Click through the gallery above or scroll down for the full list!
Battletoads
The only thing more surprising than the return of Rare’s long-dormant Battletoads is the fact that the 2020 revival is truly amazing. The notoriously difficult beat ’em up returned after a 26-year hiatus with a compact 2D adventure tailored to a modern audience, thanks to more accessible levels of difficulty (although the endless frustration of its predecessors is preserved in the most difficult setting).
Battletoads ‘greatest strength, however, lies in its delightful Saturday morning cartoon presentation and the unexpectedly captivating, self-aware story of Rash, Zitz and Pimple’s attempt to escape the depths of irrelevance and reclaim their’ 90s fame.
Check out our full Battletoads review here to learn more!
Call of the sea
Call of the Sea harks back to mysterious tales of yesteryear and tells the story of a mysterious island, a missing husband, a cursed disease and a woman seeking to connect them all. Not only is the story immersive from start to finish, Call of the Sea’s logic puzzles are JUST hard enough to solve without hitting your head against a wall, but still feel immensely satisfying – at the end of most feel you feel like a bona fide genius, but it’s all in the game’s crafty design. By the time you’ve completed this compact (but engaging) journey you’ll just want to start it all over again, hoping that something of its kind will come to fill the void before the black mire takes over.
Check out our full Call of the Sea review here for more information!
Gears tactic
In hindsight, it makes perfect sense, but the gritty, gory world of Microsoft’s Gears series adapted surprisingly well to Gears Tactics’ turn-based tactical combat.
This great looking riff in XCOM style combat has some clever ideas that allow you to combine your moves and attacks if you have the right loot and think a few moves ahead, and the results of performing a well-planned turn are just as much good. devastating to the enemy if they give satisfaction.
Check out our full Gears Tactics review here to learn more!
Phantasy Star Online 2 (NA release)
Xbox has never been known for its lineup of Japanese games or its MMORPGs, but Sega’s Phantasy Star Online 2 was a big standout surprise for 2020. Originally released in Japan nearly a decade ago, this online action RPG carries the torch of the Dreamcast. / GameCube / PC original in bold new directions.
By exchanging the slow, targeting-based combat of most MMOs for something more inspired by Devil May Cry, PSO2 is a packed free-to-play game packed to the brim with content and character customization. It’s also cross-play with PC, so you never have to worry about finding a bunch of ARKs to go on an adventure with.
Check out our full PSO2 2020 review here for more information!
Those are our picks for the best Xbox exclusive consoles of 2020 – let us know in the comments what’s on your list that didn’t make it to ours, and don’t forget your vote for our Game of the Year 2020 People’s Choice Award here! You can also vote for your favorite PC exclusive, the best PlayStation, Switch and Xbox consoles exclusive, and the best movie, TV series and comics of the year!
In addition to the exclusive Xbox console, there are many other prizes! Check out all of our platform, genre and design award nominees – and of course our pick for this year’s GotY – below!
IGN’s Game of the Year 2020
Best games by platform
Best games by genre
Game Development and Craft Awards
Also, check out all of our other Game of the Year award nominees, as well as our pick for the best movies, TV shows, comics and anime of 2020! *Note: this category represents our picks for the best games exclusively on any console platform – while Gear Tactics is available on PC, for example, it’s an Xbox console exclusive.