Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge is day two of our series on 15 Xbox classics you can still play on Xbox Series X|S. FASA Studio’s air-pirate adventure was one of the original Xbox’s flagship Xbox Live games, and in 2026 it’s included with Game Pass and playable well beyond the console it launched on.
Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge at a glance
Developer: FASA Studio
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Original release: 21 October 2003 (North America), 31 October 2003 (Europe)
Original console: Xbox
Xbox Store price: £9.19 / $9.99
Game Pass: Essential, Premium and Ultimate
Backward compatible since: 24 October 2017
Xbox Play Anywhere: yes
What is Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge?
It’s an arcade air-combat game set in an alternate 1930s America, where the country has split apart and planes and zeppelins have become the main way to travel. You play Nathan Zachary, leader of the Fortune Hunters air pirate gang, who sets out to avenge the death of his old friend “Doc” Fassenbiender.
The campaign spans 20 levels, and several of them are open areas where you fly to mission markers, take on side jobs, race, raid airships or steal new planes. Ten aircraft are available in the campaign, and you can jump out of your plane mid-mission to take over another aircraft or a fixed gun on the ground.
Multiplayer supports four players in split-screen and up to 16 players over System Link. On the original Xbox, it also supported 16 players over Xbox Live.
Crimson Skies’ history on Xbox
Microsoft announced the game in March 2002 for release that autumn. FASA Studio first planned it as an “interactive movie” with a long, cutscene-heavy story and linear missions. After playtesting, the team pushed the release back a year, scrapped that idea, simplified the plot and opened up the mission design.
The extra time also brought Xbox Live support. FASA Studio had already built MechAssault, one of the first big Xbox Live games, and that team’s experience cut the time needed to add online play. After launch, Microsoft released free downloadable content through 2003 and 2004, including new planes, maps, voice chat and two extra multiplayer modes.
The pulp adventure style led the team to hire Drew Struzan, the artist behind the Indiana Jones film posters, to paint the box art. Stan LePard wrote the score, which was performed by the Northwest Sinfonia. LePard wrote the music so that tracks could be joined in any order without clashing, which lets the game shuffle them.
Crimson Skies came back on Xbox 360 as one of the first Xbox Originals, a service that started on 4 December 2007 and let players download full original Xbox games. It was then announced at E3 2017 as one of the first original Xbox games coming to Xbox One backward compatibility, which arrived on 24 October 2017.
Why it matters
Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge is a good example of how Microsoft used its own studios to show what Xbox Live could do in its first couple of years. Its online modes, rankings and free add-ons were central to how the game was built and sold.
It’s also one of the original Xbox games Microsoft has used to lead its newer backward compatibility work. In July 2026, it was one of the first four original Xbox games released on PC through Xbox backward compatibility, and it’s reported to be among the first original Xbox games lined up for achievements, as we covered in our story on original Xbox games appearing in achievement lists. They aren’t available yet, and there’s no confirmed date.
How to play Crimson Skies on Xbox Series X|S today
Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge has been backward compatible on Xbox One since 24 October 2017, so it runs on Xbox Series X|S too. You can buy it from the Xbox Store for £9.19 or $9.99.
It’s also included with Game Pass Essential, Premium and Ultimate, and with PC Game Pass. Our Game Pass tiers guide explains what each plan includes.
It’s an Xbox Play Anywhere game, so buying it once gives you the Xbox console version and the PC version. The store lists it as Xbox One X Enhanced. It doesn’t have FPS Boost.
The original Xbox Live service for original Xbox games closed in April 2010, so the game’s original online modes are no longer available.
If you have the original disc, an Xbox One or Xbox Series X will recognise it and download the backward-compatible version.
More on Crimson Skies
Our Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge hub collects all our coverage, including updates on achievements. Tomorrow, the series moves on to BioWare’s Jade Empire.
