The Ultimate Xbox Holiday Gift Guide: Games, Gear, and Goodies

Xbox Games, Gifts and Goodies

Let's be honest. It's been a tough year for Xbox fans. Increasing Game Pass subscriptions, bad PR, studio drama and a few platform exclusives have clouded the situation. But the holidays are the time to turn that frown on its head. For the Xbox owner in your life—or maybe for yourself—here are some guaranteed ways to show love and appreciation this season. Enjoy COGconnected's Xbox Holiday Gift Guide for 2025!

Games

Ninja Gaiden 4

It's back, baby! One of the classic action game franchises returns with what many are calling the best in the series. The story and characters aren't bad, but the action is fast, furious and, thanks to new difficulty options, as challenging as you want it to be.

Elden Ring Nighttrain

Any year a new FromSoftware game comes out is a good year by definition. If you have an Elden Ring fan in your life, consider Elden Ring: Nightreign. It's a four-player co-op roguelike remixing Elden Ring's environments and enemies, with all new fury-inducing bosses. Although Nightreign can be played solo, it is best suited for players playing with friends.

The Outer Worlds 2

The Outer Worlds 2, the sequel to Obsidian's classic RPG, was recently released in the press. The sequel is an overall better game, with a more complex story and characters, a more expansive environment, and more mature humor. Perfect for fans of great open-world RPGs.

First Berserker: Khazan

There were too many Soulslikes released this year, but there were only a few good ones. The First Berserker: Khazan has a unique anime/comic book style and incredible combat. New difficulty options make the game more accessible to casual fans of the genre.

Wild Monster Hunters

Monster Hunter has legions of fans. Maybe you know one. If so, consider giving them Monster Hunter: Wilds, which is ranked 90th on Metacritic and is one of the best and most innovative games in the franchise.

Battlefield 6

While Battlefield 6's single-player campaign has received mixed reviews, overall this new installment is a stunning success and a must-have for fans of large-scale multiplayer games in the near future.

Call of Duty Black Ops 7

There are a lot of positive reviews surrounding Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, which will be released on November 14th. This is the eighth game in the Black Ops franchise, and you can expect all the usual game modes and goodies, and first impressions point to one of the best iterations of Zombies to date.

Alters

It's rare that a game has a truly new lead. In The Alters, you control a team of clones of yourself as you try to survive on a distant planet until help arrives. Hook? Each new clone has special abilities that you need, as well as a lot of emotional and psychological baggage from points in your timeline. Survival and crafting are going in a whole new direction.

DOOM: Dark Ages

DOOM: The Dark Ages, a prequel to the 2016 DOOM reboot, is less about fighting in the medieval period and more about dicing monsters with medieval fantasy weapons. Great bloody fun, complete with dragons to use in dogfights.

Mafia: Old Country

Mafia: The Old Country is a narrative-driven action adventure set in Sicily in the early 1900s. The game has a lot of plot, characters and atmosphere, it has exciting battles, beautiful music and visual effects. Definitely a different experience for fans of the franchise.

Honorable Mention:

Hollow Knight: Silk Song

There wasn't a single game this year that had such high expectations. Hollow Knight is one of the best Metroidvania/2D Souls games of all time, and Silksong has been on the horizon for years. This also brings benefits. One word of caution: Silksong is incredibly difficult at times.

Gaming is nothing without the proper hardware…read on.