Due to the low sales of the Wii U, there is an understandable desire to see its more noteworthy titles brought to the Switch. Nearly every Wii U exclusive has already been ported in one way or another, with one major exception. Despite being one of the more polarizing entries in the series for its greater emphasis on open-world exploration rather than narrative, Xenoblade Chronicles X has been one of the most ardently wished for remasters, and one that, until recently, didn’t look like we were going to see until after the launch of the Switch 2, if at all. However, against all odds, Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is releasing in the Switch’s final stretch, and early impressions suggest that it could be a fitting send off for Nintendo’s most successful console to date.
Xenoblade Chronicles X opens with the dramatic flair that has become a trademark of Monolith Soft-developed RPGs. The year is 2054, and humanity is caught in the crossfire between two warring alien species, forcing them to abandon Earth to survive. Several interstellar arks are launched, but only a few escape destruction, and one of these, the White Whale, crash lands on a planet known as Mira. Several lifepods are scattered across the planet, including your character’s, who you will create yourself from a modest selection of options. After you are awoken from stasis, your task is to explore the new world of Mira and colonize the planet for the surviving citizens of the White Whale, which has now been rechristened as New LA, and seek out the Lifehold, which houses the majority of the survivors. However, Mira is a strange and unknown planet, populated by many hostile creatures (collectively referred to as indigens) and may also house more aliens with more malevolent intentions towards the survivors.
Despite this explosive start, Xenoblade Chronicles X places the progression of affairs squarely on your shoulders. After being strong-armed into joining BLADE (an organization which basically functions as a jack-of-all-trades handyman for the surviving populace) and choosing which Division you’d like to be part of (a largely unimportant choice that just grants you slightly better bonuses for completing specific activities), you’re left to explore to your heart’s content, with the story mission objectives a loose goal that you will need to get around to eventually.
Venturing out into the world of Mira is a dangerous and exciting prospect, and there is an immensely satisfying sense of scale to it that all feels familiar, yet also otherworldly. Unnatural rock formations, exotic plant life, and clearly alien ruins at various different technological stages, all litter the landscape, inviting you to explore them and unearth their secrets. Xenoblade Chronicles X also frequently bucks the JRPG trend of starting you off with small, manageable encounters before gradually introducing you to tougher opponents. Many who have played Xenoblade Chronicles will no doubt remember seeing the formidable level 81 Territorial Rotbart ambling around Gaur Plains when they entered for the first time, ready to crush them should they venture too close to it. This kind of encounter is commonplace on Mira, with colossal indigens, both benign and actively hostile, scattered throughout each segment of the map, promising a swift end should you stumble into their field of vision or hearing range.
This effect is one that makes the various biomes of Mira feel more organic and open-ended, as there are no clearly defined or deliberately forced boundaries on places where you should or shouldn’t be in accordance with your level. The only limit (at least initially) is whether you can physically get there or not. There is an undeniable thrill of sneaking past giant indigens that would snuff out your frail existence in a heartbeat to reach a new area, or salvage a chunk of debris from the White Whale for parts. Although it can be as frustrating as it can be rewarding at times, as more than once when in combat I was ambushed by a passing indigen that was several levels higher than my party, which saw me deposited back to the last checkpoint, often far from where I wanted to be.
Combat in Xenoblade Chronicles X shares the same DNA as its predecessor, but is of a notably more measured tempo. You’ll switch between melee and ranged weapons at the tap of a button, or automatically when you activate a skill that uses that specific weapon, with your potential loadout of weapons determined by your chosen character Class. Most indigens have body parts that can be targeted to neutralise their more potent attacks and result in specific item drops, incentivizing a more tactical approach; this is especially important if you’re taking on larger adversaries who have noticeably more hit points to match their size.
As part of the Definitive Edition, your skills can now be activated at a moment’s notice even when on cooldown via the new Quick Recast gauge, which is a fantastic quality-of-life feature that allows you to keep the rhythm going in combat. The whole process simply feels more engaging now since you’re not stuck waiting and watching your characters auto-attack for half a minute before you can take a more active role in the on-screen action again. Your allies will also call out in combat for you to activate certain skills to complement their own actions, and there is a much greater emphasis on this element of timing and teamwork, which activates party-wide buffs and healing, charges the TP gauges for stronger skill activation (or can be stored for reviving downed allies) and most importantly, deals damage at an increased pace.
If you played the original release back on the Wii U, you’ll no doubt miss the convenience of being able to glance at the map at any time on the gamepad whilst playing on the TV screen. The map is now accessed via the menu and pauses the game, breaking up the gameplay flow slightly as you navigate the world. However, this is perhaps the only benefit to playing the original over the Switch version that I was able to discern in my playtime with the game thus far. The game’s UI has received a significant overhaul, now lining up more with the other Xenoblade titles and being far more organized in how the information is presented, and I had no problems making out the text when playing the game in handheld mode either. The game has also received quite the significant visual overhaul, with sharper textures across the board, and character models that match the aesthetic of the other Xenoblade Chronicles titles, giving a more modern appearance.
Twenty hours in and I have barely scratched the surface of Mira, and despite having played the game exhaustively on the Wii U when it was first released, I still nonetheless find myself excited by what lies ahead. Exploring the expansive biomes, engaging in battle with colossal alien lifeforms, and reconnecting with the eclectic cast of humans and friendlier alien natives, has been made so much more compelling thanks to the various quality-of-life features that have been implemented. With trailers and pre-release information promising new additional story content and characters, it is looking like the wait for Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition has been worth it. Be sure to check back for our full verdict next month ahead of the game’s launch on 20th March 2025.
A copy of Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition was provided by Nintendo UK for the purposes of this preview.
I found footage of the character creator on YouTube, and I’m really happy to see that it has male and female options. It makes me want to forgive them for using the censored version (as long as there’s no additional censorship from the Wii U version).
It’s a shame there’s no boob slider in the so called “definite edition”. At least they didn’t go full on woke and change male and female to “type 1/2” or some other crap like that.
Either way, other than the boob slider issue, the changes and additions look great.
feels more like a pearl clutching christian mothers thing than anything about inclusivity
Regardless of the reason, it shouldn’t have been removed in the first place.
Is the framerate a stable 30? No noticable dips or anything?
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition sounds like an epic adventure, especially with all the new quality-of-life improvements! But after exploring Mira and battling colossal aliens, nothing beats refueling with a good meal. Speaking of which, have you checked out Burger King’s menu prices lately? They’ve got some great deals on Whoppers and meal combos that make for the perfect gaming snack! 🍔🎮 #XenobladeChroniclesX #BurgerKing #GamingFuel
A few heads up for reviewers with the upcoming release of Xenoblade X definitive edition.
Remember to update the game, version 1.0.1 is already out, for instance.
The game is not a spin-off, never was, never was called as such by the developers. Was never a black sheep either, its critical reception is higher than 2 and torna, and its user reception is as high as 1 definitive edition.
Also, careful with strong statements such as has no connection with the rest of the franchise. This does not match what said by developers in interviews around the time of 1 definitive edition. Instead, just say “you don’t need to play other games to play and understand this one”, which can also be said for each entry in the blade franchise, and is a more future proof statement.
On the game, please remember to check the options menu, there may be options there to customize the battle UI to make it even more clear. For instance, the Soul voice text bubbles.
For performance, remember that Zelda BOTW (which is also a Wii U game) and TOTK have several instances of noticeable frame drops, from kakariko, deku tree, launching enemies with two-hand sword, and going a bit over the top on crafting. If you guys mostly ignored these problems in Zelda, you won’t mind any minor potential rare drops in XDE, for consistency, right, right?
And since I mentioned Zelda, let’s talk about the silent avatar. Not all modern games put voices in the avatars, you guys are fine with Zelda and Baldur gates 3 doing silent avatar, so it comes to reason you should be fine with a silent avatar in XDE as well.
On Story and open world structure, remember that in Zelda TOTK, if you do tear of the dragon sidequest early you basically breaks the story, because then you are forced to watch characters making a bunch of dump questions or statements regarding Princess Zelda, and cannot do anything about because link, who is supposed to be you in the world, is not given an option to tell them what he/we already figured out eons ago, and yet many of you call that game an open world masterpiece. TOTK story is also full of inconsistencies regarding the events of BOTW, its direct prequel. Yet many of you fully ignored that. So I very much hope that, for consistency sake, I will not see some of you making a big deal of the Avatar in X not having much agency in the (main) story or about story quality…
Also, the avatar in X is effectively the Point of View character, but not the main character of the story, that, is clearly Elma. And that is FINE. There is no hard rules that says that the PoV char also has to be the main character. And if you, for some reason, needs to feel like the main character of the story, simply put Elma as the leader in the menu and play as her, done, simple as that. The avatar has a lot of weight however on the sidequests (normal and affinity missions), which is also story, regardless of not being mandatory, and are a big part of the experience.
On X being “too different” from the other Xenoblade, please, please be careful with hyperboles. While yes, it is different, it is not THAT different, we had entries in the Zelda series that are less alike between each other than that, and most of you don’t make a big deal out of it. Not to say then of Final Fantasy where the games can vary widely. So again, not a huge deal.
One of the most pointless comments of our generation. Almost unbelievable.
Yet you still posted it anyway :’)
The game is not a spin-off, never was, never was called as such by the developers.
“It seemed as though this project was announced by Iwata as a completely new game series, so why did you retroactively make this part of the Xenoblade line?
Tetsuya Takahashi: So as it turns out, the idea of it being part of “Xeno” was always there. I have to clarify a little bit because not in the sense that it’s a sequel to the previous game but rather it is a new series that is still “Xeno”. That’s how I was thinking of it.”
Xeno- is not a series, it is not a metaseries despite what one moderator on wikipedia pushes, and the xeno- games do not have continuity between the various series. Xeno- just means it is a Takahashi game, with the same spirit and themes as his other xeno- games. It is a franchise, a naming convention for marketing so fans know what to expect when they buy it. They have said multiple times XCX was not connected at all to the mainline Xenoblade series. They have said Xenoblade 2 and 3 are numbered that way because XCX is not a part of the series. XCX was from its inception planned to be its own separate series. Takahashi had an entire book of lore planned for this separate series.
If the character customization is still censored, there’s no reason to believe everything else is censorship free. Ugh. Whatever. It’s fine. I’ll just buy this physical so I can get it used for about 20 bucks. One of the perks of the Switch & Switch 2 not having a digital only version of the system: you can avoid paying full price for censored games. Hm. That reminds me. I should check to see how much a used copy of Tokyo Mirage Sessions costs.