It’s not long until Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition lands on Nintendo Switch, meaning the entire Xenoblade Chronicles saga will be playable on Nintendo’s hybrid wonder console - and that’s a beautiful thing.
Much like Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition from 2020, Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition keeps things relatively faithful to the original release, but with some notable improvements including more detailed character models, a cleaner user interface, and generally upscaled assets. About 20 hours in so far, I’m in awe at just how well this decade-old Wii U game holds up. Though I suppose I shouldn't be that surprised given developer Monolith Soft's prowess for technical wizardry.
What remains true about Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition is that it still provides an absolutely phenomenal and wholly unique open-world experience. Even with relatively dated visuals, the planet of Mira is stunning to behold. The game has many ways of incentivizing exploration, but going out of your way to witness jaw-dropping vistas is certainly a reward in itself. It's definitely on its way to being considered one of the best RPGs in our view.
It is, however, fair to say that some issues from the original release remain such as the odd cryptic gameplay element and startling object pop-in. Overall, though, Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition is a fantastic upgrade that makes what many fans consider the best game in the series more accessible and approachable than ever before.
Look in the Mira
I won’t delve too deeply into Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition’s story in this preview. But as a quick summary, a spacecraft containing the remnants of humanity escapes Earth as it’s being destroyed by two warring alien factions. After drifting through space for a time, Earth’s forces are set upon by what appears to be said aliens, causing them to crash land on the planet of Mira.
Months later, your player character (whom you get to create yourself) is discovered in an escape pod by combat specialist Elma, who otherwise serves as X’s lead. Bereft of your memories, you dedicate yourself to helping humanity settle on Mira, exploring the planet, and dealing with various crises as they happen.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Xenoblade Chronicles series, you might wonder if X Definitive Edition is a good place to start. I think it broadly is, especially as it isn’t directly tied to the main trilogy (although that could definitely change, as I haven’t yet experienced any of the new content added to this version of the game). There are quite a lot of compounding gameplay systems in X that can make it seem more intimidating overall, however.
Further adding to that intimidation is Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition’s fauna. Now, it’s a pretty hilarious series staple that you’ll find endgame-level monsters casually roaming around early to midgame locales. That’s also true here, but my word does X dial this up to a pretty extreme degree. I’d need more than two hands to count the number of times I’ve been engaged in battle, only for a level 60-90 creature to sneak up from behind and destroy everyone in one fell swoop.
As is the case in the main series, though, punishment for a full party wipe is extremely lenient. You’ll simply respawn at the nearest fast travel point (or FrontierNav Sites, in X’s case) with everything sans maybe your dignity intact. Worst case scenario you’ll have to retread back through a particularly dangerous amount of ground, but that’s really it.
I’ll have a fuller combat breakdown in my review at a later date, but for now, know that things haven’t significantly changed from the original Wii U release, at least in the early throes of progression. You’ve still got your hotbar of cooldown-based skills, as well as the Soul Voice system which boosts the power of your abilities if used when a teammate calls them out to you. It’s all still incredibly engaging, especially when it comes to buildcraft and figuring out which of your skills (and those of your teammates) best synergize with one another.
What a world we find ourselves in
As I mentioned at the top, it’s still astounding just how gorgeous a game Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition is. It’s especially impressive given its facelift is on the lighter side compared to Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition. From the lush valleys of Primordia to the dense jungles of Noctilus, there’s so much variety in each biome that it’ll honestly make your head spin.
Exploration is handled so elegantly, too, largely because it’ll naturally happen while you tick off main and side quest objectives. Filling out your FrontierNav map can be a daunting task at first glance (which is now accessible on-screen via a quick 'Y' button press in place of the Wii U gamepad), but you’ll pretty effortlessly find yourself expanding your network of fast travel points which in turn unlocks more objectives, treasures to find, and resource nodes to periodically extract useful items and currencies from.
There are some blemishes, to be sure. Monolith Soft hasn’t quite been able to rid the game of its rather alarming object pop-in issue which is especially apparent in the hub city of New LA. It’s slightly less offensive than the Wii U version if I recall correctly, but still very much a glaring issue. Performance does often dip below the targeted 30 frames per second (fps), too, but never to the point of rendering the game unplayable. The generally slower pace of things certainly helps here, and overall performance seems on par with Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
In summary, if released today as a brand new game, Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition would fit in perfectly among the crowd of the best Nintendo Switch games. It’s not without its performance snags and the odd bit of design obtuseness, of course. But ultimately, it’s even more so the must-play role-playing game (RPG) today than it was a decade ago. I’m super excited to get back into exploring Mira, and I’m very keen to see just how much the new content and story elements add to the experience.
Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition launches on March 20, 2025, exclusively for Nintendo Switch.
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