Xbox Series X Review: Microsoft's Finest Console — Now With a Reason to Use It

I have owned every Xbox since the original. The launch Xbox One, the Xbox One X, the Series S at launch, a borrowed Series S for our older television, and finally — finally — the Xbox Series X about fourteen months ago. The Series X has always been easy to respect and surprisingly hard to love. The hardware was clearly superior. The exclusives were good, occasionally excellent, never truly unmissable. Game Pass made the value case undeniable. But there was no single game that made you feel the full weight of what the console was capable of.

Ad

Xbox Series X Console (opens in a new tab)

The most powerful home console available. 4K/60fps, 1TB NVMe SSD, backward compatibility back to the original Xbox. Now with the library to match.

Forza Horizon 6 changed that on May 19th, 2026. Within twenty minutes of loading Japan’s map for the first time — the cherry blossoms drifting over a mountain pass at the golden hour, the Tokyo expressway neons reflecting off rain-soaked tarmac, the Mt. Fuji snowline stretching into a clear morning sky at native 4K/60fps — the Xbox Series X stopped being “impressive hardware awaiting its moment” and became one of the finest gaming machines I have ever sat in front of. This is a 10/10. Not for the console alone, not for any single component, but for what the Xbox Series X has become in 2026 with the right game in it.

🖥️ The Hardware: What You’re Actually Getting

Let’s establish the specs without drowning in them, because specs don’t tell you how a console feels.

The Xbox Series X runs on a custom AMD RDNA 2 GPU delivering 12 teraflops of compute — more raw GPU power than any other home console. In practice this means native 4K resolution at 60 frames per second in demanding games without the upscaling compromises required by the Series S or, in some titles, the PlayStation 5. Auto HDR retroactively applies high dynamic range colour to older games — you’ll notice it most on backward-compatible Xbox 360 titles, which gain genuine colour depth they were never designed to have.

The 1TB custom NVMe SSD is fast enough that load screens have become conceptual rather than practical. Forza Horizon 6’s Japan map streams open-world sections so quickly that fast travel feels instant. Older backward-compatible titles — built in an era of mechanical hard drives — now load in seconds where they once took minutes. The SSD isn’t just quality-of-life improvement; it changes what “open world” can mean.

The backward compatibility library is a genuine argument for the platform that Sony and Nintendo cannot match. Every original Xbox game. Every Xbox 360 game (from the enormous library of games Microsoft has cleared for compatibility). Every Xbox One game. Thousands of titles playable at improved framerates and resolutions, many enhanced beyond what the original hardware could achieve. For a dad who has been gaming on Xbox for twenty years, this is an archive, not a feature. It also means Forza Horizon 5 — still excellent and free on Game Pass — runs beautifully on the Series X while you wait for Horizon 6’s seasonal content to refresh.

Ad

Forza Horizon 6 – Xbox Series X|S (opens in a new tab)

The killer app the Xbox Series X was waiting for. Japan's open world at 4K/60fps is something else entirely. Available day one on Game Pass.

🎮 The Controller: Still the Industry Standard

This might seem like a minor note. It isn’t. The Xbox Wireless Controller has been the best gamepad in the business for two console generations now, and the Series X generation didn’t break that run. The textured grip on the back is exceptional — during a long Forza Horizon 6 session, my hands don’t fatigue the way they do with the DualSense’s smooth underside. The Impulse Triggers deliver force feedback to each trigger independently, translating tire grip and terrain surface in a racing game in ways that feel like genuine sensory information rather than rumble marketing.

The USB-C charging is obvious and long overdue and still somehow feels like a gift when you’re reaching for the cable in the dark. The Share button captures screenshots and clips with one press. The layout is unchanged from the Xbox One era in the best possible way — muscle memory transfers completely, which matters when you hand the controller to a child who has used the original Xbox One controller at a friend’s house.

⚡ Performance: 4K/60fps in Real Games

On a 4K television, the Xbox Series X produces images that the Series S simply cannot match — and this generation, that gap has become more visible than the spec sheets suggested it would be. Forza Horizon 6 at 4K/60fps on the Series X is a different experience from the same game at 1080p/60fps on the Series S. Not because 1080p is bad — it isn’t, and the Series S version is still exceptional — but because at 4K, the Japan map’s fine detail resolves completely. The rain effects on Tokyo tarmac have individual droplet behaviour. The cherry blossom density in the Kyoto highlands is dense enough to obscure distant views. The Mt. Fuji snowline textures have visible geological detail. At 1080p, you see a beautiful game. At 4K, you see the game the designers actually made.

The Performance/Balanced/Quality mode options in supported titles give you meaningful choices the Series S doesn’t always offer. Some games run at 120fps on the Series X — the Series S can theoretically do the same but hits frame-rate stability issues the larger console never encounters.

Ad

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate – 3 Month (opens in a new tab)

The subscription that makes the Series X an absurd value. Day-one access to Microsoft first-party titles, EA Play included, cloud gaming on top.

💳 Xbox Game Pass: The Real Argument

The hardware is excellent. The killer app has arrived. But the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription remains the most quietly compelling argument for the Xbox platform, and it deserves direct treatment.

For approximately €14.99 per month, Game Pass Ultimate provides:

• Day-one access to all Microsoft first-party titles — Forza Horizon 6 was available on the service the moment it launched. You paid nothing extra.
• EA Play — EA’s catalogue of sports games, older titles, and Play First Trials of upcoming releases.
• Hundreds of back-catalogue games — a rolling library of Xbox, third-party, and indie titles.
• Xbox Cloud Gaming — stream Game Pass titles to mobile, PC, or the console itself without downloading. Useful on poor days; surprisingly good on strong WiFi.

For dads who game in short windows — thirty minutes here, an hour there — Game Pass inverts the anxiety of game purchasing. You’re not committing £60 to a title you might play for four hours before work obligations intrude. You open the service, browse the library, start something that looks interesting. If it grabs you, you continue. If it doesn’t, you try something else. The friction of the purchase decision is removed entirely.

The value compound is substantial when you add it up. In the month of Forza Horizon 6’s launch, Game Pass Ultimate subscribers got the most acclaimed racing game in years at zero incremental cost. That single occasion repays months of the subscription fee.

🏡 Family Use: More Than You’d Expect

The Xbox Series X is not typically positioned as a “family console” the way the Nintendo Switch is, and for family gaming — especially with young children — the Switch’s library has a warmth the Xbox catalogue mostly lacks. But for a family where the adults game and the children are growing into it, the Series X earns its position in the living room.

Forza Horizon 6 is accessible from age 6, with full assists and a rewind system that removes failure anxiety entirely. My son has been running free-roam sessions in the Kyoto region for two weeks — not racing competitively, just exploring the map in a pink Mazda MX-5, taking photographs of bamboo groves, narrating the goat encounters near Mt. Fuji. That’s not a use case I predicted. It emerged from the design.

The backward compatibility library contains hundreds of family-appropriate games from previous Xbox generations — the LEGO games, Minecraft, older Rare titles, the early Forza games — all running better than they ever did on the hardware they were designed for. The Series X is also, quietly, an excellent 4K streaming device: native apps for Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, and YouTube at 4K HDR quality that matches or exceeds a standalone smart TV’s streaming capabilities.

Ad

Xbox Wireless Controller (opens in a new tab)

Still the best controller in the industry. Textured grip, share button, USB-C charging. Get a second one — you will want to play co-op.

⚖️ Series X vs Series S: Know Which One You’re Buying

This is the practical question most buyers face. The Xbox Series S costs significantly less, has no disc drive, runs games at 1080p-1440p rather than 4K, and has a 512GB SSD versus the Series X’s 1TB. For the past three years, it was the easier recommendation — the library didn’t reliably show the hardware gap, and the price difference was real.

In 2026, that calculus has shifted. Forza Horizon 6 is the first game where the visual difference between Series X and Series S is immediately apparent to any attentive viewer on a 4K television. The game’s Japan map was built for the Series X’s output resolution — on the larger console it looks breathtaking; on the Series S it looks very good. If you own a 4K TV and you’re buying a new Xbox specifically to play Forza Horizon 6 the way it was designed to be seen, the Series X is the correct choice. The price premium buys a meaningfully different visual experience with this particular game, and the 1TB SSD’s extra headroom matters when you’re downloading the game’s extensive DLC alongside it.

If your TV tops out at 1080p, or you’re primarily interested in Game Pass variety rather than peak visuals on specific titles, the Series S remains a valid and cost-efficient entry to the ecosystem. But if you’re already considering the Series X investment, now is the clearest moment in the platform’s history to make that call.

Is the Xbox Series X worth buying in 2026?

Yes — and more convincingly than at any previous point in the console’s life. The hardware has always been exceptional, but Forza Horizon 6’s arrival and the depth of Game Pass Ultimate make 2026 the clearest argument yet for the Series X over any alternative.

What is the difference between Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S?

The Series X delivers native 4K/60fps, a 1TB NVMe SSD, and includes a disc drive. The Series S runs at 1080p-1440p, has 512GB of SSD storage, and is disc-free. The gap has become meaningfully visible in Forza Horizon 6 — on a 4K TV, the Series X is the version the game was built for.

Is Xbox Game Pass Ultimate worth the monthly fee?

For most Xbox owners: yes. It includes day-one access to all Microsoft first-party titles — Forza Horizon 6 cost Game Pass subscribers nothing extra at launch — plus EA Play, hundreds of back-catalogue games, and cloud gaming. At €14.99/month, a single major release repays several months of subscription.

Is the Xbox Series X good for families?

More than it gets credit for. Forza Horizon 6 is accessible from age 6. The backward compatibility library includes hundreds of family-appropriate titles. And the console is an excellent 4K streaming device, which puts it at the centre of your living room rather than competing with it.

How does Xbox Series X compare to PlayStation 5?

The Series X has more raw GPU power and better backward compatibility. The PS5 has a stronger first-party exclusive lineup for narrative single-player experiences. Both are excellent. For open-world gaming, racing, and Game Pass variety, the Series X is the better platform in 2026. For cinematic story games, the competition is genuine.