The breadth of experiences that can be found in games is expansive, but few have electrified adventurers and RPG followers as deeply as the Xenoblade Chronicles series. Once labelled ‘Nintendo’s most underrated series’, it arcs into the NINTENDO SWITCH era in a way that no game in Nintendo’s storied history has. Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is an important release – for the Xenoblade Chronicles series, but also for Nintendo. It launches on 20 March 2025, but why is it a series to watch? Why is this game, in particular, a hidden gem in the gaming cosmos?
It’s been almost 10 years since Xenoblade Chronicles X first appeared on the Wii U – a console whose short lifecycle barely registered a blip in current-gen console sales – and become a cult classic among open-world fans. Since then, the game has come to be seen as a prime example of ambition and open-world design quietly left behind: despite its modest critical success, it gained relatively little attention for the console it was released on. Now, the NINTENDO SWITCH is calling the game out of the shadows; it’s being rereleased with new visuals and two new storylines, all aimed at taking players back to its strange alien world.
Undergirding the entire Definitive Edition is a promise from Monolith Soft, the original creators and now overseers of this sprawling port, that we’re stepping into a deeper, more beautiful story. We’re not revisiting a planet; we’re expanding the original perception. This definitive edition isn’t a return weekend, it’s a fresh experience for anyone picking up the game – veteran or otherwise.
For those who are less familiar, Xenoblade Chronicles X stands apart from the rest of the family in that its narrative is an original one: it is set on the alien planet Mira and is entirely open-ended, with five different continents you can explore, each populated with different lifeforms and challenges. Humanity has fled Earth following its destruction and you help them find shelter, adventure and a new home.
Nintendo and the development team at Monolith Soft surpass themselves in Xenoblame Chronicles X and create an open world that is simultaneously as gorgeous as it is vast. The ability to design your own mech suit (known in-game as a Skell) further adds to the depth of exploration that the player is capable of undertaking, allowing them to reach areas of Mira’s world that were previously impossible. The size and the detail of Mira’s world is a precedent being set in the design of open-worlds that is now being seen in the critically acclaimed The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
What makes Xenoblade Chronicles X so memorable are its quirks: a main city called ‘New Los Angeles’, ‘Partisan Eagle’ and ‘Full Metal Jaguar’ as names for the combat classes, an optional sidequest to find 100 motorcycles. They infuse the standardisation of the RPG with delightful unpredictability, with the sense that you might encounter something unexpected every time you boot up the game.
And the forthcoming Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition for the NINTENDO SWITCH is more than just a resurrection – it’s a celebration of a game that was, even at the end of the Wii U’s lifespan, one of the best exclusives ever available for that console. With several sequels and re-releases – including a Nintendo-published version of the original coming in September – the series has now become one of Nintendo’s most recognisable franchises.
Fans of Nintendo’s open-world sci-fi RPG Xenoblade Chronicles X (2015) will wait with bated breath for the 20 March 2025 release date, and rest assured that the console will faithfully serve the cause of beloved old franchises – any old franchise – bringing classics back and opening them to a new audience, not so much remastered as honoured. Nintendo is reaffirming its long term commitment to the canonic franchise, ensuring that games with mighty fanpower and fanbases – like X – will never really die, just sleep. (This launch is hopefully just the beginning of many more for Nintendo.)
The dual theme of innovation and nostalgia, woven into Nintendo’s tapestry of gaming, speaks to still further comfort for the nostalgic consumer; when we speak of Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition on Switch, what we are really talking about is temporal and technological renewal in the form of an immersive gaming experience that is no less emotional than it is experiential.
You probably know which company I’m talking about. World-renowned for its creativity and innovation, and with a history of defining and redefining the worlds of gaming, it has contributed immeasurably to how stories are told and how adventures can be had and continues to reinvent the art of game design and player engagement with consoles such as the NINTENDO SWITCH, so whether it’s by building incredible worlds in Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition and other titles, it is also a maker of worlds that players remember, and that generations come back to. Long may Nintendo continue to inspire creators of worlds, adventures and great gaming across the globe and, more importantly, for readers of this book.
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