The best Xbox battle royale games are all about outsmarting your opponents, while facing tricky terrain, unexpected hazards, and more until you’re the last person or team standing. You might be an amazing marksman, but there is always someone ready to dethrone you around the corner.
If you’ve claimed plenty of Victory Royales in the best battle royale games, be sure to check out our list of the best RPG games for some more structured gameplay and role-playing joy. Although, if you’re more of a racer than a skilled shot, our list of the best racing games is full of heart-pounding vehicular competition. Nevertheless, you know that battle royales are arguably among the best Xbox games out there if you’re looking for competitive multiplayer and looting.
The best Xbox battle royale games are:
1. Call of Duty Warzone
Call of Duty: Warzone is full of all the high-octane FPS fun that we’ve all come to expect from the series but in a more intense format. Warzone has been around for a few years now, and it’s definitely been through some changes. We still really miss Verdansk, but after the tricky transition period it had following the launch of Modern Warfare 2, we think that Warzone is a great spot now. The launch of new map Urzikstan manages to capture some of those early Warzone vibes, and we’re loving the far better array of weapons available.
If you’ve been slaying the undead in MW3 Zombies, then you’ll be familiar with every nook and cranny of Urzikstan. Whether you’re a fervent Call of Duty player or looking to play get your FPS thrills with your friends, Warzone’s free-to-play model makes it easy to bring the band together. However, you will need to keep up with the Call of Duty Warzone meta, Call of Duty Warzone best guns, and our picks for the best Call of Duty Warzone loadouts.
2. Fortnite
Fortnite really is one of the best games you can play right now. That’s because it has changed so much, with Epic Games refining its popular battle royale giant across every front. The transition to Unreal Engine 5 has done wonders for Fortnite, bringing a fresh layer of graphical sheen to proceedings – and enhanced gameplay too. Gunplay and movement is tighter than ever, whether you’re playing in Zero Build or standard games alike. And it is still as simple as ever.
Quickly thank the bus driver, and jump out toward the island, as locating a safe zone to drop from is imperative to survival. Once topside, the looting can begin; just be sure to watch your back, as others won’t miss an opportunity to attack. Like other battle royale games, every player will be slowly forced into its center, fighting one by one until, finally, a winner is crowned. Don’t fret if you get taken out early, though, as Fortnite’s massive player base means you can drop into another match in minutes.
While the base game is free to play, like many of the other battle royales on the list, Fortnite does feature a paid battle pass that will allow you to access more content for your avatar. There’s always a superb crossover in the Fortnite Item Shop, whether it is John Wick or The Weeknd, there’s a skin bundle for everyone.
3. Apex Legends
Whether you want to take on teams with your squad or enter a gunfight with other players one at a time, Apex Legends is sure to scratch your battle royale itch. Set across a sprawling map, fighters will battle it out as the boundaries of the map shrink smaller and smaller, picking up guns and tools as you go. With a solid range of weapons and items to uncover in each speedy match, Apex’s best-in-class gunplay is the closest you’ll get to playing a Titanfall sequel.
Each of the game’s characters, known as legends, are broken down into class subcategories. Each class hones in on a range of unique abilities, making you consider how you can counter other enemies in the battlefield. This variety also makes for some wily gameplay as you try to predict what skills the enemy might throw at you next.
Apex Legends also offers a premium paid battle pass that, much like Fortnite, gives you access to additional cosmetic content that can spice up your matches. Or, you can deck out your favorite legend or the legend at the top of our Apex Legends tier list with those items.
4. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout
You really can’t keep Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout down. The cute and loveable battle royale is all about embracing your love for game shows, as this is definitely riffing on them. Fall Guys sees players surviving a busy obstacle course and getting in the way of other players as you go. Where battle royale shooters have a fully traversable map, Fall Guys opts to instead drop players into a specific set of different stages within its broader Blunderdome.
Each minigame asks you to endure traps, wobbly terrain, and even some oddball soccer, testing your avatar’s physics body to its limits as you try to stay on the board. To win, all you’ll need is to survive and succeed in each round, outlasting the other 40 players in the game. The strive to survive is often hilarious, and will undoubtedly lead to plenty of clips you can share on Twitter to playful humiliate your friends.
5. Hunt: Showdown
One of the more underrated battle royales on the market is Hunt: Showdown which features an intriguing take on the genre that is well worth exploring. In Bounty Hunter mode, the Hunt takes things in a new direction introducing a PvPvE experience where you’ll need to face monsters and complete your bounties, all while fighting it out with other players to become the swamp supreme.
Just look at that crocodile above. Reckon you can take it? Learning who to evade and how to get around beasts and players is a core part of the experience that twists the boundaries of battle royale. Just don’t travel alone.
6. Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds
A long-running fan favorite and a foundational text of the genre, Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds, or PUBG for short, is a classic military-themed battle royale that throws you and up to 100 other players across a loot-filled map to seek out and destroy one another for victory. It might not be as graphically polished as other entries, but the charm of PUBG is all in the gameplay. There’s a reason that battle royale veterans look fondly at PUBG, and that’s because it helped formulate a lot of the genre’s rules.
If you aren’t a battle-tested bruiser and want to get your start in PUBG, they have a helpful training mode where you can hone your skills. Here you’ll have access to guns, equipment, and more from the full game, so you can get your base skills in order before tackling real human competition.
7. TABS: Totally Accurate Battle Simulator
TABS: Totally Accurate Battle Simulator isn’t strictly a battle royale, though if you are in search of a similar competitive feeling with plenty of silliness and some godlike control over ragdoll combat puppets, it’s likely to fit the bill.
Playable online and in local co-op, TABS asks you to guide a wacky army against another equally bonkers physics-based army, using all the brains and brawn at your disposal. One thing is for certain – the results are always humorous. While it may not feature the multitude of players that the biggest battle royale games are famous for, it’s a different look at the genre, which leverages its sense of humor and odd imagery well.
8. Naraka Bladepoint
Naraka Bladepoint’s skill ceiling is high, but that doesn’t mean you won’t find yourself having a blast dueling opponents. Unlike most battle royale games out there, Naraka Bladepoint is all about melee combat for the most part, with very few guns sprinkled across your arsenal. Timing and studying your enemy is key here, as you’ll need to counter and block until your opening presents itself.
It reminds us a lot of GunZ from back in the day, an equally frenetic that pitted players against each other in third-person fire fights. Naraka Bladepoint is free-to-play across PS5 and Xbox, with crossplay keeping you and your allies together.
9. Head Bangers
Cute character designs and a vibrant aesthetic? No, this isn’t Fall Guys, but Head Bangers is definitely worth your time. Head Bangers packs in a musical twist to the battle royale genre, as 29 pigeons compete for the title of Master Headbanger across 23 different mini-games. You’ll even get to customize your own pigeon in the process. Bird feed sold separately.
10. Call of Duty Black Ops 4
Yes, even though Call of Duty Warzone is featured on this list, many Xbox players are still heading back to Call of Duty Black Ops 4. That’s because you can play Blackout, the pre-cursor to Warzone that has a loyal fan base right now in 2024. As Black Ops 4 didn’t feature a campaign, the game’s main focus was its battle royale mode, multiplayer, and another chapter in the COD Zombies timeline.
Blackout’s map is built up of iconic Call of Duty POIs, including Verruckt from COD Zombies, Nuketown, Firing Range, and more. It’s the kind of map-mashing players expected from Verdansk, but sadly that kind of homage to COD’s past never came. Black Ops 4 is a few years old, though, so if you’re booting it up, you might find its movement and controls a little stale compared to newer COD games. Nevertheless, there’s still of plenty of fun to be had.
11. Realm Royale Reforged
Want the same kind of cartoonish mayhem and charm from Fortnite, but with medieval fantasy blended in? Then you’re likely going to enjoy Realm Royale Reforged. You’ll be evading a deadly gas swallowing the map, but combat is all about spells, swords, crossbows, staff, explosives, and cunning gadgets like a grapple hook to emerge victorious.
Unlike Fortnite, death isn’t necessarily the end. Sure, you can be rebooted in Epic Games’ battle royale, but what about turning into a chicken? That’s what happens in Realm Royale Reforged, and if you survive long enough, you’ll transform back into a human.
That covers our picks for the best Xbox battle royale games you can play in 2023. For a different kind of heart-pounding competition, you can check out our best competitive FPS games list, which features more traditional multiplayer games.