Xbox’s PC backward-compatibility project has expanded with 21 additional games from the original Xbox era. The new arrivals bring the stated total on PC to 25 titles, following four games that entered the program in July.
There is an almost comically clear theme to this batch: 11 of the 21 games are Star Wars titles. That means more than half of the newly added games come from a single galaxy, covering games built around ground combat, spaceflight, action, role-playing, and Clone Wars-era stories.
The update is positioned around the Xbox console’s 25th anniversary, producing a tidy numerical milestone: 25 original Xbox games on PC in the console’s 25th year. It is a limited catalog in absolute terms, but the selection makes a more useful point than a raw total would. This is not one narrow slice of the old library. The additions range from role-playing games and shooters to licensed action adventures, racing and stunt-oriented amusement, and family-focused fare.
For players revisiting an older Xbox library through PC, the practical headline is therefore twofold: there are now 21 more games to choose from, and the largest single destination within the update is Star Wars.
The 21 games added to the PC backward-compatibility lineup
Here is the full newly added set:
- Armed and Dangerous
- Disney’s Chicken Little
- The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
- Grabbed by the Ghoulies
- Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb
- Red Faction II
- Secret Weapons Over Normandy
- Star Wars Battlefront
- Star Wars Battlefront II
- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
- Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
- Star Wars Jedi Knight II Jedi Outcast
- Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords
- Star Wars: Republic Commando
- Star Wars: Starfighter – Special Edition
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars
- Thrillville
- TimeSplitters 2
- TimeSplitters: Future Perfect
Why the Star Wars share stands out
Eleven games is not simply a noticeable cluster. It is 11 out of 21 additions, or just over half of the update. The games also represent several very different interpretations of the license, which keeps this from being a batch of near-identical releases.
Star Wars Battlefront and Star Wars Battlefront II place the emphasis on large-scale battles. Republic Commando points players toward squad-focused combat. Jedi Academy and Jedi Outcast bring the Jedi side of the setting into the group, while Jedi Starfighter, Starfighter – Special Edition, and Secret Weapons Over Normandy make the broader update unusually welcoming to fans of aerial action.
Then there are the two Knights of the Old Republic games. Their inclusion matters in a different way because they are role-playing games rather than action-led Star Wars adaptations. Alongside the other additions, they make the update feel less like a genre collection with a franchise theme and more like a snapshot of how broadly the original Xbox period used a major license.
Related coverage includes Xbox Adds 21 Original Xbox Games to PC Backward Compatibility Lineup.
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: The Clone Wars round out the count. Taken together, the 11-game concentration gives people who specifically want older Star Wars games a plainly defined place to start, without requiring them to sift through the entire 25-game PC lineup.
Achievements: four games have them so far
The broader 25-game original Xbox catalog on PC currently includes achievements for four titles:
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords
- Blinx: The Time Sweeper
- Conker: Live and Reloaded
The two Knights of the Old Republic games are part of this newly added 21-game group; Blinx: The Time Sweeper and Conker: Live and Reloaded were already among the earlier four games. Xbox has said it intends to add achievements to more games over time.
Achievements are optional task-and-reward goals attached to a game profile. In this context, their importance is not that they alter the original games themselves. Rather, they give returning players a structured record of progress and provide an additional reason to revisit games they may already know well. The current rollout is selective, however: achievement support should not be assumed for every title in the newly enlarged catalog.
A broad original Xbox selection beyond the Force
The non-Star Wars portion is substantial enough to prevent the update from being defined solely by its franchise heavy-hitters. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is here alongside Red Faction II, TimeSplitters 2, and TimeSplitters: Future Perfect. Those names alone cover markedly different types of play: an open-ended role-playing game, science-fiction shooting, and two entries in a shooter series.
Armed and Dangerous, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Thrillville, and Disney’s Chicken Little further widen the range. The same applies to Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb, another major adventure license in a release otherwise packed with Star Wars. Rather than implying that every original Xbox game is now represented, this selection underlines how varied the system’s library could be across its releases.
That mix is particularly useful for people who want a concise way to browse the update. A player interested in an RPG can look toward Morrowind or either Knights of the Old Republic game. Someone chasing shooters has the TimeSplitters pair, Red Faction II, Republic Commando, and the Battlefront games. Players seeking movie and animation tie-ins have Indiana Jones, Chicken Little, Revenge of the Sith, and The Clone Wars. The names are familiar, but the games do not all serve the same audience.
What “backward compatibility” means here—and what has not been detailed
Backward compatibility generally describes a newer platform’s ability to run software designed for an older one. In this case, the update concerns original Xbox games being added to a PC project, rather than a new game release.
The announced information establishes the titles, the overall total, and the initial achievement-supported group. It does not detail technical implementation, performance changes, controls, purchasing arrangements, regional availability, or whether each game receives any particular enhancement. Those details should not be inferred from the term backward compatibility alone.
Likewise, the announcement does not promise achievements for every game or assign a schedule to future achievement additions. The clearest expectation is simply that the four named games have them now and that Xbox plans to expand that feature.
What this means for Xbox’s anniversary catalog
The update moves the PC catalog from four original Xbox titles to 25. More importantly, it creates several immediately recognizable mini-collections within that number: an 11-game Star Wars group, a pair of TimeSplitters games, and the two Knights of the Old Republic titles, both of which also sit in the achievement-enabled set.
For the 25th anniversary, the selection favors recognizable games across several types of experience rather than a single-purpose nostalgia package. That can make the catalog easier to approach. A player does not need knowledge of every original Xbox release to find an entry point; the strongest paths are visible right in the list.
It also leaves room for the project to grow. With only four of the 25 games currently identified as having achievements, and with Xbox indicating that more achievement support is planned, this first 25-game milestone does not read as a final endpoint. It is a measurable expansion, not a completed archive.
Xbox news is also continuing elsewhere, including a separate Firefight update planned for Halo: Campaign Evolved. For the original Xbox side of the platform’s history, though, this release’s defining image is simple: a 21-game addition in which Star Wars accounts for 11 slots, with Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel among the few currently carrying achievements.
