XBOX 25th Anniversary Brings New Fable Gameplay, Doom Mode & Classic Achievements

The XBOX 25th anniversary arrives this Sunday, and XBOX CEO Asha Sharma spent the day posting one announcement after another. Here is everything she shared, starting with the console you already own. For the XBOX 25th anniversary, rotating home backgrounds are rolling out to XBOX Insiders in the Alpha Skip-Ahead ring.

Press X to favorite any dynamic background, then shuffle your favorites so it changes at sign-in or every hour, day, or week. Backgrounds from special edition controllers like the X25 stay usable when that controller is disconnected.

Insiders also get a side guide and a library section for disc games with digital licenses.

XBOX Playback is also live for the XBOX 25th anniversary, covering what you played, who you played with, and what you achieved over 25 years. Watch yours on your dashboard or the XBOX site until December 31 in 15 countries.

For the XBOX 25th anniversary, longtime fans get a big one: 21 more original XBOX games now run on PC through backward compatibility, bringing the total to 25, one for every year. Star Wars fans get the most, including both Knights of the Old Republic and Battlefront games. Every title supports mouse and keyboard and runs on handhelds like the ROG XBOX Ally.

The XBOX 25th anniversary also gives original XBOX games achievements for the first time. Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2, Blinx, and Conker now have them, and they work on XBOX One and Series X|S too. Some can be unlocked from progress you already made.

To mark the XBOX 25th anniversary, anyone buying a new Windows 11 PC or handheld this holiday gets 25 free XBOX games, including Halo, Skyrim, Doom and Quake, worth over $500. It covers Windows Home devices bought in the US by December 31.

Fable showed four minutes of new gameplay for the XBOX 25th anniversary.

As the Hero of Briar Hill, you and a local hero named Ardan track the woman who attacked your village through Deepwood, following a river to a red glowing cavern of corrupted magic. Fable launches February 23rd, 2027, on XBOX Series X|S, PC, and PS5, and joins Game Pass on day one.

Halo launched alongside the original XBOX, so the XBOX 25th anniversary brings Firefight to Halo: Campaign Evolved as a free winter update. Up to four players survive waves of enemies, with new maps and weapons. You can play it all weekend at Halo Fest in Seattle on December 12th and 13th.

Slaughter Mode arrives in Doom: The Dark Ages Revelations on Monday, November 16. It is an endless horde mode where you earn skulls for skins and choose at each checkpoint whether to bank them or risk them. It is free with the expansion, which Game Pass doesn't include.

idSoftware confirmed it is already working on its next game, and Wolfenstein 3 is officially in production at MachineGames, nine years after The New Colossus. Both landed with the XBOX 25th-anniversary reveals. XBOX also added green items for the XBOX 25th anniversary across Minecraft, Forza Horizon 6, Flight Simulator 2024, Halo, Gears of War: E-Day, and Call of Duty.