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Review: Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition

Written by Euclidian Boxes

Returning to Mira once more!

Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is a game of massive scale. Right from the outset you’ll encounter animals that Richard Attenborough should be pointing at and welcoming guests to his new park, spared no expense.

The game is set in the future where an alien war has destroyed Earth and humanity has scarpered to a planet called Mira, where they’re trying to get by without all their technology failing and the species being wiped out for good.

Throughout the extensive story campaign, you’ll encounter a variety of factions of aliens, some good, some bad, some irritating comic relief. There’s side quest heaped upon side quest, ranging from light hearted stories about coffee shops and examinations of the soul of humanity.

You’ll probably plough through a lot of these with your eyes squarely on the prize on the front of the box, the Transformer-a-like Skell. After a good few hours of playing you get your very own mech to drive around in and transform into a robot, then eventually fly around in.

These speed up your wanton extermination of the indigenous life of Mira, I mean, strategic defence of humanity’s safety and definitely not farming a specific creature just in case you get a rare drop for crafting a new weapon you fancy.

X’s scale is in no way diminished once you’re off your feet and cruising around in your fancy new ride. The size of the open world makes it clear why Nintendo had Monolift Soft help out in making Breath Of The Wild. It was amazing on the Wii U and it continues to look fantastic on the Switch.

But it’s not just the landscape that’s straining my capacity for synonyms for huge, there’s a ridiculous amount of depth for customising your character and team for combat and exploration. With various classes and sub classes, skills trees, weapon varieties, customisation (paint your Skell while-u-wait), quests, side quests and getting to know you affinity quests, you’ll be lucky to see everything before the Switch 2 gets a successor.

Verdict

I’ve previously bounced off the mainline Xenoblade Chronicles games, their story and combat never really gelling with me. But in X I want to push further into the wilds, to see the next screening filling creature, to fly over the next ridge, to sit on a mountain and watch the sunset.

Mira serves as a beautiful and engaging home for the last big Wii U to Switch port and one of the last big titles on Switch itself.

Editor’s Note: Since writing, a Nintendo Switch 2 upgrade pack has been released, along with an announcement of a physical version that’s due to release today. for £4.19, this allows the game to run at 60fps and 4K resolution docked.

Where to Buy

#AffiliateLinks – Prices correct at time of publishing.

Credits

Written by John Edwards

Edited by Mark McAllister and Jen Griffiths

Graphic Template by Paul L. Russell

A copy of this game was provided by the publisher for this review.