It's been a great year for new Xbox games, so a few gems might have slipped your radar. Check out these five Xbox games you might have missed in 2024.

Tom West
Published
The best Xbox games of 2024 that aren't talked about enough
With 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 Eden
- Hunt some ghosties for the Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden achievements
- Developer: Don't Nod
- Platforms: Xbox Series X|S
- Release date: February 13, 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 Carnage
- Slay evil unicorns for the Gori: Cuddly Carnage achievements
- Developer: Angry Demon Studio
- Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC
- Release date: August 29, 2024
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 —
Phasmophobia
- Solve hauntings for the Phasmophobia achievements
- Developer: Kinetic Games
- Platforms: Xbox Series X|S
- Release date: October 29, 2024
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 Crown
- Wield time powers for the Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown achievements
- Developer: Ubisoft Montpellier
- Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC
- Release date: January 18, 2024
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 Pacha
- Indulge in Stone Age farming for the Roots of Pacha achievements
- Developer: Soda Den
- Platforms: Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One
- Release date: July 31, 2024
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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Tom has been playing video games since he was old enough to hold a controller, experimenting with a number of systems until he eventually fell in love with Xbox. With a passion for the platform, he decided to make a career out of it, and now happily spends his days writing about that which he loves. If he’s not hunting for Xbox achievements, you’ll likely find him somewhere in The Elder Scrolls Online or fighting for survival in Battlefield.
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