The Xbox is an odd console as it was made by Microsoft, so a lot of the games that were console exclusive to the Xbox were also available on PC. This list is composed mainly of games that are true exclusives, but several will also have been on PC.
These are the Xbox exclusives that managed to emerge and create series that have been fairly successful overall. Some games featured have had their ups and their downs, but they have still managed to create some of the most memorable titles.
10 Saints Row
The first Saints Row game was an Xbox 360 exclusive. It felt a lot like an exact clone of the Grand Theft Auto games but without a lot of additions that the Grand Theft Auto model put forward. After that, the games in the series slowly began to build their own identity that was a lot wackier and a lot less serious than Grand Theft Auto.
The bad thing about Saints Row is that its games tend to be hit or miss. Some, like the original Saints Row The Third, are phenomenal, but some leave a sour taste in the hearts of many fans.
9 Blue Dragon
Blue Dragon had a lot of talent that was backing it up initially. It was made by one of the game designers at Square Enix right after he had left, along with a couple of other people that helped in the making of Chrono Trigger. The combat is fairly simple when the game starts, but then it slowly peels back different layers as the game progresses.
As the series went on, there were two more games that were released, ending with Blue Dragon Awakened Shadow as the last released on the DS and having some of the best combat in the series. The franchise has some odd entries; some have great combat and lackluster stories, while others have mediocre combat and great stories.
8 Dance Central
Dance Central originally came out for the Xbox 360 and used the Kinect camera for one or multiple players to be able to dance to different songs. This game revolutionized the dancing game genre as Nintendo's Just Dance game made it so that the only tracking the console could pick up was from the Wii remotes.
The franchise has since evolved past its first form with an additional four games in the series, adding more features and ultimately making its way out of being an Xbox exclusive with Dance Central (2019) on the Oculus.
7 Fable
The first Fable game was an important part of the Xbox brand. It was a game that was different in its presentation and was heavily based on its two choices. The game relied mainly on the player choosing to be good or evil, and it was fun to see the character and story pan out based on the moral choices that the player decided to make.
Fable 3 took the concept of choice further by not only choosing between good or evil, but also by putting the player on the campaign trail for becoming the next queen or king of that land. The series continues to expand, with Fable 4 already in development.
6 Alan Wake
Alan Wake presents some of the best storytelling in gaming, and that is why the game received a remake as well as why there will be an Alan Wake sequel released in 2023. The initial game focuses on a crime fiction author's wife going missing in a small town, and as the game progresses, it intertwines the player in a deep web of supernatural mystery.
The gameplay presented is also unique in that the player must use light to their advantage to defeat enemies. It's an amazing game with a lot to come in the series as it was remade for many other consoles and PC as well. With the inclusion of an Alan Wake-related DLC in Remedy's Control, it seems this franchise is ready to explode once again.
5 Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead serves as a Microsoft Windows and Xbox exclusive, but Xbox 360 is a Microsoft company, and the game was highly successful on the Xbox 360. The game still has some of the best zombie multiplayer out there as it allows up to four people to take on waves of zombies in creative ways while traversing large, intricate levels.
The series was further expanded upon with Left 4 Dead 2 on steam, having an extremely large modding community that made creative things like Disneyland as a map.
4 BioShock
While many people might have played BioShock for the first time on the PlayStation 3, the game actually released a year earlier on the Xbox 360. Initially, the game had no plans to be ported to any other system, but it was such a hit that only a year later, the game was released on the PlayStation 3.
Two magnificent sequels released in the years following that amplified the bizarre and twisted journey of the franchise. BioShock has been able to captivate the hearts of many with its stunning character work and world design.
3 Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell was a true stealth game that required players to hide every single body they killed or face the wrath of being overrun by guards and getting killed themselves. It's a game that required a lot of patience, skill, and precision of movement, and that's why fans loved it so much.
Over the years since, the games in the series evolved the way in which stealth objectives could be approached and continued to expand the stealth genre. The franchise has been on ice for quite some time now, but with a remake of the first game on the horizon, many fans are hoping this could lead to a resurgence of the franchise.
2 Gears of War
Gears of War offered an alien-fighting journey that was unique to itself. Some people were initially on the fence as they thought the game would be a rip-off of Halo, but it ended up being a game with a combat-enriching cover system. That system made battles feel a lot tenser.
The franchise has gone through several iterations, even delving into turn-based strategy with Gears Tactics and mobile gaming with Gears Pop! With the most recent main series game they released, Gear of War 5, it has not stopped disappointing the players in its story or its multiplayer.
1 Halo
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Halo is by far the most recognized series that was an original Xbox exclusive and part of what made the Xbox so popular. The release of Halo 2 only made things better as it allowed for online play, which the original Halo did not have. The online play opened up endless hours of fun for the series.
Some Halo games have not been seen in the fondest light by fans, but the newest iteration, Halo Infinite, managed to make up for it by including a story that was as phenomenal as some of the initial games. It also delivered a fun multiplayer that added some modern touches to combat while still feeling distinctly Halo.