(Image courtesy of Nintendo. “Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition fully realizes itself on the Switch’s superior hardware.”)
Jesse Nguyen
Connector Editor
Massive open-world games are somewhat of a regularity in modern video games, with what feels like dozens being released each year with bigger ideas and worlds. Nearly 10 years ago today, “Xenoblade Chronicles X,” developed by Monolith Soft, was released on the Wii U with an ambition and scale that rivals some modern open-world games. It had the magical ability to sell the ultimate mecha exploration sci-fi fantasy to players but was held back by baffling design choices and its status of being stuck on a failed console. “Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition,” released March 20, 2025, for the Nintendo Switch, remedies all these issues with a streamlining of confusing systems, improved performance, and an expanded, polished story set in an epic world.
Graphically, it’s a miracle that a game four times larger than “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” can run so seamlessly on the Switch. When docked, it displays at 1080p, compared to the Wii U’s 720p. In handheld, it’s 720p, and in both configurations maintains a solid 30 fps. The visuals are brighter and livelier, and the render distance has been further increased, making the world’s scale even more massive. This scale is complemented by zero loading screens between the games five continents. The only loading screens present are for fast traveling and entering the barracks, and these are blisteringly fast and a major improvement from the original release, with an average wait time of five seconds.
The world of “Xenoblade Chronicles X” is the true star of the show. Its scale is perfectly set to accommodate both the player and the player’s skell (a pilotable, free flight mech). Everything in its world design is intricately connected and detailed, with many hidden paths and secrets set in a backdrop of some of the most creative looking maps ever made. The huge alien leaning rings in the desert of Oblivia and impossibly massive rock formations in the lush greenland of Primordia makes playing “Xenoblade Chronicles X” feel like moving through a painting.
The story of “Xenoblade Chronicles X” story starts with a huge budget cinematic of humanity fleeing Earth in a massive spaceship, the White Whale, after it’s caught in an intergalactic war between two alien races. During humanities venture into deep space, one of the alien races comes back to destroy mankind for good, leading to the White Whale crashing down onto planet Mira, the closest inhabitable planet. While humanity for the past three months has coexisted among the wildlife on Mira, the aliens that destroyed Earth make a return as well, leading to an ongoing war that spans the whole game’s story.
The story is compelling and fascinating, with many mysteries and unknown variables the player is encouraged to question. What really shines story-wise however is the side quests, complemented by hilarious dialogue which build upon its world by exploring the nuances of living on a mysterious planet. Topics such as alien racism, references to “Back to the Future,” and alien addiction to pizza are all things only covered in the side content of “Xenoblade Chronicles X,” which arguably makes up an entire half the story. That is not to say the main cast of the story characters is bland however, with 13-year-old engineer Lin Lee Koo, voiced by Cassandra Lee Morris, being an endearing and humorous character throughout the entire game.
Basic combat in “Xenoblade Chronicles X” revolves around auto attacking a target with a ranged or melee weapon and having eight selectable abilities called arts. Skell combat is largely the same, with the arts being tied to what weapons your skell has equipped. The new combat mechanic, called “quick cooldown” is a fun, fast paced addition to a combat system. It is a predetermined energy bar that recharges at the start of every battle and allows the player to skip the cooldown period of a specific ability. This makes the early game combat experience much more enticing, as the player only has access to two or three abilities when starting a new class, which can have extremely long cooldowns.
“Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition” does an excellent job in making this title more accessible. There are many complicated systems that were either poorly explained or not explained at all in the Wii U version, which isn’t the case here. Tutorials are evenly paced and sprinkled throughout, giving players clear and concise information on things regarding the combat system, mission objectives, and more. The UI is much more readable too, even if it lost its aesthetic flare.
What “Xenoblade Chronicles X” accomplishes as an open world exploration game is an absolute marvel 10 years later, to the point where they didn’t need to change much for it to still be impressive and one-of-a-kind in “Definitive Edition.”
Grade: A+
