Wondering if there are any Xbox games you might have missed in 2024? It’s been a fantastic year for games, with titles like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Space Marine 2, Balatro, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, and many more challenging our list of the best Xbox games.The best Xbox games of 2024 that aren’t talked about enoughWith so many games releasing on Xbox this year, it can be hard to keep up with it all! There have been some monsters this year stealing all your time, which doesn’t help matters. So, the TrueAchievements team of Staff Writer Tom, Features Editor Heidi, and Editor-in-Chief Kes have put their heads together to find some games oft missed from 2024 catalogs.With this round-up, we wanted to highlight some fantastic Xbox games you might have missed this year. Some got caught up in the release cycle of other games, found communities on other platforms before Xbox, or simply went unappreciated. So, here are some of our favorite games we all missed on Xbox in 2024!Tom — Banishers: Ghosts of New EdenBanishers: Ghosts of New Eden was a victim of circumstance earlier this year, arriving just over a week after Persona 3 Reload stole the show in Xbox Game Pass; and during a time when a lot of chatter was surrounding the just-released Suicide Squad and recent Skull and Bones open beta. Let’s not forget that Baldur’s Gate 3 had launched in December 2023. The dense and long RPG was still the height of chatter for players on Xbox during February 2024.Sadly, that means Banishers — despite being an exceptional action-RPG — could easily have been missed by many players. Set in 1695, ghost-hunting Banishers Antea Duarte and Red mac Raith travel to New Eden to investigate a disturbing haunting but it leads to Antea becoming a ghost herself. We control Red, who uses conventional weaponry and Banishing abilities to take down enemies. Meanwhile, Antea backs up Red by combining her fantastic spectral powers with his skill tree.During our time investigating New Eden’s difficulties, we’re given an eerie, yet gorgeous, semi-open world to discover. It’s filled with secrets to find and enemies to slay, but as a Don’t Nod-developed game, unsurprisingly, the narrative makes this a must-play. Throughout the world you can solve additional hauntings as side missions, each of which ultimately ends with you choosing a person or spirit to “banish,” but not every decision is black and white, leading to gut-wrenching decisions at times. While there are multiple endings to find, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is best experienced via a blind playthrough just so you can experience the emotional rollercoaster that you’re forced to ride. Definitely check this one out if you haven’t already! Tom — Gori: Cuddly CarnageCarnage! This is one action-packed ride I’ve been desperate to play this year but haven’t found the time. It’s got everything I would need in a short game; evil unicorns, a crap-talking hoverboard, a cat with mad skills, and some horrific toys that, honestly, I would probably be guilty of buying. Also, I played it at WASD in London last year (when WASD was still a thing), and loved the soundtrack mixed with the chaos on screen was beautiful in every way.Gori: Cuddly Carnage is an action-adventure game set in a world where humanity has been destroyed by evil toys — think Skynet dropping T-series bots for plushies, mutant jack-in-the-boxes, and the like and calling it the Adorable Army. Instead of John Connor saving the day, we have Gori, a space cat riding on a sentient hoverboard called F.R.A.N.K and backed up by an AI companion called CH1-P. It’s all wackily wonderful!You have one job: tear through neon-lit levels as Gori, performing combos to rip cute toys to shreds as you rack up points and make your way to boss fights. Honestly, Gori: Cuddly Carnage is my holiday treat!Tom — PhasmophobiaSolve hauntings for the Phasmophobia achievementsDeveloper: Kinetic GamesPlatforms: Xbox Series X|SRelease date: October 29, 2024My very short time with Phasmophobia so far has given me plenty of opportunities to admire the inside of people’s cupboards. News Editor Sean and I dived in when it launched on Xbox in October (it already has a PC audience!) and had a blast, spending most of an evening laughing as we nervously peeked out of various hiding places to scout for whatever terrifying critter was on the prowl.For the uninitiated, Phasmophobia is a first-person, multiplayer horror game for up to four players. It puts you in the shoes of paranormal investigators. Your job is simple: head to a haunted location, search it for clues, and figure out what type of ghost is causing the haunting. There are over 20 types of ghosts to find, and you need to use various pieces of equipment to find clues throughout levels before correctly identifying the ghost in question to successfully win the match.However, you’re always working against the clock, as your sanity meter is always dropping as you investigate, and once it drops too low, the offending ghost can manifest. Things can easily turn into absolute carnage, with the terror ramping up further still once your friends begin being killed off. It’s great fun to play with friends — we’re still trying to convince Heidi to play, but I don’t think it’s a battle we can win. Go play Phasmophobia!Kes — Prince of Persia: The Lost CrownI’m almost in disbelief at how good Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is, but I’m not surprised about how poorly Ubisoft seems to think it performed. That weird cel-shaded, super-heightened art style was at the forefront of the first few trailers in all the worst ways. I thought it looked horrible, too! I don’t think it helps that the tutorial mission reflects that poor first impression with equally cringy dialogue. Then something magical happens. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown opens up its broken time palace and starts feeding you, bit by bit, some of the most fun Metroidvania-style platforming of 2024. The bright art style is much less annoying when it’s enriching gloriously designed levels that are full of fascinating architecture stuck in temporal loops. There is something reminiscent of an 80s adventure movie that keeps you hooked on its art direction when the game is in full flow.Ubisoft Montpellier backs this up with solid foundational exploration and platforming mechanics combined with some great map-marking tools to help you keep looped in on its many secrets. Great combat rounds out the package. I’m not surprised players missed out on Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, but now you know it’s one of the finest experiences of 2024 you have no excuse — check out our Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown review for more!Heidi — Roots of PachaIndulge in Stone Age farming for the Roots of Pacha achievementsDeveloper: Soda DenPlatforms: Xbox Series X|S and Xbox OneRelease date: July 31, 2024Out of the many, many farming sims we’ve had over the past few years, Roots of Pacha stands out as a wonderfully enjoyable twist on the genre. Instead of leaving the city behind for a new life and a rusty set of farming tools, Roots of Pacha has us zooming into life in the Stone Age.Roots of Pacha released for PC, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation last year, but we only saw it arrive for Xbox in 2024, and I think it might have flown under the radar as a result. Not all of the best farming games out there are available on Xbox, and I think Roots of Pacha is a contender for one of the best.If you love Stardew Valley, you’ll love Roots of Pacha, whether it’s the lovely pixel art style or the farming life you’re after. You can do all the things you’d expect: fishing, mining, raising animals, heading to festivals, making friends, finding partners; but it all feels fresh and new thanks to that Stone Age twist. Community is a big deal in Roots of Pacha: your clan evolves by coming up with and testing new ideas, leading to the discovery of helpful things like irrigation. You gradually domesticate crops from their wild variants, and keep animals like cave lions and mammoths. It’s huge fun and a game farming and life sim fans should definitely check out!If you’re looking for some other excellent gaming experiences, check out our list of the best Game Pass games you can dive into right now. As for this list, have you got any recommendations you’d like to share with the community? Drop a comment below and let us all know!
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