Luckily, as video games have improved as a whole, so have single-player experiences that don’t require internet access. Despite almost launching as an online-only console, the Xbox One is now home to a wide selection of fantastic games that don’t require an internet connection to enjoy.What are the best offline Xbox games?
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Updated January 15, 2023 by Mark Sammut: Online games are obviously popular, but there will be always a demand for single-player experiences. Xbox has plenty of titles to satisfy both sides of the coin, and each month tends to bring a few additions. Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden launch on January 19, and combined they should offer more than 100+ hours of gameplay. A day later, Monster Hunter Rise will be added to Xbox Game Pass. In the meantime, what are some great single-player Xbox Series X games?
29 Cuphead
Cuphead, a game that has since branched out to other consoles, was originally a crown jewel for the Xbox. The beautifully animated run-and-gun boss rush game inspires nostalgic feelings in more than just the art department. The game is challenging, often even unfair, but it rarely gets to a point that the player feels the urge to put the game down. There’s just something so addictive about running into a boss over and over again while looking for that big win.
Cupheadis a perfect offline Xbox One experience. All the content is available on download or with a physical copy. It even has couch co-op, a rarity in the gaming scene today. It’s a budget game with a perfectly proportioned experience. It’s worth playing on a rainy day.
28 Ori And The Will of the Wisps
Ori and the Blind Forest is a Metroidvania title that boasted a gorgeous art style, great music, and incredible level design. While other Metroidvania’s have a habit of feeling bloated and overdone, Ori stayed its welcome at the perfect length and knew when to pull at the player’s heartstrings. It wasn’t a surprise to see a sequel, Will of the Wisps, get greenlit.
In terms of new Xbox titles, Will of the Wisps has everything great about the first title but with an even better art style and narrative. The game is gorgeous, plays great, and tells an emotional story without much dialogue. Although the title is also available on Nintendo Switch, it was originally home to the Xbox and plays the best on that platform. With no online features, it’s an ideal game to play without the internet.
27 Sunset Overdrive
Insomniac Games’ Sunset Overdrive has been somewhat forgotten since debuting in 2014 as an early Xbox One exclusive. A PC port introduced the game to a wider audience, but it still firmly exists in the shadow of Insomniac’s other recent releases such as Marvel’s Spider-Man and Ratchet & Clank. Set in a city where grind rails are just the best way to travel, Sunset Overdrive gets movement spot on, crafting an experience where the basic action of traversal is inherently enjoyable.
Colorful visuals and a lighthearted tone enhance the sense of chaos presented by Sunset Overdrive’s gameplay, even if the comedy can be a bit hit-and-miss. Fans of the studio’s other projects should not skip this one.
26 Divinity: Original Sin 2
Top-down CRPGs have been making a resurgence in recent years. Although they still hardly crack the numbers of the Bethesda-esque RPGs, they can tell incredible stories with deeply strategic gameplay. The role-playing aspect in these titles is often a core focus, with countless little decisions that can be made to help build a character. Divinity: Original Sin 2 helps bring that traditionally PC-exclusive experience to the console market.
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D:OS 2 improves much on its predecessor. While its combat is still ingenious in terms of combos and usage of the environment, the game’s writing finds a great balance. No longer is the player failing exposition checks and getting beaten unconscious by text. For those looking for a fantasy RPG to play alone, it’s hard to beat this game.
25 Scarlet Nexus
Bandai Namco had a pretty great 2021 when it comes to JRPGs. A new IP, Scarlet Nexus takes place in a reality where humans have been able to unlock special abilities, which they will need to fight off the Others. After joining the Other Suppression Force, Kasane Randall and Yuito Sumeragi soon find their lives taking a number of strange turns.
Scarlet Nexus splits its story between two protagonists, each of whom gets their own campaign that plays out quite differently in places. The hack and slash combat system is surprisingly complex, particularly once players really dive into Scarlet Nexus’ skills system.
24 Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
FromSoftware can be credited with games that helped define a genre and a generation of action RPGs. Souls-likes only exist because the team did incredible work in the past. However, Souls games benefit from online interactions and PVP. This is not the case with Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, a single-player action-adventure game that pushes players to the limits in terms of difficulty.
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Sekiro is a game with great atmosphere and natural storytelling, like the other Soulsborne titles. However, Sekiro is a very refined experience by comparison, with a set character and a set of skills that don’t develop too drastically over the course of the game. The player has to get good with Sekiro’s moves if they want a chance of beating the game. This title was great enough to win Game of the Year at the Game Awards in 2019, and it’s worth playing anytime.
23 Wasteland 3
Everything said about Divinity: Original Sin 2 applies to Wasteland 3. However, the game was absolutely designed with consoles in mind, as it was released simultaneously on both platforms. Wasteland 3 throws the player into post-apocalyptic America and is part of a task force created to help maintain order. Of course, the players are fully independent in whether or not they decide to follow through with this mission, but that’s just part of the fun.
Wasteland 3 has incredible character customization and role-playing. The player can create multiple custom characters to integrate into the world. The traits given can range from useful to just kinda wacky, and there are plenty of options for min-maxers and role-players alike. It’s a great game to play and will provide hours of single-player content.
22 Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is not only one of the best games in the series, but it’s also one of the best games of the current console generations. Join Kassandra or Alexios on this epic journey across Greece where adventures and mythology mix. This game is packed full of content, able to easily sustain over 60 hours of gameplay if not way more.
The base game itself has tons of content plus plenty of DLC content as well. The only part of Odyssey that would require the internet is the story-maker which was added well after release and doesn’t have any relevance to the main game.
21 The Outer Worlds
A 2019 release, Obsidian’s latest RPG is a fantastic spiritual successor to Fallout New Vegas. Journey to Halcyon where, after being revived from cryo-sleep, you must help determine the fate of the colony. The Outer Worlds features fantastic writing and characters and is a must-play for any fan of open-world RPGs.
The game is on the shorter end of RPGs, running between 20-30 hours for a playthrough, but every moment of that is an awesome ride. Also, one of the companions, Pavarti, is the most wholesome character to ever be in a video game and everyone should share an adventure with her.
20 Tales Of Arise
Bandai Namco’s latest entry in the Tales series is a contender for the franchise’s best, a claim not made lightly. In this universe, Rena has taken over Dahna, turning its people into slaves. As Rena prepares to stage its Crown Contest to determine its next ruler, a masked Dahnan man suffering from amnesia teams up with a runaway Renan woman seeking to change this unfair society. They have a long, difficult road ahead of them.
Boasting fantastic hack and slash gameplay, lovable characters, and a mature story that holds a couple of effective surprises, Tales of Arisewas arguably the best JRPG of 2021.
19 Marvel’s Midnight Suns
Firaxis Games is well known in the tactical RPG sphere due to XCOM, a franchise with very few peers in the genre. XCOM 2 is an easy recommendation for single-player fans, but the game can be overwhelming for newcomers to these sorts of projects. Consequently, Marvel’s Midnight Suns might be a more accessible option due to brand recognition and gameplay that de-emphasizes random chance. Just to be clear, these things do not come at the expense of depth or nuance as the 2022 release should provide a hefty challenge for anyone, including genre veterans.
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After creating an original hero, players get to share the screen with some of Marvel’s most iconic heroes and villains, along with a few deeper cuts only die-hard comic readers will recognize. Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ turn-based combat utilizes a card system that starts out simple enough but gradually explodes in complexity, growing more fun with each new addition to the deck. Battles are flashy, strategic, and constantly engaging; outside of encounters, players can build their relationships with other heroes.
18 Pentiment
An Obsidian release is always a reason to celebrate, and Pentiment stands alongside the studio’s greatest projects even if it does not have the same mass appeal as Fallout: New Vegas or The Outer Worlds. Utilizing a unique visual style rooted in the game’s 16th-century setting, Pentiment follows an artist who moves to a small town and becomes entangled in a murder mystery that spans more than two decades. The campaign is structured around different arcs set years apart, but the stories are all connected and the player’s actions ripple throughout the entire narrative.
Pentiment highlights Obsidian’s mastery of storytelling. Even if the game presents itself on essentially a flat canvas, its world is three-dimensional and complex. Players could become so immersed in this town that they will likely yearn to speak to every NPC they can, but time does not stand still in Pentiment. Choices matter in this adventure game.
17 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The (almost) undisputed game of the year from 2015, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is as long as it is deep. This RPG epic is packed full of amazing stories and combat systems that any RPG lover would enjoy.
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Newcomers to the series should not be deterred by the “3” in the title as this game is pretty easy to pick up without having played the other two titles, both of which are good but not nearly as good as Wild Hunt. The RPG has no online features and plenty of gameplay to keep you entertained for hours.
16 A Plague Tale: Requiem
Permitting it is being played on the Xbox Series X/S, PS5, or a PC, A Plague Tale: Requiem does not require an internet connection. The action-adventure game builds beautifully on its predecessor, 2019’s Innocence, to craft a harrowing story about survival, sacrifice, and corruption.
As Amicia, players need to navigate hordes of plague-infested rats all the while trying to stay ahead of the French Inquisition. Requiem is among the most visually impressive games on the Xbox Series X/S, and it also tells one of 2022’s most memorable gaming storylines.
15 Gears Of War 5 (Campaign)
Following the decent but unspectacular Gears of War 4, the Xbox first-party property came back in a big way with its fifth numbered entry. Gears 5 shifts focus to Kait Diaz and also opts for a more open level design, dropping the Gears in areas that can be freely explored. The gunplay is as smooth and impactful as ever, while the story has a strong sense of mystery and sets up the next chapter in the saga well.
Only Gears 5’s campaign can be played offline, providing roughly 10-15 hours of content. Horde and Escape cannot be accessed since they utilize cloud gaming.
14 Psychonauts 2
After a very long wait, Double Fine finally released its Psychonauts sequel, and the 2021 game was more than worth the wait. As a platformer, Psychonauts 2’s gameplay is decent but unspectacular; it gets the job done, with Raz’s Psi-Powers being by far the most enjoyable mechanic in the game.
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On the other hand, Psychonauts 2’s story and world-building are incredible, not just for the platformer genre but gaming in general. Psychonauts 2 deals with grief, regret, family, and responsibility. It is an ambitious game that combines lofty ideas with vibrant visuals and unforgettable characters.
13 Elden Ring
As Elden Ring fuses an online component into its single-player campaign, an offline playthrough takes something away from the overall experience. That said, FromSoftware’s ambitious RPG is still brilliant when played without an internet connection.
The Lands Between is an unforgiving place filled with terrifying monstrosities, stunning locations, and secrets. In some ways, playing Elden Ring offline enriches the game’s sense of isolation and dread.
12 Resident Evil 2
One of the truest video game remakes, Resident Evil 2 recaptures the magic of the original version into an incredibly modern horror game. This adventure sees Leon and Claire battle through the zombie-infested Raccoon City as they try to uncover the mystery of what happened.
Resident Evil 2 is gorgeous looking and incredibly scary. Every enemy feels like a threat and the Tyrant is a menacing force that follows you endlessly. Even if someone is not a fan of horror, they should consider trying Resident Evil 2 as it is one of the best offline Xbox games.
11 Grand Theft Auto 5 (Story Mode)
Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto 5 has been a staple of the gaming charts for over half a decade; while a lot of its success can be credited to its online component, that’s not to say GTA 5’s single-player has become obsolete.
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When looking for an offline Xbox One game, GTA 5’s story is a hefty, entertaining, and engrossing option. Los Santos is an absolute marvel to experience, while the campaign’s three protagonists each produce moments that will stick with players. GTA 5 might require someone to sign in before starting the game, but they should be able to play offline after that point.
10 Devil May Cry 5
After the polarizing DmC: Devil May Cry, Capcom steadied the ship by returning to the original timeline. Devil May Cry 5 marked a significant return to form for the franchise, and the game also took plenty of risks. Gone are the anime-style visuals in favor of more realistic graphics, while Dante is presented as a secondary character who shares the spotlight with Devil May Cry 4’s Nero and a new figure named V.
Along with offering plenty of variety, DMC 5’s combat is fast-paced, precise, and (naturally) stylish. Each character’s moveset is unique and fully developed, allowing the rather long campaign to never become boring.
