Xbox Series X review: Simple design with a seamless user experience

This latest console isn’t a centralised media hub but focuses more on games. Its interface is cleaner and stacked into folders and menus.

The gaming market is an upward-climbing graph in India and companies like Microsoft are trying to make the best of it. Though Microsoft’s latest and most powerful gaming console, Xbox Series X, does look like a ‘boring’ piece of hardware – sporting a flat cuboid shape – and sans any RGBs or dual colour tones like its rival Playstation 5, its minimal design makes a statement of its own. It seems like a way of showing what’s inside is more important. Moreover, it is not as tall as PS5 when vertical, so placing it under your TV screens is not a problem.

If you are coming from Xbox One, the interface in Series X is cleaner and stacked into folders and menus. This makes it easier to navigate and get a better grip on multiple windows, which was a bit difficult before. This also means that Xbox Series X has more focus on games this time, instead of pushing itself as a centralised media hub. It is just better, more organised and customisable with new profile themes.

Playing Xbox One games on Series X is frictionless and so is the setup process. You just log-in, download the games you want and get going. The older games will connect to the cloud and download your saved data.

Since the console boasts an 8-core AMD Zen 2 processor with 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD storage, you can expect a very smooth experience.

Many may like the Quick Resume feature that lets you continue playing a game from a suspended state. It works pretty seamlessly, without showing you any loading screen. While Dolby Vision, 120Hz and 60fps gameplay support are a few more silver linings here.

Being a gamer, if you want minimal loading time, simplistic design, smoother gameplay and Xbox One backward compatibility, Xbox Series X is the way to go at ₹49,990 price tag. In case you are tight on budget, still want an Xbox experience and can compromise on power, Microsoft is offering its Xbox Series S at ₹34,990.