Review: XBOX Series X, including Accessibility impressions
The Tower of Power
This article has originally been featured on my Patreon page.
Hello everyone! Today I have a very special article waiting for you. Those of you who follow me on social media or on Patreon already know that two weeks ago the nice people at Xbox Nordics have sent me a brand new Xbox Series X, a Limited Edition Forza Horizon 5 controller and a voucher for one year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership. Of course, I am forever grateful for the opportunity to start this partnership and I am looking forward to creating content based on my experience with these awesome products.
So, after playing around with the Xbox Series X for more than a week, I decided that I have covered all the bases and set up to write this article.
I will review the device in general, but I will also talk about accessibility and give my honest impressions on both the product and on its functionality.
Before I move on to the actual review, I just want to tell you that I played a lot of games on Xbox before going blind. I purchased my own Xbox 360 Arcade in 2008 with money loaned from my friend Cosmin, this was after another friend left his 360 with me on one weekend when he was going out of the city. Those things were happening more than 15 years ago and I can still remember them like it was yesterday. I am a huge fan of Gears of War, Fable, Forza Motorsport and I even played some Halo, so you can imagine that I spent many days of my life gaming on Xbox. I also had a beautiful blue Limited Edition Forza Motorsport 5 Xbox One, I think it was blue, at least, and before getting this Xbox Series X, I tested the Series S.
As you can see, I come prepared and I’m super excited to have welcomed into our house the Tower of Power, as the Xbox Series X is called by many. So, without further ado, let’s get started!
Unboxing Experience
First of all, I must say that I was extremely pleasantly surprised by the ease with which I was able to unbox, connect, and set up my Xbox Series X.
The unboxing experience was seamless, the box comes with just four sigils that are super easy to remove and after that, you can just pull out the console, which is silently waiting, wrapped like a Christmas present, sleeping peacefully on its bed of foam. Inside the package, there’s also a smaller cardboard box that includes the Xbox Series X controller, two AAA batteries, the high-speed HDMI 2.1 cable and the power cord. Beneath everything, I found some papers, but being too hyped to test the Xbox, I completely ignored them and forgot about their existence until right this very moment, when I’m writing these words.
I cleared some space on our TV bench and set down the Xbox Series X to the left of our 4K LG C1 OLED TV and to the immediate right of one of the stereo Apple HomePods we had set up as Dolby Atmos speakers. I’m blind, but I do love my spacial audio. After connecting everything to the TV and to power, I was ready to boot up the Series X and set it up for the very first time. This process was also streamlined and after activating the narrator by pressing the Xbox button and the menu button, I was guided through the setup process using easy-to-follow voice instructions.
In case you don’t know already, I am totally blind, so every time I get a new device I fully rely on text-to-speech software to get things done, but luckily this functionality comes now included with almost all modern devices.
I had absolutely no trouble completing the setup process on the Series X. I logged in with my Xbox account, activated the Game Pass membership and started downloading games. Gears of War 4 went first in the download cue and was quickly followed by Forza Horizon 5, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Gears 5 for me to try the multiplayer and just for fun, Fable Anniversary Edition and Gears of War Ultimate Edition.
Alina wants to play all these games that I love so much and thanks to the incredible accessibility feature called Co-pilot, we can experience them together. The Co-pilot function allows for the inputs of two Xbox Series X controllers to be merged into one and by doing this, I can play anything on Xbox, with Alina supervising my every move, making sure I follow the right path or that I shoot in the correct direction. This is something that I think all consoles should have!
It affords any disabled gamer, being blind or with a motor impairment, the possibility of living these experiences and hopefully feel less hopeless. Of course, all games should be created with universal design and access in mind, but the Co-pilot feature is truly revolutionary and I dare to say that it even brings people closer to one another through the power of play. I can see at every step using the Series X that Microsoft and Xbox are dedicated to making a difference when it comes to accessibility and for that I’m extremely grateful.
Hardware & Design
The Xbox Series X build and design feels quite different when compared to its predecessors. The standing tower-like form factor is definitely reminiscent of a desktop gaming rig, but, have no fear, you can also position the console horizontally, if that’s what you want. The unit feels quite sturdy, it is built with high-quality plastic and is actually more than a little heavy, weighing almost 4 kg and a half.
The Series X console is matte black almost in its entirety, except for the indented cooling vents on the top, which have a beautiful hue of green inside.
On the front of the console we find the signature Xbox power button on the top left, a blu-ray drive (and its eject button) at the bottom left, and at the bottom right a pairing button, which also functions as an IR receiver. Finally, there is also a USB 3.2 port.
The back of the console has its own area for cooling with more vents, so it is recommended that you leave enough free space behind it and above it. As I mentioned before, we have set the Xbox up vertically to the left of our TV so everything should be OK.
When it comes to connectivity, the Xbox Series X has a power input inlet, one HDMI 2.1 output, two USB 3.2, one port for networking and a storage expansion slot that should allow us to add more storage, without tinkering with the actual box.
I was pleasantly surprised to notice that on the back of the console all the ports have tactile indicators, little, raised dots, which can help a low vision or blind individual easily identify which port they are touching. For example, the USB 3.2 ports have three raised dots, while the power input port has only one. This is definitely a nice showcase of universal access and design, so congrats to the people responsible for making this a reality and for bringing it to the final iteration of the product.
The laterals of the Xbox Series X are blank, except for a discreet Xbox logo in the corner of the left side and four rubber pads, just like tiny feet, on the right, which allow for the console to be positioned horizontally. On the bottom of the Xbox Series X is a slightly elevated rounded stand, plus some more vents for cooling which are designed to communicate with those on top and on the back to ensure a proper level of ventilation and cooling for the high-performance system. The Xbox Series X looks sleek, powerful, imposing but at the same time somewhat minimalistic and regardless of whether you choose to set it horizontally or vertically, it will comfortably blend in with its surroundings, so I believe that it is a great addition to all gaming setups.
Performance and Specs
The Xbox Series X is an absolute Tower of Power rocking an eight-core AMD Zen 2 processor running at 3.8GHz, a custom RDNA 2 AMD GPU putting out 12 TFLOPs of processing power, 16GB of GDDR6 Ram and a 1TB Custom SSD.
This translates into real life situations as significantly faster loading times for all games, more stability for the OS and other operations where 4K at 60fps gameplay is no longer just a dream, but a reality. It can even go up to 120fps if needed. The OS takes about 200GB on the 1TB SSD, so we are left with 802GB of free space to store our games and apps.
For older titles the Series X brings FPSBoost and Auto HDR, making them look better, more modern and thanks to a huge catalogue of backward-compatible titles, gamers can replay their favorite titles again and again.
One of the most advertised Xbox Series X features is Quick Resume, which allows us to seamlessly switch between games or applications, putting them into a suspended state and resuming them instantly. The Xbox Series X is a powerhouse when it comes to processing power and will be able to quickly switch between multiple operations. It feels great, just like the Series X is always waiting on our beckoned touch to flex its performance muscles. We tried Quick Resume with some demanding titles and the function performed flawlessly. Alina switched seamlessly between Forza Horizon 5, Halo MCC and another older game from the 360 era. It’s quite impressive the way the Series X can handle these tasks and remain whisper quiet. I’m blind so I can definitely appreciate a gaming console that does not sound like someone is running a vacuum cleaner in the room, like it was the case a few generations ago.
The Xbox series X Controller
At first glance, or touch in my case, the Xbox Series X controller doesn’t look or feel like a drastic change from its predecessor. It features a similar and quite familiar shape, keeping the same buttons and triggers layout. There are some small differences here and there, some of them being the improved D-Pad and the addition of a much-needed share button, but all in all, I’d say that the Xbox Series X controller feels like a more premium, more compact, gamepad, both in look and form factor. I always loved the Xbox controller and I’m pretty happy with this new one as well, although I must say that it does not feel as revolutionary as the DualSense. I think that the Xbox team needs to take more chances when it comes to the controller and to the UI, only by bringing something new they can deliver unforgettable experiences.
One thing that I did right from the beginning was to change the binding of the Share button to turn Narrator On and Off, as I don’t think that I will need to capture too many screenshots considering that I can’t see the screen, ha ha.
I took the opportunity to assign the Xbox Series X Forza Horizon 5 Limited Edition controller to Alina’s profile and the regular black one to my own. This makes it easier for me to sign directly into my profile and to keep settings separate. Also, it helps that the controllers have different textures, the one that came in the box with the Series X is very rugged and the Forza Horizon Limited Edition is smooth, so although I’m blind, I can tell them apart with ease.
Operating system, User Interface and Apps
The Xbox Series X runs on the same updated OS available on Xbox One S/X, as Microsoft wanted a more unified experience on all platforms. This is a good thing in general, it feels familiar, it is accessible thanks to Narrator and makes it easy to pick up, but as I said above, we need something better, something new, something revolutionary in order to feel like we really have a new toy on our hands.
The UI has a tiled layout with customizable icons so you can choose which games or apps you want to see first on the home screen. The dashboard offers easy access to games, apps, settings, profiles, party chat, communities and other features via the Xbox button on the controller. This results in a pretty streamlined interface that allows for plenty of customization and easy navigation.
It should feel more than familiar to those who have owned an Xbox One in the past. The Xbox Series X UI also allows players to express themselves with the inclusion of new themes, and some much-requested dynamic backgrounds.
I have to admit that at times I got lost navigating the somewhat convoluted menus, but with a quick press of the B button I returned successfully at the previous screen.
The Xbox Store also has a nice filter that allows the user to sort content by the accessibility features they are looking for, so it’s easier than ever to find a game with menu narration, color blind filters or other types of accessibility.
From the Xbox Store we can download games or entertainment apps like Apple TV Plus, Apple Music, Disney Plus, Netflix and many other. Even better is that if you would like to use your Xbox series X as a media player or streaming device for entertainment you can take advantage of both Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision, so this means that you can have a more immersive viewing experience.
I think that the UI and the Store could use some better organizing, but I also appreciate the fact that Narrator is a more advanced screen reader witch allows me to even navigate the web via the Edge browser included with the OS.
I understand that a major redesign for the Xbox home page is due this year, so I’m hopeful for a more intuitive and clean interface in the near future.
Game Pass Ultimate
If we were to set aside performance, Quick Resume, Auto HDR, backwards compatibility and everything else, I think that the Series X still has one more killer feature, Game Pass Ultimate. This fantastic subscription service allows us to play over 100 high-quality games with friends on console, PC, phones and tablets for a low monthly price. With games added all the time, there’s always something new to play. Add the fact that it includes an EA Play membership for no additional cost, all the benefits of Xbox Live Gold and even gives you access to Xbox Cloud Gaming, which is still in Beta, and this sounds too good to be true, but it is!
I for one think of Game Pass as just another great accessibility feature. From all the Xbox exclusives, to new or old games, to EA titles, trials, online play or cloud gaming, anyone can pick, choose, and test anything to their heart’s content. If you are a subscriber, you can try out these games and don’t need to pay anything else than your monthly or annual fee. You can just download any game from the offering without fear of losing money, and trust me when I tell you that there are an insane number of games, in a huge variety of genres.
For example, just a few days ago, Alina wanted to see if she likes Atomic Heart, a new, controversial, shooter released day one on the Game Pass service. She did just that, she didn’t find it worthy of our time and deleted the game after 20 minutes, without bad feelings about it or sorry for spending money on it.
Yesterday I was browsing the Game Pass offering and I saw that Age of Empires was available and I just tried it via cloud. I jumped right into the game, no download needed and I although I was not able to play it, at least I took a look at the accessibility features and was impressed by the text to speech implementation.
So, yeah, Game Pass is great, affordable, includes fantastic exclusives, great big titles and even manages to allow anyone to try out things and give a chance to experiences that otherwise they would not even consider exploring.
Verdict
I will return soon with more articles about the experiences I had on my new Xbox Series X, but for now both Alina and I are happy. She played a lot of Forza Horizon 5 already, she will have access to the new expansion and I love to try my hand at hoard in Gears 5.
This year Xbox gamers will be able to enjoy RedFall, Starfield and a new Forza Motorsport, and yes, all of them will be on Game Pass day one, so 2023 looks quite good for Xbox fans.
A new section for Xbox is already live on my blog and there are already reviews for games, accessible to the blind. News about Game Pass titles will be added on a regular base also, so stay tuned. I am hopeful for the future of the gaming industry when it comes to accessibility and the people at Xbox seem to be on the right path. I just politely ask them to incentivize the developers at their 1st party studios to be sure that the next time they deliver a new game it is accessible for blind gamers also.
Last, but not least, I want to thank once again everyone for making an effort to deliver accessible hardware, software and experiences for people with disabilities! If you want to make the world a better place, I will support you in any and every way that I can, because as the people at Xbox say: When everybody plays, we all win.
Xbox Series X unit, extra controller and Xbox Game Pass subscription provided by Xbox Nordics
Victor Dima
Latest posts by Victor Dima (see all)
- Accessibility Review: Assassin’s Creed Shadows – PS5 - Mar 18, 2025
- PlayStation Plus Game Catalog for March 2025 - Mar 15, 2025
- Celebrate MAR10 Day with the New LEGO Super Mario: Mario Kart – Mario & Standard Kart Set - Mar 10, 2025
