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Evaluation info
Platform reviewed: Nintendo Swap
Out there on: Nintendo Swap
Launch date: March 20, 2025
2053 A.D. The final bastion of humanity flees Earth because it’s caught up in a battle between two unknown alien factions. The White Whale mothership crash lands on the seemingly liveable planet of Mira the place humanity has an opportunity to start once more, however their struggles are removed from over. Two months later, you’re found in a drop pod with out a single reminiscence save on your title. And so begins Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Version – simply one of many best RPGs (role-playing video games) I’ve performed in recent times.
As the most recent resident of New Los Angeles – humanity’s large house base that efficiently landed on Mira principally intact – you’re swiftly inspired to hitch BLADE (a helpful shortening of Builders of the Legacy After the Destruction of Earth), an elite power tasked with every thing from exploring Mira and subduing threats to gathering sources and holding the peace on house floor.
Inside your first hour, you’ll choose considered one of eight BLADE divisions to be part of, every specializing in a specific discipline (although these are pretty inconsequential exterior of the web modes which I wasn’t capable of attempt for this overview). These embody Pathfinders who specialise in deploying FrontierNav probes to broaden the map, and Interceptors who’re tasked with dealing with harmful fauna. Regardless of which division you decide, you’ll nonetheless get to discover Mira in just about any manner you want.
Whereas Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Version does have a essential story to observe, it’s not as a lot of a spotlight in comparison with the opposite three video games within the sequence. As an alternative, you’ll be spending the majority of your playtime ticking off aspect quests and get together member affinity missions (of which there are lots of each) with the intention to meet necessities for unlocking story missions and increasing your property base of New LA.
On paper it feels like a slog – and certainly many quests can boil all the way down to easy merchandise fetches or enemy looking. Fortunately, the context of every quest makes nearly all of them value doing. Every one meaningfully expands the lore of Mira and its many alien races. There’s additionally a unbelievable feeling of development right here, as quantity of quests will unlock extra options in New LA in addition to permit these different races to steadily inhabit the town.
There’s an actual feeling of development and group that’s seldom seen within the style. And, if you happen to’re paying consideration, you’ll discover the assorted races co-existing. They’ll kind their very own pal teams, frequent business institutions, develop romantic relationships, and contribute to New LA in their very own methods. It’s not a real-time simulation by any means, but it surely all nonetheless provides a lot element and taste to the world round you.
In abstract, I like the world of Mira, and I like Xenoblade Chronicles X’s strategy to character growth and total development. Positive, the prolonged hole between essential story missions received’t sit proper with everybody. Consider it like a scorching bathtub; dipping a toe in might be intimidating, however if you happen to permit your self to slowly settle in, you’ll discover an extremely rewarding and satisfying expertise. It’d properly be a re-release, however Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Version is handily one of many best Nintendo Switch games at the moment.
The world’s your (extraordinarily harmful) oyster
In addition to the hub of New LA, Mira is break up into 5 distinct (and totally large) biomes. Bordering the town is Primordia, a lush grassland dotted with lakes and mountains. To its west is Noctilum, a labyrinthine forest that mixes huge open areas with loads of slender pathways to discover. Within the east you have got the desert-like Oblivia, then off to the north is the ethereal Sylvalum after which bordering that’s the volcanic area of Cauldros.
Greatest bit
Exploring the world of Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Version is its personal multi-faceted reward. It aids with total development, positive, but it surely’s additionally filled with particular person moments that wowed me. For example, working by way of the towering forests of Noctilum for the primary time whereas its vocal-driven theme kicked in was a merely awe-inspiring second. The Xenoblade sequence has a few of the finest music in gaming, and that’s definitely no completely different with X.
Whereas these all sound like your cookie-cutter online game biomes, every has distinctive touches that assist them actually stand out. Noctilum, for instance, is dense with massive coral-like constructions. Oblivia is dotted with towering ruins of an historical civilization. Cauldros is closely industrialized, having been largely taken over by the antagonist Ganglion race.
As you would possibly count on from the Xenoblade sequence, there’s no scarcity of breathtaking vistas to find and the sense of scale is really unmatched. The previous adage of ‘if you happen to see it, you possibly can go there’ is commonly claimed however hardly ever truly true. Nevertheless, in Xenoblade Chronicles X, you’d higher imagine that that is completely the case. Particularly later within the recreation once you unlock the Skell, a flight-capable mech that drastically enhances your traversal choices.
What’s particularly nice about Xenoblade Chronicles X is that you simply’re free to discover a lot of Mira from the off together with your get together of 4 together with the participant character. At first, your key goal in exploration shall be discovering FrontierNav websites at which you’ll unlock new quick journey factors and reveal surrounding factors of curiosity comparable to treasure areas or highly effective Tyrant-class enemies.
On the subject of enemies, you’ll swiftly discover that Mira is an extremely harmful place. Excessive-level mobs are ample, usually strategically positioned to discourage careless exploration. Xenoblade Chronicles X isn’t an influence fantasy; you’ll often fall foul of enemies more than pleased to ambush you once you least count on it. Fortunately, punishment for a full get together wipe is lenient, merely taking you again to the closest landmark or quick journey level.
Enemies are additionally surprisingly dynamic of their conduct. Many solely seem at sure occasions of the day. They will additionally change their strategy to you relying in your mode of journey; some could also be completely prepared to depart you be if you happen to’re on foot. However in your Skell, they could be extra hostile. Skell journey, whereas handy, isn’t precisely a free lunch, both. Skell gasoline is a restricted useful resource and sure airborne mobs will assault in the event that they spot you flying round.
This may increasingly sound tremendous irritating, however the flipside is that ultimately, it is possible for you to to battle again towards enemies that beforehand gave you a tough time. It’s so satisfying to plow by way of an space that was at one level impassible because of the degree hole. As you proceed to enhance your floor gear and Skell builds, you’ll steadily discover that extra of Mira opens as much as you in a really pure manner.
Weapons, blades and indigens
Describing Xenoblade Chronicles X’s fight in full would require no less than one other 5,000 phrases and my boss would hate me, so I’ll do my finest to element the highlights as an alternative. Briefly, X’s battle system is wealthy in depth and so extremely enjoyable when you get your head round it. However due to Definitive Version’s higher tutorialization, issues are usually a lot simpler to be taught.
You and your get together members could have entry to a pool of Arts (learn: expertise) relying on their class (you possibly can freely improve and change yours as you progress, too) which you’ll assign to considered one of eight slots on the Arts Palette. Arts are color-coded; orange and yellow are melee and ranged assaults respectively. Inexperienced Arts present assist comparable to buffs or therapeutic. Purple Arts usually apply debuffs to enemies, whereas Blue Arts grant the character an ‘aura’ which supplies numerous non permanent advantages.
What makes fight in X so participating is you possibly can’t simply be throwing out Arts willy-nilly. Most shall be stronger when used beneath sure standards, comparable to hitting an enemy from its aspect, or activating the Artwork when you have an Aura lively. It’s largely as much as you which ones Arts to place in your Palette, however the recreation strongly incentivizes utilizing Arts that synergize with each other.
A brand new ‘fast cooldown’ button has been added to Definitive Version, too, which helps you to instantly use an Artwork with out ready for its cooldown. The Artwork often received’t be as highly effective on this state, but it surely’s a really helpful factor to have if you happen to’re clearing out a bunch of weaker mobs or trying to rapidly reapply a debuff.
That’s most obvious with Xenoblade Chronicles X’s coolest fight characteristic: Overdrive. Unlocked early on within the story, Overdrive is a massively highly effective party-wide state. It lasts for about half a minute, throughout which period your Arts cooldowns shall be drastically sped up and the get together will have the ability to entry quite a lot of bonuses based mostly on the Arts you employ.
In Definitive Version, it’s simpler than ever to inform which Arts to make use of, due to a color-coded chart displayed on-screen throughout Overdrive. For instance, utilizing three melee Arts in a row will enhance the expertise gained from the battle. Utilizing a Blue and Inexperienced Artwork in succession will present therapeutic, and utilizing a Inexperienced Artwork adopted by every other will double its hit rely which will increase your TP (the useful resource required to enter Overdrive within the first place) achieve.
Ideally, to get essentially the most out of robust encounters, you’ll need to get your TP again as much as 3,000 inside your Overdrive window with the intention to activate it once more, replenishing its timer. If managed accurately, you possibly can preserve the Overdrive state lively all through a complete battle. Pulling that off feels so, so satisfying and within the late recreation, it turned the rationale why I believe X has the very best fight system in the entire sequence. It’s up there with Xenoblade Chronicles 2’s tackle the Chain Assault system for me.
As nice because the on-foot fight is, I sadly can’t say the identical for Skell fight. It’s as gradual and clunky right here because it was within the unique. Skells really feel extremely floaty, and the Arts supplied by its tools usually have for much longer cooldowns. You can also’t use the fast cooldown characteristic whereas in your mech. They will definitely be highly effective, and hopping into your Skell if you happen to’re working low on well being is a viable tactic, however I do want builders Monolith Smooth may’ve taken the time to tighten up Skell fight because it simply doesn’t present the identical rush because the on-foot Overdrive loop.
The fairest of all of them
Whereas Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Version is definitely slightly dated within the visuals division, on no account does that make it an unsightly recreation. Quite the opposite, it supplies a few of the most beautiful environments I’ve ever seen rendered on Nintendo Swap. Improved character fashions and an total bump in decision additionally assist Definitive Version look a lot sharper and cleaner than its Wii U counterpart.
As ever with the sequence, draw distance is extremely spectacular for a Swap recreation. Nevertheless, some fairly egregious object pop-in remains to be a problem, particularly within the busy hub of New LA. Non-player characters (NPCs), objects, and transferring autos can materialize proper in entrance of you. This could additionally occur out within the open world; I’ve had many occasions the place I’ve descended onto a seemingly empty patch of earth to seize a treasure or open up a FrontierNav website, just for a bunch of high-level enemies to spawn in and obliterate my Skell straight away.
In higher information, efficiency is a principally steady 30fps (frames per second), solely hardly ever dipping when loading into a brand new space after quick journey. Load occasions are additionally impressively fast for the Swap; it wasn’t usually that I needed to wait longer than 10 seconds to beam into a brand new location, making basic exploration extraordinarily fast and handy.
Lastly, I’ve to make an observation of Xenoblade Chronicles X’s god-tier soundtrack. Composer Hiroyuki Sawano – well-known for his work on Assault on Titan and Kill la Kill – supplies a legendary rating for this recreation, and he’s again with new music for Definitive Version, too. His work right here does really feel distinctly anime, with epic, sweeping tracks for the sport’s biomes and vocal-driven battle themes that I by no means get bored with listening to.
Ought to I play Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Version?
Play it if…
Do not play it if…
Accessibility
Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Version is sadly very minimal by way of accessibility options. You’ve acquired subtitles on by default and you may modify dialogue textual content pace, however that’s actually about it. There aren’t any colorblind choices, which might have been useful to some gamers given the battle system’s reliance on color-coded Arts.
How I reviewed Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Version
My playthrough of Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Version lasted round 80 hours. This included the principle story, most aspect quests, quantity of affinity missions, and the brand new postgame content material. I sadly wasn’t capable of check the sport’s on-line options for this overview, as these will open up on launch day.
I performed the sport on my Nintendo Switch OLED in each docked and handheld modes. I discovered it to be surprisingly playable and steady in handheld mode regardless of the drop in total picture high quality and determination, however nonetheless seems to be noticeably much less soupy than different Xenoblade titles on that OLED display. For docked play, I performed on an LG CX OLED TV primarily with a GameSir Nova controller.
First reviewed March 2025