cannot recommend it highly enough. Oh, it’s on Game Pass, too, so now you really have no excuse.

Forza Horizon 4

Best Microsoft Games

If traditional motorsport racing isn’t your thing, then Forza Horizon 4 might be to your liking instead. The fourth entry in the ‘all-things-racing’ Horizon festival sees players heading over to a rendition of the UK, with iconic landmarks and cities, and the rolling fields of English countryside your playground for the high-octane thrills that lay in store.

Much like its more professional counterpart, Forza Horizon nails the intricate details of each and every single one of 450+ vehicles in the game, right down to how each of them handles both on and off-road.

Combine that with a vast and varied number of races and events to take part in and an online open-world mode to fool around with your friends in, and you’ve got one of, if not the best open-world racing game you can play anywhere right now.

Gears Tactics

Best Microsoft Games

When you think about Gears of War, you normally think about over-the-top gory third-person shooting action, Cole Train running his mouth, and of course, chainsaw bayonets. Gears Tactics retains everything but the third-person shooting perspective, instead giving players a top-down, turn-based strategy affair in which they must guide their squad of COGs to victory over the Locust threat.

It’s not the immediate spin-off you might expect, but its thoroughly enjoyable gameplay is paired with a story containing plenty of tidbits for lore enthusiasts.