Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition Review

Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition

Release: March 20, 2025
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Monolith Soft
Genre: Action, Adventure, Genres, Nintendo Switch Categories, Role-playing, Switch Reviews, Video
PEGI: 12
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Xenoblade Chronicles X was previously on the Wii U and since that system didn’t sell as well as Nintendo would have wanted, software didn’t either. There are so many great games that so many Nintendo fans haven’t experienced! It’s nice to see, then, that this week the Definitive Edition of the game releases for the Nintendo Switch. Thanks to our friends at Nintendo of Canada, we checked it out over the past month and are excited to share our thoughts with you!

Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition begins with humanity escaping an alien race and landing on an unknown planet. The remaining humans build a city and learn to survive. When you wake up, things are already settled and you are joining up to help out. Of course, it doesn’t take long for things to go badly, and you’ll be navigating the games epic story while also trying to survive a very hostile planet. Let me stress again: this is a VERY hostile planet, so get those combat skills ready…

This game’s story may be the best of all the Xenoblade games, which is saying something since all of the other games have phenomenal stories as well. It has an epic scope that builds steadily and adds some fantastic plot twists that’ll make your jaw drop. Without a doubt, Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition’s story is classic Japanese RPG (JRPG) goodness, with all of the genres best elements, along with (perhaps, depending on who you ask) some of its faults. If you love the other Xenoblade games, though, you’ll love this one as well.

If you’ve never played the others, this would be a good place to start. The Xenoblade games stand on their own much like Final Fantasy games. With each game, we meet a new world, characters, and plot. Many of the core mechanics stay the same, and despite Xenoblade evolving as a series with some of the latter releases, this one still holds up so well.

The gameplay is similar to the other Xenoblade games, but it feels more refined here. This is important when a decade + old experience gets redone in modern consoles.  Even for those familiar with the game from the past, there’s just so much to do and see that will leave you in awe, as if experiencing some of this for the first time again. It’s the way Nintendo has approached a number of their remakes over the years, and obviously how the development team approached this one as well.

So what should you expect? The World of Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is huge, with gigantic creatures roaming among many small creatures. There’s a lot going on around every corner of this world. There are things to find, treasure boxes and random items that you pick up to complete an encyclopedia of the games world. Exploring in this game is a lot of fun, with new things to discover seemingly around every corner. I found on multiple occasions that when I wasn’t ready to move on with the story, there was always something to see or do in my current setting. Exploring was as much fun as progressing, which is a key feature of a quality RPG experience. Exploring is a blast, and ultimately so to are the battles.

The semi-real time battle system has you navigating a menu to select abilities for your main character to quickly dispense of the enemy. Your allies all have their own mind but you can give them some direction via another menu where you can tell them things like to “concentrate fire”. The battle system is quick and a lot of fun. While understanding the ins and outs of how it works might take a bit of time to master, it all comes together fairly well to create an engaging experience that can feel repetitive at times, but ultimately rewarding in the end.

Xenoblade Chornicles X: Definitive Edition is a fantastic JRPG with a great main quests and tons of sidequests. There is plenty of stuff to see and do. The game’s main town is fantastic to explore as well, which feels like a world within a world. If you love JRPGs, you won’t want to miss Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition. With fantastic audio and wonderful visuals, it looks and runs great on the Switch.

The environments, especially the game’s main city, are full of detail and look stunning. The characters look fantastic in and out of cutscenes, and the game’s creatures and aliens are out of this world. The graphics look better than ever on Switch and the game runs well in portable mode. We continue to be amazed at what developers – specifically the Xenoblade developers – can pull out of the Nintendo Switch. This ultimately just enhances at excitement for the Nintendo Switch 2!

Not to be outdone by the graphics, the games audio sounds fantastic, and is a highlight of returning to this experience! The voice acting during cutscenes make you feel like you’re watching an epic anime, and the music during cutscenes and in big battles is incredible and always feels as if it builds to a crescendo at the appropriate moments.

Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is one of the best blade games, if not the best. This gem has finally arrived on the Nintendo Switch and JRPG fans who haven’t played it and those who have are in for treat!

The story is epic and the exploration is even more epic. This is a sci-fi masterpiece that fans of the genre shouldn’t miss. Plus you get to play this on the Nintendo Switch, either on the big screen or in handheld mode. The game runs great and it’s a ton of fun for JRPG fans.

The Xenoblade franchise is fantastic and this is another great addition to the Switch’s library.

Thanks to Nintendo Canada for providing a digital code for this review. Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition comes out on March 20th, 2025.

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