Key Takeaways
- Xbox’s October 28 update officially rolls out Mythic Achievements — the long-awaited Xbox equivalent of PlayStation’s Platinum Trophy
- Mythic Achievements are retroactive, meaning any game you’ve already fully completed will automatically award you one
- You can check your Mythic Achievement count under the Gaming tab on your Xbox profile
- DLC achievements are not required — only the game’s original base achievements count toward Mythic status
- Remote Play now supports up to 1440p resolution with higher video bitrates for sharper streaming
- You can now customize your console’s startup animation, choosing from different Xbox generations
- Several bug fixes are included — no more Home screen refresh loops, random download pauses, or Xbox Series X black screen boots
- If the update hasn’t auto-installed, go to Settings → System → Updates to force it manually
Xbox players have been asking for a Platinum Trophy equivalent for nearly two decades, and after 18 years of waiting, Microsoft has finally delivered. The Xbox October 28, 2026 system update is now live, and its biggest addition is Mythic Achievements — Xbox’s official answer to PlayStation’s Platinum Trophies. But that’s not all that dropped in this update. There’s a solid list of new features and bug fixes that make this one of the more substantial Xbox updates in recent memory. Here’s a breakdown of everything that’s new.
Mythic Achievements: Xbox’s Platinum Trophy Is Finally Here
Let’s be real — this is the one everyone’s been waiting for. Mythic Achievements are now officially live with the October 28 update, and they work exactly how you’d expect: complete all of a game’s original achievements, and you earn a Mythic Achievement as a special recognition of that 100% completion milestone. It’s the same fundamental idea as Sony’s Platinum Trophy, and after 18 years it’s genuinely great to see Xbox finally implementing it.
The feature was first leaked back in September when artwork and an unlock animation were discovered in an Xbox PC App update, and now it’s fully rolled out to all Xbox players — not just Insiders. Completing all of a game’s original achievements earns it Mythic status, and importantly, DLC achievements are excluded from the requirement. That means you don’t need every piece of additional content to hit Mythic status on a game — only what shipped with the base release counts. DLC and later updates can add more achievements, but those do not block Mythic status, and Mythic status is permanent once earned.
The part that will genuinely excite long-time Xbox players is the retroactive nature of the system. If you 100% completed a game in the past — even as far back as an Xbox 360 title — you’ll still get that Mythic Achievement retroactively. So completionists with years of fully-cleared games are in for a pleasant surprise when they boot up their console after this update. You can track your Mythic Achievement count under the Gaming tab on your Xbox profile, alongside your Gamerscore milestones and overall completion history.
This has been one of the most requested Xbox features for years, and it’s hard to overstate how much it changes the feel of going for 100% completion on a game. There’s now a tangible reward at the finish line — something PlayStation fans have had since 2008.
1440p Remote Play: Sharper Streaming From Your Console
The second biggest addition in this update is a significant upgrade to Xbox Remote Play. Remote Play now supports resolutions up to 1440p with higher video bitrates on supported devices and networks. This applies specifically to Remote Play — where your own Xbox console runs the game and streams it to another device — rather than Xbox Cloud Gaming, which streams from Microsoft’s servers separately.
If you’re planning to use this feature, make sure your console’s display resolution is set to 1440p or 4K UHD under Settings → General → TV & display options to get the most out of the upgrade. The jump in quality should be noticeable if you’ve been using Remote Play regularly — the previous quality ceiling was a real limiting factor for anyone using it on a good monitor or tablet.
Startup Animations: Pick Your Era
This one is pure nostalgia fuel. Players can now pick from four startup animations: the original Xbox One boot screen, the Xbox One X sequence, the Xbox Series X|S animation, or the “We Are Xbox” animation. The setting lives under Settings → System → Startup, and you can also choose whether the animation plays with sound or silently. It’s a small quality-of-life feature, but the ability to bring back that original Xbox One boot screen is the kind of thing that’ll hit differently depending on how long you’ve been in the Xbox ecosystem.
Everything Else in the October 28 Xbox Update
Beyond Mythic Achievements, 1440p Remote Play, and startup animations, this update packs in several other quality-of-life improvements worth knowing about.
Profile and Badge Updates
Your Xbox profile now displays detailed badge information, giving you a better view of your milestones and accomplishments at a glance. The Gaming tab introduced alongside Mythic Achievements pulls all of this together in one place — achievements, Gamerscore badges, and your completed games list.
Local Search
A new local search feature has been added so you can find specific games or achievements more quickly when you’ve got a long library or achievement list to scroll through. If you’ve been on Xbox for years and your game list is massive, this is a welcome addition.
Game Saves: Sort, Delete, and View
Managing local saves just got easier. The update adds improved tools for sorting, viewing, and deleting local game saves — small but genuinely useful for anyone who’s accumulated saves across a lot of titles over the years.
Xbox Cloud Gaming in My Games & Apps
Cloud games you’ve played through Xbox Game Pass will now appear directly in My Games & Apps, making them easier to find and return to. On top of that, downloads will continue running in the background while you’re actively cloud gaming — provided your internet connection is solid enough to handle both simultaneously without causing lag.
Party Chat Infrastructure Improvements
Party chat has been cleaned up under the hood with improved infrastructure, which should translate to more reliable voice connection quality during group sessions.
Bug Fixes in the October 28 Xbox Update
Alongside the new features, this update addresses a handful of bugs that have been causing headaches for players. The Home screen refreshing in a loop should now be fixed, random unexplained download pauses have been addressed, and the Xbox Series X black screen on boot issue — which caught a number of players off guard — has been resolved. Broken images and text on some compilation discs showing up incorrectly in the recent games list are also fixed, along with focus being reset or lost when refreshing the My Games & Apps list. General memory, performance, and stability improvements have been rolled in as well.
How to Install the Xbox October 2026 Update
The update should install automatically on most consoles. If it hasn’t already applied, head to Settings → System → Updates and force the installation manually. Given everything in this update — especially Mythic Achievements — it’s worth getting it installed sooner rather than later if your console hasn’t already done so.
For more Xbox gaming news, check out our full breakdown of the Xbox Free Play Days lineup this weekend with Dead by Daylight, Wuchang, and more. And if you’re on Steam, don’t miss the Football Manager 27 free preview running on Steam right now before its November 10 launch.
