Xbox’s PC classics list reaches 25. Only four get the new achievements.

Microsoft's latest backwards-compatibility expansion carries two different benefits, and players should not confuse them: more original Xbox games can now run on PC, while a much smaller group is gaining achievements.

The November 12 announcement adds 21 titles to the PC programme in one drop, taking the total to 25. Microsoft tied the timing to a milestone — Jason Ronald's post on Xbox Wire frames the expansion as part of 25 years of Xbox — and the company says this is not the end of it: more original Xbox games are planned for PC in the future. What landed today is a single announcement with two separate lists inside it, and they do not overlap the way a quick read suggests.

The 21 games joining the PC library

Eleven of the 21 additions carry the Star Wars name: Battlefront and Battlefront II, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, Jedi Starfighter, Starfighter: Special Edition, Republic Commando, The Clone Wars, and the two Knights of the Old Republic games. That concentration is no accident — licensed Star Wars titles were a pillar of the original Xbox library, and they dominate this wave the same way they dominated the console's later years on shelves.

The remaining ten are a stranger mix: Armed and Dangerous, Disney's Chicken Little, Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb, Red Faction II, Secret Weapons Over Normandy, Thrillville, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, and the two TimeSplitters games — TimeSplitters 2 and TimeSplitters: Future Perfect. Morrowind is the heavyweight of the group, a sprawling open-world RPG.

The 21 join the four games that opened the PC programme earlier this year: BLiNX: The Time Sweeper, Conker: Live and Reloaded, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge and Fuzion Frenzy. That first wave also put original Xbox games on handhelds such as the ROG Xbox Ally family for the first time. Microsoft says it has improved performance and stability for those first four games alongside this expansion, and that every game in the PC library now supports mouse and keyboard.

Which games get achievements?

The first four are Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, its sequel The Sith Lords, BLiNX: The Time Sweeper and Conker: Live and Reloaded.

It is the first time this has ever been possible. The original Xbox predates the achievement system — Gamerscore arrived with the Xbox 360 generation — so these games have run for two decades, on original hardware and through every backward-compatible release since, with no achievements attached to them at all. Microsoft calls achievements one of the most requested features from the community, and says it worked closely with each game's developers and publishers to design lists that fit the spirit of each title, rather than bolting on a generic template.

That change also applies on Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles. Microsoft says players need the latest system update, and in some cases achievements may unlock based on progress already made. It has not promised that every achievement will unlock retroactively, or that every game in the expanded PC catalogue now has them. The other 21 games play exactly as they always have — no Gamerscore attached. Microsoft says achievements will come to more original Xbox games over time, and the per-game design work it describes, sitting down with each title's original developers and publishers, is the obvious reason the rollout starts at four rather than twenty-five.

A programme Microsoft once called finished

Some context explains why a 25-game PC library counts as news. Backward compatibility began on Xbox One in November 2015, with Xbox 360 games; original Xbox titles followed in October 2017. The catalogue grew in waves, and every game in it carried forward to Xbox Series X|S at those consoles' launch. Then, on November 15, 2021 — the original Xbox's 20th anniversary — Microsoft added more than 70 games and called the batch the "latest and final addition," saying it had reached the limit of its ability to bring older games to the catalogue because of licensing, legal and technical constraints.

That was supposed to be the end of the story. The PC programme reopened it on a new platform this year, and the achievement work reopens it again: the catalogue is no longer a frozen list being preserved, but one Microsoft is actively building on. Achievements are new development on decades-old games — designed fresh, with the original studios consulted — which is a different kind of commitment than emulation, and a plausible sign of where the programme goes next.

What PC players need

This is an expansion of access to original Xbox versions, not a claim that every title is appearing on PC for the first time. Many of the Star Wars games already had PC editions. The distinction matters if you already own one elsewhere: that alone is not proof you qualify for this Xbox programme.

Nor is this a giveaway of 25 games. Microsoft specifies Windows 11, a download and supported markets, with a game purchase or Game Pass subscription potentially required.

Microsoft marks Morrowind and Grabbed by the Ghoulies as Game Pass titles among the additions. The four earlier entries — BLiNX, Conker, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge and Fuzion Frenzy — are also marked for Game Pass, which means the whole first wave and two of the biggest new names sit inside a subscription. Check the individual listing before buying, or assuming your subscription covers the whole collection.

For returning players, the practical split is simple: check the 25-game catalogue for PC availability, then check the separate four-game list for achievements. One announcement does not make those lists interchangeable.