3 weeks ago
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Out of nowhere this morning Nintendo announced that Xenoblade Chronicles X–the 2015 Wii U spinoff/continuation of Monolith Soft’s excellent JRPG series–would finally be making its way from the limbo that is the dwindling number of Wii U titles yet to make it off the platform to other hardware. Now, with Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, not only is the entire Xenoblade series going to be playable on the Nintendo Switch, gamers will finally get to experience one of the most underrated bits of sci-fi worldbuilding design in a video game.
According to Nintendo, Definitive Edition will bring Xenoblade Chronicles X to Switch with newly-updated visuals (akin to the prior Definitive Edition release of the original Xenoblade Chronicles in 2020), as well as additional story content created for the new port that will, presumably, attempt to bridge connections between the otherwise relatively-standalone nature of X and the rest of the series. X juked where many fans of the original Xenoblade expected it to jive, eschewing a continuation of the story and world established there to deliver a sci-fi spin more in line with the stylings of series director Tetsuya Takahashi’s work on games like Xenogears and the Xenosaga series.
Set in a future where humanity has been forced to abandon the earth before it’s caught in the crossfire of an interstellar war, Xenoblade Chronicles X follows the surviving remnants of an ark ship named the White Whale, after it crash lands on the planet Mira. With lithe bulk of the life pods containing the ark’s survivors scattered on the planet, the player–a customisable avatar in a first for the series, rather than a defined character–is tasked with teaming up with their fellow survivors to explore Mira and find a way to secure humanity’s future. And also eventually pilot extremely cool transforming mecha called Skells that you unlock in the latter half of the game.
While X lacked the particular major narrative thrust that defined other entries in the Xenoblade Chronicles series, its strengths were found in the side stories that fleshed out the citizens of New Los Angeles–the last bastion of survivors from the crashed White Whale–and Mira itself, rewarding players who invested in straying off the beaten path and interacting with the world Monolith Soft created. Combining that with the game’s exploration mechanics (and the feeling of revelation when you step back into the world you’ve spent hours and hours exploring on foot, this time in your Skell), Mira becomes one of the most fascinating sci-fi worlds in recent gaming history, and worth dedicating your time to exploring.
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition will release on the Nintendo Switch March 20, 2025. Will it come to the currently-all-but-revealed Switch 2? Probably, otherwise stay tuned for another few decades of Xenoblade fans loudly begging for it, and the rest of the series, to make the leap again.
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