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Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is a resurrected masterpiece

(Image courtesy of Nintendo.) “Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition revisits a beloved cult classic”

Jesse Nguyen
Connector Editor

Many people may only know of the Xenoblade series after Shulk made his first appearance in “Super Smash Brothers Wii U” and the subsequent success of “Xenoblade Chronicles 1,2, and 3.” There is, however, a game with the same franchise name that is expansive, bold, and ambitious but mainly unknown due to its status of being only playable on the Wii U. On Oct. 29, 2024, Nintendo revealed that “Xenoblade Chronicles X” makes a return on the Nintendo Switch on March 20, 2025, as “Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition” nearly ten years after its original release on April 29, 2015.

“Xenoblade Chronicles X,” developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo, is an open world action role playing game. The story follows a group of survivors onboard interstellar arks escaping from an intergalactic war that destroys Earth. After a crash landing, the customizable player character, waking up from a survival pod, joins BLADE, a military organization defending humans on the vast and mysterious alien planet Mira.

What “Xenoblade Chronicles X” accomplished and paved way for was its open world exploration. Open world expansiveness for many players was first experienced through “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,” where players can climb any mountain in view and see out hundreds of miles. “Xenoblade Chronicles X” achieves this same feeling, with huge areas of impressive cliffs, impossible rock formations, and beautifully designed alien wildlife. The sense of scale of planet Mira is epic in size and intriguing in nature. This is complimented by zero loading screens, except going into the barracks area where players accept missions, which means exploration is separate from story. Monolith Soft also directly worked on “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,” and their groundwork can be seen directly in “Xenoblade Chronicles X” through how it handles the freedom of its traversal.

Combat gameplay revolves around players engaging with unique indigenous lifeforms and enemy aliens. Players have selectable abilities with cooldowns called “arts” and automatically attack a targeted enemy with their selected ranged or melee weapon. “Xenoblade Chronicles X” has a total of three main classes with 12 subclasses, ranging from long range sniper rifles to flashy light sabers. These classes vary in bonuses, with the

Astral Crusader for example giving bonuses to ranged accuracy and attack. It is currently unknown if “Definitive Edition” will add more classes.

Players can control one character in a four-person party, with the option of playing as recruitable party members. Combat is highly engaging thanks to the player’s four AI companions, who react to your actions such as toppling an enemy with quickness. Periodically in combat, a “Soul Voice” challenge may appear, which prompts specific ability use to heal the party or gain specific buffs.

Sometime later in the game, players unlock Skells, highly customizable pilotable mechs that can take on massive indigenous lifeforms. They can equip highly destructive weapons and make traversal on foot seem trivial. Eventually, players unlock the ability of flight for Skells, able to freely roam the skies of planet Mira. The five areas of Mira are impressive in scale and beautiful in visuals, ranging from Cauldros, the land of molten rock and fire, or Noctilum, the forest of lush alien plants, serene waterfalls and flowing rivers. Skells make navigating Mira a unique experience not found in any other game today.

Combat and exploration are highlighted by an excellent soundtrack from Hiroyuki Sawano, who is known for his work on the anime “Attack on Titan.” Even though some soundtracks are questionable, notably the song for the hub area, “New LA,” it is a definitive masterpiece, with songs such as “Uncontrollable” or “So Nah, So Fern” being standouts.

Despite these many positive aspects of the game, “Xenoblade Chronicles X” was an outlier from the main series on release. Many players felt dissatisfied with how different it felt from previous games, with less emphasis on the main story and characters, with exploration and world building taking priority. While the main story was certainly enjoyable, it was clear content had to be cut, and it was especially apparent in some moments with how plot lines frequently got introduced but never developed.

These are all problems “Definitive Edition” aims to remedy. A second trailer released on Jan. 9, 2025, shows an expansion of the main story, new areas, Skells, characters, and many concepts from the art book, “The Secret File Art of Mira,” that did not make it in the original game. An increased level cap additionally implies many things for the game, including potential new gear, weapons, or arts.

Even small quality of life features are getting fixed, such as the audio balancing. Often in the original game, background music would overtake dialogue by being too loud, and this is fixed in the trailers. Being able to listen to talented actors, such as Cassandra Lee Morris and Matthew Mercer again is always a plus. Another minute detail being addressed is Skell flight. When players unlock the flight module, Skells lose the ability to jump and automatically enter flight. This is problematic because flying triggers the Skells flight music, “Don’t Worry,” which can interrupt a region’s music, but the trailer displays a Skell jumping despite having a flight module on. It is impressive that the developers are aware of some old player complaints and took the time to address them.

Despite being a remake, “Xenoblade Chronicles X” is special because it came out on a console few people owned and it ultimately failed as a result. But in 2025, Monolith Soft clearly has the increased capacity and budget to execute their vision for the game they have always had. “Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition” will hopefully shed much deserved light on this hidden masterpiece.

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