The upcoming Xbox games to expect in 2022 and 2023 – from Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 to High on Life
The Xbox series X is Microsoft’s most powerful gaming console to date, as well as featuring on our list of favourite consoles to play in 2022.
Now that the stock situation appears to have calmed down for console hunters, the good news is there is a burgeoning library of games with even more titles set to appear on the horizon.
Despite this, there have still been frequent delays to games’ development, meaning some titles are still a few months away. So we’ve put together an up-to-date list of when you can play some of your favourites.
Whether you’re looking for the biggest Microsoft exclusives, such as High on Life or Starfield, we’ll be sure to include every big Xbox title we’re looking forward to playing in 2022 and beyond. Plus, we’ll make sure to highlight if any of these titles will be appearing on Game Pass, meaning subscribers can enjoy playing them at no extra cost.
We’ll also be including all other cross-platform releases that have a confirmed worldwide release date. To find out which games we’re looking forward to playing, keep reading the rest of this article.
‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II'
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is the next upcoming instalment in the long-running Call of Duty franchise, and a follow up to 2019’s Modern Warfare, which was itself a soft reboot for the series.
In new gameplay revealed in June, players got a chance to see some returning faces, such as “Soap” McTavish and “Ghost” Riley. Expect to see a brand new single-player campaign as well as updates to competitive multiplayer modes, with Warzone 2 set to arrive on 16 November 2022 as well.
Buy now £69.99, Xbox.com
‘Sonic Frontiers'
Sonic Frontiers is the latest 3D Sonic the Hedgehog title that will see the titular blue blur race across vast open fields in a mysterious new setting. A story trailer released during Gamescom 2022 showed off new details about “Starfall Island”, a new open-zone setting where Sonic must rescue his friends from a mysterious ancient threat.
Read our full hands-on preview to find out more
Buy now £49.99, Xbox.com
‘Pentiment'
From the studio responsible for Outer Worlds and Fallout New Vegas comes a murder mystery set in the stylised world of a medieval work of art.
Play as the master artist Andreas Maler, who finds himself in the middle of plots, scandals and intrigue in the Bavarian Alps. Choose your backgrounds, impact a changing world, and see the consequences of your decisions in this narrative adventure.
Buy now £14.99, Xbox.com
‘Goat Simulator 3'
A series so good they skipped the second one, Goat Simulator 3 is the follow-up to the popular (if not entirely realistic) Goat Simulator, which sees players control their own goats as they wreak havoc around the neighbourhood.
This latest instalment will feature up to four-player cooperative modes, so you can join in the carnage with your friends.
Buy now £27.24, Xbox.com
‘Evil West'
Cowboys with a sci-fi twist, Evil West is set on the American frontier, which has been consumed by a dark menace. A top-secret vampire-hunting institute is the final line between humanity and the deep-rooted terror that threatens the United States.
Unleash a deadly arsenal with lightning-powered weapons and gauntlets, as you take down the world’s monstrosities in style, either as a lone hunter or in co-op mode with a friend.
Buy now £49.99, Xbox.com
‘The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me'
The Dark Pictures Anthology series comprises stand-alone branching cinematic horror games from the studio behind Until Dawn – and, as you might expect, they can be fairly spooky.
The Devil in Me is the fourth game in the series and the “season one” finale. In this story, a group of documentarians receive a mysterious call inviting them to a modern-day replica of serial killer HH Holmes’s “murder castle”, what could possibly go wrong?
Buy now £34.99, Xbox.com
‘Marvel’s Midnight Suns'
From the creator’s of the critically acclaimed XCOM strategy games comes Marvel’s Midnight Suns. In the game, the demonic Lilith and her fearsome horde unite with the evil armies of Hydra. Lead a team of unlikely heroes including Spider-Man, Doctor Strange and Iron Man to stop a growing apocalyptic threat. Expect to see Firaxis’s tactical turn-based action in true XCOM style.
Buy now £69.99, Xbox.com
‘Need for Speed: Unbound'
The Need for Speed series is back on the streets with a bold new visual style. Get in the driver’s seat to compete in races, outrun the police and build up your garage as you race to the top. Unbound also features collaborations from A$AP Rocky and AWGE, with a hip-hop heavy soundtrack, as racers tear through the heart of the game’s setting: Lakeshore.
Buy now £69.99, Xbox.com
‘The Callisto Protocol'
The Callisto Protocol is an upcoming survival horror game from Striking Distance Studios. Helmed by Glen Schofield, co-creator of the original Dead Space from Visceral Games, this latest title is set to be one of the biggest space-based horror games to come out this year.
Set in 2320 at a prison colony called Black Iron, located on Jupiter’s moon Callisto, the player takes the role of prisoner Jacob Lee as he finds himself caught in the midst of an alien invasion.
Buy now £54.99, Xbox.com
‘Hello Neighbor 2'
In Hello Neighbor 2, players will need to sneak around their neighbour’s property to uncover its mysteries, all while evading the enigmatic presence of the moustachioed Mr Peterson. Where its predecessor was limited to the confines of one house, Hello Neighbor 2 will expand further and bring an entire town into the grand conspiracy.
Players will take control of Quentin, a reporter undergoing an investigation into several missing-person cases that brings him to the sleepy suburb of Raven Brooks. Many of the residents have secrets to hide, and each new neighbour is designed with unique AI and behaviours, such as the local baker, the mayor and the taxidermist.
Buy now £34.99, Xbox.com
‘Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core Reunion'
Following on from the success of 2020’s Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and hitting shelves before the release of next year’s Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, this game is an upcoming remaster of the highly acclaimed 2007 spin-off.
With characters such as Cloud Strife and Sephiroth making appearances, Crisis Core told a new story about Shinra and its team of mercenaries seven years before they came to be defined by the events of Final Fantasy 7.
Read our full hands-on preview of Crisis Core Reunion to find out more
Buy now £49.99, Xbox.com
‘High on Life'
From the creator of Rick and Morty comes High on Life, a first-person shooter where your weapons can talk back, with voice-acting performances from I Think You Should Leave’s Tim Robinson, Curb Your Enthusiasm’s JB Smoove, and Justin Roiland himself.
Developed by Squanch Games – the studio Roiland helped found in 2016 – High on Life puts players in the shoes of a high-school-graduate-turned-interstellar-bounty-hunter, charged with saving humanity from an invading alien race bent on using earthlings as a new kind of drug.
Buy now £49.99, Xbox.com
‘Dead Space'
Sci-fi horror games set against the abysmal backdrop of space are like buses – you wait for one and two come along in quick succession. Hot on the heels of The Callisto Protocol, Dead Space is an upcoming remake of the original 2008 title, which sees unlucky systems engineer Isaac Clarke trapped on the USG Ishimura with a hoard of hungry necromorphs that have decimated the crew.
With little more than some steel-capped boots and a makeshift arsenal of futuristic DIY equipment that would be the envy of any ScrewFix catalogue, Isaac must fend off the shambling, shrieking alien creatures long enough to find a way off the ship.
The game has been completely rebuilt from the ground up, with improved lighting, as well as the removal of the original’s timely loading screens.
Find the best pre-order deals on the Dead Space remake for PlayStation, Xbox and PC
Buy now £69.99, Xbox.com
‘Dead Island 2'
Remember when Dead Island 2 was originally supposed to be released in 2015? No, neither do we. But much like the hoards it depicts in its trailer, it looks like the game is back from the dead.
Set against the sunny backdrop of downtown Los Angeles (which last time we looked at a map, was definitely not an island), players must face off against zombies with melee weapons, guns and more.
Buy now £59.99, Xbox.com
‘Hogwarts Legacy'
Hogwarts Legacy is an open world tie-in to the wizarding world of Harry Potter. Developed by Avalanche Software and published by Warner Bros. Interactive this game will take students into the ever-changing halls of Hogwarts as we’ve never seen them before. The game was recently delayed but, according to the game’s developers, is now scheduled to be released in early 2023.
Set before the events of Fantastic Beasts, players will attend Hogwarts in the 19th century as a customisable student in one of the four main houses: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.
Buy now £64.99, Xbox.com
‘Wild Hearts'
Published under the EA Originals label and developed by Omega Force, the team behind the popular Dynasty Warriors series, Wild Hearts whisks players away on an epic adventure set in fantasy feudal Japan. There, they’ll battle against giant nature-infused beasts called Kemono with the help of Karakuri, sophisticated mechanisms crafted from a lost, ancient technology.
Based on the new trailer, players can expect to see Monster Hunter-style battles with huge beasts in a vast open landscape.
Buy now, Ea.com
‘Like a Dragon: Ishin!'
Ishin! has been a cult favourite over in Japan for a few years now and it’s finally getting a western release after much anticipation.
This instalment in the Like a Dragon franchise (formerly known as the Yakuza series) trades in the bright lights of modern-day Osaka and Yokohama for a feudal setting, complete with warring samurai and katanas.
Buy now £49.99, Xbox.com
‘Skull and Bones'
Originally conceived after the high praise for Assassin’s Creed Black Flag’s naval combat, this ship-em-up from Ubisoft will see players take to the high seas to plunder and pillage the Caribbean against the backdrop of piracy’s second golden age (the third was when everyone sang sea shanties on TikTok).
It was originally slated to release back in 2018 but has been pushed back every year since then.
Skull and Bones was most recently due to be released in November 2022 but, thanks to more delays, this has been pushed back to early 2023.
Buy now £69.99, Xbox.com
‘Resident Evil 4’ remake
The original Resident Evil 4 was released on the Nintendo GameCube in 2005 and has since been ported to just about every modern platform under the sun. There’s even been a version of the game released for virtual reality platforms.
The original game has long been considered one of the best ever made, and the fourth mainline entry into the series was revolutionary in third-person shooters as well as taking Resident Evil into a new action-oriented direction. Now the title is getting a similar treatment to Resident Evil 2 and 3, being remade using the RE engine with updated graphics, gameplay and even a PS VR2 mode on the way.
Buy now £54.99, Amazon.co.uk
‘Starfield'
Starfield is a brand new game coming from the creators of Skyrim and the Fallout series, and the first original property from Bethesda Softworks in 25 years.
While the game was originally scheduled to release on 11 November 2022, it has now unfortunately been delayed. Bethesda announced the decision to push the release date back into early 2023. While there is no firm release date yet, it’s arguably one of the most highly anticipated releases next year. We’ll let you know as soon as we have any news.
Buy now, Xbox.com
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