2023 was a wild year for video games--with fantastic titles across all the major platforms--and Xbox fans had their share of console-exclusives to enjoy. Some of these games were highly anticipated and years in the making, while one particular gem was released with zero preamble at all. Whether you are looking for a realistic racer to cap off the year or are more in the mood for an epic-scale RPG, the best Xbox console exclusives of 2023 have you covered.

Below, we picked five of our favorite Xbox games of 2023. The list is in alphabetical order, and all of the games on the list are console exclusives. This means these games might also be available on PC, but they are not available on Nintendo Switch or PlayStation systems. Be sure to check out our top 10 games of 2023, as well as GameSpot's pick for Game of the Year.

After a six-year break from the racing sim branch of the franchise, Turn 10 Studios returned to the track with a sort-of reboot for Forza Motorsport. By dropping the number from the title and shifting the series to an evolving game format, Forza Motorsport is more of a platform for Xbox's racing sim, yet it came out of the gate as a complete and satisfying racing experience.

The most meaningful change is in the RPG-style progression system that naturally pushes you to become a better driver. Every corner and every sector is graded on a scale, and you're given driver XP accordingly--and so, with each lap, you strive to do better and learn from your mistakes. Before you know it, you're weaving through a course and getting the most out of your car as you overtake the competition. Upgrading your car is a more personal endeavor, too. No longer do you grind for money and slap on a bunch of upgrades to burn everyone on the track. Earning car XP ensures you understand the fundamentals of driving that particular car, and while that may slow things down, figuratively and literally, it creates a more meaningful driving experience.

In the GameSpot review of Forza Motorsport, author Alessandro Barbosa wrote, “Forza Motorsport has been gone for a long time, but it's evident that Turn 10 has used the time to reevaluate its formula and implement some striking changes that will likely ignite a new passion for simulation racing for petrolheads and bring in a swathe of new players.” -- Michael Higham

When Microsoft acquired Tango Gameworks as part of its massive Bethesda purchase, it was a studio that had proven its acumen in the horror genre. It looked set to be all scares, all the time, but Tango surprised everyone with 2023's Hi-Fi Rush. Decidedly not horror, Hi-Fi Rush is a completely original take on hack-and-slash and rhythm games. It's approachable enough for anyone to start playing and immediately have lots of fun bashing robots' bolts in, but mastering the to-the-beat action is much more difficult. Do it properly, and protagonist Chai is like a maestro of destruction, swinging his guitar made of trash through the air and directing the world's most violent rockumentary.

Hi-Fi Rush was a surprise-launch in January, arriving with zero previous announcement and a healthy dose of confusion that the Evil Within studio had made this game. Where were the not-undead and monsters to shoot in the face? But that bewilderment quickly turned to delight, because Hi-Fi Rush is one of the most joyously fun, uplifting, and hilarious games of the year. Tango Gameworks has fully established itself as a wild-card studio capable of so much more than horror, and as long as no one cuts the brakes, its future looks very bright.

In GameSpot's Hi-Fi Rush review, Richard Wakeling gave the game a 9/10. He wrote, "It feeds on the power of nostalgia by evoking games like Jet Set Radio and Viewtiful Joe with its old-school vibes and contagious energy, but it's also completely fresh and exciting in its own right." -- Gabe Gurwin

Years ago, an unexpected subgenre of party game was born: squishy little fellas doing silly stuff. I don't really know what to call this genre which houses things like Gang Beasts, Human Fall Flat, and many more, but Party Animals is the latest of them--and arguably the greatest. Launching on Game Pass, Party Animals is immediately the prettiest of all the games like it, with each of its goofy anthropomorphized animal characters having a level of fidelity that counterparts have never approached. But visual fidelity is merely a nice bonus to what is most importantly a lovely party game.

If you've played games like it, you'll see some familiar game modes: arcade sports, Royal Rumble-like elimination modes atop moving airplanes, PvP competitions where players score points for their team while sabotaging others. The controls are necessarily unwieldy in this genre, as flopping around as these mascots is meant to be somewhat unpredictable, but the nice thing is they're just a bit more reliable here, creating a minor skill gap without sacrificing the care-free nature of this kind of game.

No matter how hard-fought a round gets or how wheezy your cough may become as the cartoon chaos unfolds every round, it always ends with a LittleBigPlanet-like pose for the camera, which allows the groups of four, five, or even more players to climb over, crash into, and headbutt each other once more to earn the center of the frame. These stills at the end of each game perfectly capture the vibe of Party Animals, where losing can be more enjoyable than some games make winning feel. -- Mark Delaney

What if My Neighbor Totoro's Studio Ghibli and Limbo's Playdead collaborated on a game? Surely the end result would resemble Planet of Lana, a 2D sidescroller with a gorgeous sea-tinged color palette, a family-friendly (though enthralling) story of siblinghood, and an array of platforming puzzles that should stump its players, but likely never frustrate them.

In Planet of Lana, a War of the Worlds-like alien invasion is seen through the eyes of a child whose once-beautiful village is ruined, while the creatures capture denizens for purposes unknown, including the sibling of the playable character. With virtually no dialogue--and none from a language heard on Earth, anyway--you'll set out to rescue your sibling before the alien threat leaves with her. It's a little dark at times, but never more than Ghibli's most middle-school efforts.

The addition of a cat-like companion who helps you solve puzzles is the sort of mechanical and narrative layer that helps get Planet of Lana out of the crowded space of cinematic platformers into a place where it can stand as one of the more special exemplars of the subgenre. While it's intended to be a mood- and narrative-driven game first and foremost, the puzzles and platforming elements never once get annoying, and they feel challenging enough to provide satisfaction for having completed each section without ever crossing into aggravating puzzles or unreliable mechanics. -- Mark Delaney

It feels like an event when a new Bethesda RPG drops, and that includes Starfield. The long-awaited spacefaring RPG from the team behind The Elder Scrolls and Fallout is undoubtedly a massive game, and it's easy to get lost in Starfield hopping from planet to planet and unraveling so many quest threads. While venturing out in space itself leaves something to be desired, the combination of satisfying FPS combat, dogfights with customizable ships, base building on any planet, and dialogue decisions to make all create a flow that'll have you chasing one quest after another.

The main story is often not the main course in Bethesda RPGs and Starfield is similar--there's plenty to discover across the universe like intriguing side quests that'll lead you down unpredictable paths and intense firefights that give you an opportunity to flex your arsenal of weapons. And through it all, the feeling of landing on new planets and soaking in the atmosphere consistently instills a sense of awe in its impressive scale. Starfield has its share of shortcomings that hold it back from greatness, but any Xbox Series X or S owner should play it to experience one of Xbox's big blockbusters.

In the GameSpot review of Starfield, I wrote, “Its satisfying gunplay makes combat exciting, especially when it's integrated into setpieces within its better, more captivating questlines. And although limited in its conception of space exploration, there's a novelty in poking around the galaxy to see star systems up close and personal, and occasionally finding side content worth chasing.” -- Michael Higham

2023 was a wild year for video games--with fantastic titles across all the major platforms--and Xbox fans had their share of console-exclusives to enjoy. Some of these games were highly anticipated and years in the making, while one particular gem was released with zero preamble at all. Whether you are looking for a realistic racer to cap off the year or are more in the mood for an epic-scale RPG, the best Xbox console exclusives of 2023 have you covered.

Below, we picked five of our favorite Xbox games of 2023. The list is in alphabetical order, and all of the games on the list are console exclusives. This means these games might also be available on PC, but they are not available on Nintendo Switch or PlayStation systems. Be sure to check out our top 10 games of 2023, as well as GameSpot's pick for Game of the Year.

After a six-year break from the racing sim branch of the franchise, Turn 10 Studios returned to the track with a sort-of reboot for Forza Motorsport. By dropping the number from the title and shifting the series to an evolving game format, Forza Motorsport is more of a platform for Xbox's racing sim, yet it came out of the gate as a complete and satisfying racing experience.

The most meaningful change is in the RPG-style progression system that naturally pushes you to become a better driver. Every corner and every sector is graded on a scale, and you're given driver XP accordingly--and so, with each lap, you strive to do better and learn from your mistakes. Before you know it, you're weaving through a course and getting the most out of your car as you overtake the competition. Upgrading your car is a more personal endeavor, too. No longer do you grind for money and slap on a bunch of upgrades to burn everyone on the track. Earning car XP ensures you understand the fundamentals of driving that particular car, and while that may slow things down, figuratively and literally, it creates a more meaningful driving experience.

In the GameSpot review of Forza Motorsport, author Alessandro Barbosa wrote, “Forza Motorsport has been gone for a long time, but it's evident that Turn 10 has used the time to reevaluate its formula and implement some striking changes that will likely ignite a new passion for simulation racing for petrolheads and bring in a swathe of new players.” -- Michael Higham

When Microsoft acquired Tango Gameworks as part of its massive Bethesda purchase, it was a studio that had proven its acumen in the horror genre. It looked set to be all scares, all the time, but Tango surprised everyone with 2023's Hi-Fi Rush. Decidedly not horror, Hi-Fi Rush is a completely original take on hack-and-slash and rhythm games. It's approachable enough for anyone to start playing and immediately have lots of fun bashing robots' bolts in, but mastering the to-the-beat action is much more difficult. Do it properly, and protagonist Chai is like a maestro of destruction, swinging his guitar made of trash through the air and directing the world's most violent rockumentary.

Hi-Fi Rush was a surprise-launch in January, arriving with zero previous announcement and a healthy dose of confusion that the Evil Within studio had made this game. Where were the not-undead and monsters to shoot in the face? But that bewilderment quickly turned to delight, because Hi-Fi Rush is one of the most joyously fun, uplifting, and hilarious games of the year. Tango Gameworks has fully established itself as a wild-card studio capable of so much more than horror, and as long as no one cuts the brakes, its future looks very bright.

In GameSpot's Hi-Fi Rush review, Richard Wakeling gave the game a 9/10. He wrote, "It feeds on the power of nostalgia by evoking games like Jet Set Radio and Viewtiful Joe with its old-school vibes and contagious energy, but it's also completely fresh and exciting in its own right." -- Gabe Gurwin

Years ago, an unexpected subgenre of party game was born: squishy little fellas doing silly stuff. I don't really know what to call this genre which houses things like Gang Beasts, Human Fall Flat, and many more, but Party Animals is the latest of them--and arguably the greatest. Launching on Game Pass, Party Animals is immediately the prettiest of all the games like it, with each of its goofy anthropomorphized animal characters having a level of fidelity that counterparts have never approached. But visual fidelity is merely a nice bonus to what is most importantly a lovely party game.

If you've played games like it, you'll see some familiar game modes: arcade sports, Royal Rumble-like elimination modes atop moving airplanes, PvP competitions where players score points for their team while sabotaging others. The controls are necessarily unwieldy in this genre, as flopping around as these mascots is meant to be somewhat unpredictable, but the nice thing is they're just a bit more reliable here, creating a minor skill gap without sacrificing the care-free nature of this kind of game.

No matter how hard-fought a round gets or how wheezy your cough may become as the cartoon chaos unfolds every round, it always ends with a LittleBigPlanet-like pose for the camera, which allows the groups of four, five, or even more players to climb over, crash into, and headbutt each other once more to earn the center of the frame. These stills at the end of each game perfectly capture the vibe of Party Animals, where losing can be more enjoyable than some games make winning feel. -- Mark Delaney

What if My Neighbor Totoro's Studio Ghibli and Limbo's Playdead collaborated on a game? Surely the end result would resemble Planet of Lana, a 2D sidescroller with a gorgeous sea-tinged color palette, a family-friendly (though enthralling) story of siblinghood, and an array of platforming puzzles that should stump its players, but likely never frustrate them.

In Planet of Lana, a War of the Worlds-like alien invasion is seen through the eyes of a child whose once-beautiful village is ruined, while the creatures capture denizens for purposes unknown, including the sibling of the playable character. With virtually no dialogue--and none from a language heard on Earth, anyway--you'll set out to rescue your sibling before the alien threat leaves with her. It's a little dark at times, but never more than Ghibli's most middle-school efforts.

The addition of a cat-like companion who helps you solve puzzles is the sort of mechanical and narrative layer that helps get Planet of Lana out of the crowded space of cinematic platformers into a place where it can stand as one of the more special exemplars of the subgenre. While it's intended to be a mood- and narrative-driven game first and foremost, the puzzles and platforming elements never once get annoying, and they feel challenging enough to provide satisfaction for having completed each section without ever crossing into aggravating puzzles or unreliable mechanics. -- Mark Delaney

It feels like an event when a new Bethesda RPG drops, and that includes Starfield. The long-awaited spacefaring RPG from the team behind The Elder Scrolls and Fallout is undoubtedly a massive game, and it's easy to get lost in Starfield hopping from planet to planet and unraveling so many quest threads. While venturing out in space itself leaves something to be desired, the combination of satisfying FPS combat, dogfights with customizable ships, base building on any planet, and dialogue decisions to make all create a flow that'll have you chasing one quest after another.

The main story is often not the main course in Bethesda RPGs and Starfield is similar--there's plenty to discover across the universe like intriguing side quests that'll lead you down unpredictable paths and intense firefights that give you an opportunity to flex your arsenal of weapons. And through it all, the feeling of landing on new planets and soaking in the atmosphere consistently instills a sense of awe in its impressive scale. Starfield has its share of shortcomings that hold it back from greatness, but any Xbox Series X or S owner should play it to experience one of Xbox's big blockbusters.

In the GameSpot review of Starfield, I wrote, “Its satisfying gunplay makes combat exciting, especially when it's integrated into setpieces within its better, more captivating questlines. And although limited in its conception of space exploration, there's a novelty in poking around the galaxy to see star systems up close and personal, and occasionally finding side content worth chasing.” -- Michael Higham