25 Incredible Platformers for the Xbox One

Platforming is for many of us our first exposure to video games, and we are living in a true platforming renaissance. Tons of them have come out over the past five years and really reinvigorated the genre. There's a certain feel to a good platformer that's just straight.

So what are your options if you're playing on an Xbox One? We've researched the titles that have tight controls, original ideas, and the most interesting environments to create this list of the best platformers for Xbox One.

#25 Tembo the Badass Elephant

• Developer: Game Freak
• Publisher: Sega

Tembo is an elephant commando and his job is to save his town from destruction at the hands of the evil PHANTOM. The game harkens back to old Sonic the Hedgehog titles, with a few Metal Slug thrown in for good measure: Tembo leaps and smashes his way through PHANTOM forces, collecting golden peanuts and (literally) charging headlong into enemies. . You'll want to smash as many PHANTOM tanks, structures, and soldiers as possible, while rescuing hostages scattered throughout each level.

Many people were quite surprised to see Tembo the badass elephant come out of Game Freak, who are mainly known for developing the long-running Pokémon series, but it turns out that it's not their first crack at the platform game. action: they also made Drill the Bulldozer for the Game Boy Advance in 2005.

# 24 Yooka-Laylee

• Developer: Playtonic Games
• Publisher: Team17

The Playtonic Games development team includes several key former Rare studio staff. As such, the team chose to make a spiritual successor to one of their previous hit titles, Banjo-Kazooie.

Much like Banjo-Kazooie, in Yooka-laylee there will be plenty of items to collect during your platforming adventure. Also, similar to Banjo-Kazooie, there will be two main characters who must stop the evil Dr. Quak from stealing all of the world's literature and selling it for profit.

#23 A hat in time

• Développeur: Gears for Breakfast
• Publisher: Humble Bundle

Developers Gears for Breakfast have released a platformer that resembles some of the Nintendo 64's most beloved platformer titles. A Hat in Time, will play similarly to Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie, as the focus is on collecting missing collectibles scattered around the game world.

In the overall story, players will take on the role of a young girl named Hat Kid. Hat Kid has the ability to travel interstellar, although on her way home she is intercepted by a mafia group under the control of the evil Mustache Girl.

Stranded, Hat Kid must collect her missing "time pieces" that have been scattered across the world before she can refuel her ship, but she will race against time as Mustache Girl is on her trail.

#22 Detangle

• Developer: Coldwood Interactive
• Publisher: Electronic Arts

Unravel comes from developers Coldwood Interactive which tells the story of a small figured thread. Players are tasked with going out to locate memories, but being made of thread, to progress our protagonist must unravel their body to reach new areas.

It is largely a puzzle game as much as a platformer. As our wire figure loses more wire to reach a new area, players must find a way to claim more wire or use what's available efficiently.

# 21 Mega Man 11

• Developer: Capcom
• Publisher: Capcom

The Mega Man franchise has received a brand new installment. There is certainly a strong following with the franchise and we know that this eleventh installment, Mega Man 11 will once again feature Mega Man as he embarks on a quest to defeat Dr. Wily.

In the game, Dr. Wily will have his eight robot masters ready to stop players as they progress through the game. However, it looks like Mega Man will have a few new tricks such as the ability to manipulate time while offering a more powerful attack.

Along with the new features added to Mega Man, players will also find that a few game modes are included in the title, such as Time Trials and Missions. Likewise, you may find yourself battling with your friends or other players on the global leaderboard.

#20 Detangle Two

• Developer: Coldwood Interactive
• Publisher: Electronic Arts

Unraveling Two was a surprise announcement with its release during E3 2018. In the game, players will once again take on the role of a wireframe figure as you attempt to maneuver around the world and solve puzzles. However, due to the fact that it is made of wire and there is a restriction on where and how far you can go, the game will be a bit difficult.

If you enjoyed the first title, you might want to pick up the sequel as it also supports multiplayer. There is a local co-op option where players can work together in order to solve the series of puzzles and storylines.

#19 Trial Fusion

• Developer: RedLynx
• Publisher: Ubisoft

Hey, we know, it looks like a motorcycle game, but at its heart, it's a speed-focused platformer. If you're new to Trials, the idea is to ride a dirt bike along a track to the end of a level, shifting your weight back and forth to stay upright for all the insane jumps, flips, catapults and explosions that occur along the way.

Fusion offers a formulaic single-player story mode, but it keeps the addictive time trial elements of the series - it's still possible to shave a few extra tenths of a second off a race, or maybe just to get to the end without falling during your next time.

There's also four-player head-to-head racing, plus a comprehensive level editor. Once you've run through all the tracks in the game (plus six DLC packs), you can try out homemade tracks handpicked by the Red Lynx team.

#18 Rising Trials

• Developer: RedLynx
• Publisher: Ubisoft

If you haven't played a Trials game yet, you'll definitely want to pick up Trials Rising when it launches in 2019. The game was unveiled at Ubisoft's E3 2018 press conference where the developers promise much more chaotic and senseless to players. . As always, you'll control a motorbike on multiple courses while dodging bizarre obstacles. Thanks to the motorbike physics, players will do exaggerated crashes. But with a little practice, players can soon master each course after learning from past mistakes.

# 17 Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee – New ‘n’ Tasty

• Développeur: Just Add Water
• Publisher: Oddworld Inhabitants

The New 'n' Tasty edition of 1997's Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee isn't your standard 'remaster', it's a complete rebuild of the original in an all-new, fully 3D engine. While Strange World looked pretty good when it launched in the 90s, it hasn't aged well, but the New 'n' Tasty release brings the game into the modern age with environments and fantastic and elaborately modeled characters.

The game mechanics definitely hold up as it's a unique take on the platforming genre, where you'll be dodging enemies more often than jumping on their heads. Instead, you advance by sneaking around or using enemy behaviors and environmental hazards to fight your way through.

And that's something you really want to do. As a slave at RuptureFarms, an industrial meat-packing plant, Abe discovers that their next planned product involves one nasty ingredient: him and his co-workers.

# 16 Spyro Reignited Trilogy

• Developer: Toys for Bob
• Publisher: Activision

Spyro is back! Well, it never really left, to begin with, but fans of old-school original Spyro titles can revisit the popular platformer one more time. Unsurprisingly, we see the HD remaster following the success of Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy where we revamped the three free Crash Bandicoot titles for last-gen platforms.

Players will get the first three Spyro titles in Full HD through Spyro Reignited Trilogy. You'll find that even though the visuals of all three Spyro games have been significantly overhauled, the map-level layouts seem to remain completely original.

Unfortunately, this collection actually only contains the first Spyro game on disc. Players who want to go through the other two installments will need to download the copies online for free. This is a big disappointment for gamers who may be limited with internet access or potentially those planning to buy a used copy.

# 15 Super Time Force Ultra

• Developer: Capybara Games
• Publisher: Capybara Games

The pixel-art style in Super Time Force Ultra may turn off some players from the game, but we think it looks great: the environments all have their own design, the weapon effects appear, and the characters themselves all bring lots of spice in the game.

The weather-changing mechanics set up all sorts of crazy action-based puzzles, including fun boss battles. Although they seem impossible to complete within the time limit at first, as you add more and more characters to the fight, you'll eventually eliminate them in seconds. Satisfyingly too, once you complete a level you can watch the action replay in real time.

#14 Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

• Developer: ArtPlay, Inti Creates
• Publisher: 505 Games

Directed by former Castlevania series producer Koji Igarashi comes the upcoming action-adventure game Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. The video game is Metroidvania style as you explore, craft new weapons and, of course, find new armor. As for the narrative, the video game will follow an orphan girl named Miriam who has been cursed by an alchemist who slowly turns her skin into crystal. In order to stop the curse, she must explore a castle to find the summoner of this curse, Gebel, who actually had suffered from the same condition.

# 13 Sonic Mania

• Developer: PagodaWest Games, Headcannon
• Publisher: Sega

Sonic the Hedgehog is an essential video game character. Decades have passed and to this day there are still new Sonic games being pumped out. Although some of the more recent releases haven't achieved the same fame and glory for Sega as the initial launches, there is one title that has truly become a mega-hit.

Sonic Mania is a side-scrolling platformer that fans of the original Sonic the Hedgehog titles enjoy today. This particular Sonic title returns to the original gameplay and visual art styles. However, players can expect new boss fights, expanded levels as well as other new elements added to the franchise.

#12 Little Nightmares

• Developer: Tarsier Studios
• Publisher: Bandai Namco Entertainment

In Little Nightmares players will take on the role of a young girl named Six who had been abducted from her home and forced to work at a place known as The Maw, an underwater station.

The complex caters to the powerful elite, forcing Six to cater to their needs. One day, Six is ​​offered a path back to freedom, though during his journey outside the unpredictable world of The Maw, Six glimpses the corruption of modern happiness.

#11 Legacy of Thieves

• Developer: Cellar Door Games
• Publisher: Cellar Door Games

Nothing beats a comments section on a gaming website that looks like an inappropriate use of the word “roguelike”. But however it's categorized, Rogue Legacy is a great entry for the Xbox One's catalog of platform games.

Dungeons are procedurally generated and filled with increasingly deadly enemies, traps and gigantic bosses. You'll collect coins by defeating bad guys and smashing furniture. And here's where Rogue Legacy gets interesting: you use the loot you collect from dungeon runs to buy better armor and weapons for your character, which will be the son or daughter of whoever you died in that run.

You'll choose from three random descendants, and they'll each have a set of quirks that can change the way you play - sometimes they'll be nearsighted, or prone to cursing, or abnormally tall or short.

The great part is that even on the races where you fail, you still make some sort of progress by unlocking new gear or character classes.

#10 Shovel Knight

• Developer: Yacht Club Games
• Publisher: Yacht Club Games

When the developers were looking for inspiration for Shovel Knight, Yacht Club Games emptied out the entire cardboard box of old NES titles and said "all of it." There's clear inspiration in their platforming action from Mega Man, Castlevania, Duck Tales, and the original Prince of Persia.

On paper, it almost seems like too much to work with, but Shovel Knight pulls it off with panache. The retro look and feel is great, but without any of the technical limitations that 1980s classics faced.

Shovel Knight's distinctly themed levels and their respective bosses are very heavily inspired by Mega Man, and the ability to use your shovel as a pogo stick is straight out of Duck Tales. Taken as a whole, however, Shovel Knight is one of the most entertaining games of 2014, and has one of the best chiptune soundtracks.

# 9 Cuphead

• Developer: StudioMDHR
• Publisher: StudioMDHR

Cuphead is a run and gun style platform game by the Studio MDHR development team. The story revolves around a character known as Cuphead who loses a bet against the devil and to repay that debt he must take out a series of bosses. Really, Cuphead is getting all sorts of attention online simply because of its design. Studio MDHR developed Cuphead to look like a 1930s cartoon.

#8 Little Nightmares 2

After Tarsier Studios' success with Little Nightmares, a sequel is coming. The video game is a follow-up to the first installment with Six escaping from the jaws. However, you won't be playing as Six but rather as a new protagonist named Mono. Players are going to get a new horror treatment as Mono and Six evade more hostile enemies as they attempt to make it to the Sanctuary. If you enjoyed the first installment, this will be another thrilling installment. That said, much like the first game, Little Nightmares 2 focuses on players using stealth to protect themselves from hostile enemies lurking around the map.

#7 Guacamelee

• Developer: DrinkBox Studios
• Publisher: DrinkBox Studios

One of the best of its kind in the last couple of years, Guacamelée combines the unlockable open world of the best Metroidvanias with a combined brawler combat system. As the game progresses, you discover new abilities to endure against enemies that deepen the solid combat system.

And Guacamelee is downright gorgeous. It's a whimsical and colorful world with masterfully crafted characters and animations set in a world of Mexican folklore. As Juan, you are resurrected as a wrestling luchador, and must save El Presidente's daughter from an evil skeleton from the Land of the Dead. He manages to treat his subject with respect without ever taking himself seriously.

#6 Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time

• Developer: Toys For Bob
• Publisher: Activision

Crash Bandicoot made a big comeback in 2020. Released on October 2, 2020, players were finally able to get back on top after the events of 1998's Crash Bandicoot: Warped. With N. Tropy, Uka Uka, and Dr. Cortex finding a way to escape their End Time and Space imprisonment, Crash Bandicoot and Coco must find a way to restore order once again. It's still a platforming title, but you can expect the game levels to be much bigger than the original releases with a slew of new gameplay mechanics.

We won't spoil anything here but there are certain masks that Crash will be able to pick up that can give him a unique power to use to his advantage. Likewise, this game will even allow players to delve into other iconic characters to give them their own take on what happens in the game's narrative.

# 5 Ori and the will of the goblin fires

• Developer: Moon Studios
• Publisher: Microsoft Studios

Coming off the highly successful Ori and the Blind Forest video game release, the development studio is hard at work preparing for their next big video game release, Ori and the Will of the Wisps. The game will still be a platforming adventure title with Metroidvania elements throughout where players will need to find new abilities in order to reach new platforms and previously inaccessible areas. Besides platforming and puzzle solving, Ori and the Will of the Wisps will follow a story journey where players will attempt to uncover the secrets behind those lost.

#4 Ori and the Blind Forest

• Developer: Moon Studios
• Publisher: Microsoft Studios

A masterclass in platform game design, Ori and the Blind Forest combines fluid character movement with brilliant level design in a grand Metroidvania-style adventure about a tiny, glowing woodland creature trying to heal a sick land.

The controls are precise to the Swiss clock, which makes Ori feel great to control, and each new move you learn gives you new ways to float and fly around the world, while making new areas accessible to the classic Metroidvania way. It's all very carefully crafted, and every move, enemy, and danger fits into a perfectly cohesive whole.

It's also one of the most beautiful platform games ever made. The environments are richly textured, evoking the forest of Don Bluth's The Secret of the NIMH, and the music and story set a dark tone that underscores the blight that has befallen your woodland home. Ori and the Blind Forest is definitely a game you'll want to play many times.

# 3 Rayman Legends

• Developer: Ubisoft
• Publisher: Ubisoft

What's not to love about Rayman Legends? While originally intended for the proprietary Wii U gamepad, the game eventually released on modern platforms, and we're all luckier for it. It's a beautiful game about timing and momentum, and there are several unique characters to play or team up with.

Your job is to rescue kidnapped "teenagers" hidden in each level, and as you rescue more, you'll unlock new worlds to visit. That's a lot of gameplay out there, but Rayman Legends has tons of extra content, including a host of secret levels, daily and weekly global challenge courses, and even remastered versions of levels from previous games in the series. .

#2 inside

• Developer: Playdead
• Publisher: Playdead

Developed by Playdead, creators of the 2010 video game Limbo, players will get the same feel of tone with Inside. In the game, players take on the role of a young boy forced through a harsh and dangerous dystopia.

Much of the same gameplay mechanics are brought to Inside Limbo. That said, players can also expect a dark and dark artistic vision.

#1 Celestial

• Developer: Matt Makes Games
• Éditeur: Matt Makes Games

Celeste is a platform game developed under Matt Thorson and Noel Berry. The video game is a fast-paced platformer where players take control of a young girl named Madeline. Overall, the object of the game is to climb a massive mountain known as Celeste Mountain.

This is an addictive platformer where players will have to perform quick maneuvers around levels to avoid obstacles and collect collectibles along the way. However, there is an engaging story that will draw players in as you learn more about the mountain and our heroine.

Premium

Skylar & Plux: Clover Island Adventure

• Developer: Grip Digital
• Publisher: Grip Digital

Skylar & Plux: Adventure on Clover Island resembles old video game titles such as Ratchet and Clank. In this platformer, players take on the role of Skylar, our protagonist who was first kidnapped by the evil CRT and given a powerful mechanical arm with augmentations.

Fleeing the clutches of the evil CRT, Skylar teams up with a talkative sidekick, Plux, and takes on the heroin of the islands. Players will battle the evil CRT in hopes of shaking off its control over their home of Clover Island.

Volgarr le Viking

• Developer: Crazy Viking Studios
• Publisher: Crazy Viking Studios

This is a game for gamers who are worried that platform games are hard to play. Luckily, Volgarr the Viking doesn't pony you up every time you die, which it often will.

While he could be mistaken for a brawler, Volgarr is much more about careful memorization of enemy patterns and trap locations with perfect execution. Death is always imminent - being hit drops a piece of gear or armor, similar to classic (and brutally difficult) Ghouls 'n Ghosts.

Volgarr has tons of style too. It's a very obvious homage to cabinet games of the late 80s and early 90s, and features terrific art, enemy design, and music. Remember, though, this one is definitely aimed at the hardcore crowd.