Is It Worth Owning an Xbox One in 2022?

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Recently I sold my PC for a trip that's happening in the far future of January next year. I managed to get the laptop I talked about in another post here for really cheap and still had some money left over. Whilst browsing through Facebook Marketplace I saw a familiar face for a good price: The almighty Xbox One.

This thing did not do well at launch, but the way that Microsoft was able to reverse course is simply astounding to me, and it's the reason why I owned a One S back in 2020.
There are two main reasons why I got the Xbox One: The price and the games.

This thing cost me just $150, that's a pretty good bargain for a system with two controller, the box and with an unused code of Halo MCC (which I already owned, but it's still neat). And while this is "end of gen" and being slowly phased out in favor of the newer Series consoles, it still has a decently long enough road ahead of it with tons of great games that were released throughout its near 10 year run and many that are yet to release.
Things have changed nowadays, it's a lot easier to target weaker hardware from older generations if the game you're making does not need so much processing power. Nearly everything on the market with the exception of the Nintendo Switch is running an x86 CPU so porting is not a hard task.
While this does mean that newer releases will be relegated to less impressive graphical offerings and indie titles, it's still a good thing, as it guarantees continued support from Microsoft.

From my previous experience owning one of these I bought many games and discovered many favorites on Gamepass, favorites that are still there as they are either on EA Play or are Microsoft titles (some like Dragon Quest 11 S are neither but have been there for an insane amount of time).
For such a price and a well estabilished library of games, with tons of familiarity, it was a no brainer for me, but even for people who just want something to game and have fun, I don't think there is much better value out right now on the console space unless you can get the Series S which is a little more expensive.
Another point about this is that if I ever do decide to upgrade to a Series console, all my games will still be there and my physical games will also work if I get the Series X. Including even my backwards compatible 360 titles (luckily all of the titles I own are backwards compatible.)

Gamepass is still getting enough releases to make me more than happy enough and while I often hear complaints that the games are all "garbage" or "look bad", I just don't care. The value there is insane and even on seasons where all we're getting are mostly indies, these games are still well worth the price.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge for instace isn't groundbreaking in graphics, but the gameplay feels solid and the game is a wonderful homage to the classics I used to play on the SNES or the arcade (the so called fliperamas here in Brazil).

In fact, I've been playing so much on my Xbox One that I felt the need to purchase a SATA to USB 3.0 adapter to use an old 1TB laptop hard drive I had lying around, and it was essential upgrade seeing as how the original Xbone only has 500GB - that's absolutely nothing. 1.5TBs though? Yeah, that's pretty good - with very little performance penalty for running it through USB, in fact, if you get an SSD or even a 7200rpm hard drive, they already beat the internal 5400rpm hard drive in the Xbox One itself.

And for a console, the pricing of games is really accessible, I've been able to purchase some great Xbox One, 360 and original Xbox titles for fairly cheap on sale. Not to mention the free games you get with Xbox Live Gold which is already included under Gamepass Ultimate. It's a great deal.

Now, using older hardware means that newer titles will be out of reach, that is obvious. While I may not have any issues with that I understand that's a dealbreaker for those wanting truly next generation experiences; this is not why I bought this and I don't recommend anyone buying an Xbox One if their hopes are to play the latest and greatest.
But there is some consolation in the fact that newer titles arriving on Gamepass that have support for cloud gaming can be played on the original Xbox One.
Of course this requires a pretty decent internet connection, with myself running my console through a gigabit ethernet cable on a 500mbps connection - this isn't standard for Latin America and I have North American friends who struggle to reach 25mbps due to outdated infrastructure or living in the middle of nowhere in the midwest.

But if you can do it, it works really well. Some games I didn't even fancy downloading and have been playing exclusive through the cloud such as Gears 5, Mortal Kombat, Fallout 4, the Forza Horizon titles, Yakuza: Like a Dragon and even Star Wars Battlefront 2 which hasn't given me any issues whatsoever with delay and looks great on a 1080p screen now that Microsoft has their server issues mostly figured out.

I've also been having tons of fun with my father playing Microsoft Flight Simulator. The boomer's dream was to be a pilot, never managed it, but this game sort of brings that to him and he just loves flying around the coast of Santa Catarina and taking in the sights. It's a pretty nice bonding experience with my dad, and did not require me to buy a Series S/X console at all.
I could of course have done this through my laptop, but the convenience of having it all laid out there alongside all your other titles on your console which isn't hard to take from a room to another is just great (not to mention how well it integrates with the Xbox One itself, making the games feel native and not streamed).


Dad and bro having some fun

Another good thing of getting an Xbox is the controller! And I'm not talking about preference here, it's simply that Xbox One controllers are plug and play on PCs (in general). An original Microsoft Xbox controller works on Windows, MacOS and Linux. I was lucky enough to get a bluetooth one too, and I've used it a bit on my phone or my laptop when far from the desk, it works wonder.
And when talking preference, for anything not retro, I absolutely love this controller. The analog sticks are precise, the buttons feel great and the dpad is a huge improvement over the disaster on the Xbox 360.

Overall, I'd say yes, it's definitely worth getting one if you can get a good price, and I'd imagine $150 is a little big on the high end of the spectrum, I just happen to live somewhere where things like these are often quite expensive.
I've been having as much fun as I did before I had to sell my One S and not having the latest and greatest doesn't bother me so much.
Coming from Brazil where the PS2 is still the 3rd most used console, I'd say the Xbox One is definitely a good enough machine for my gaming needs. Great pricing, great games and a really good system overall.

If it being a little old doesn't bother you, go for it.

(Oh yeah, and you can get Retroarch on it to run the good old classics from other consoles).



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