Xenoblade Chronicles X was one of the last Wii U exclusives to make the jump to Nintendo Switch, leaving Devil’s Third and Sonic Lost World as Wii U’s strongest warriors. This was after the smashing success of the original Xenoblade Chronicles, but before the sequel divided fans.
Being on the maligned Wii U guaranteed a lot of gamers would never get a chance to play Xenoblade Chronicles X. Those who did found it to be a diamond in the rough that emphasized open-ended gameplay and episodic stories over a linear plot progression. It wasn’t perfect and could use some refinement and a port to Nintendo Switch can be the opportunity to improve the experience.
The main Xenoblade trilogy has been on Switch for some time, but it is not complete without X. How does the wealth of adjustments and new content improve upon the original Wii U killer app? Find out in our Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition review!
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition
Developer: Monolith Soft
Publisher: Nintendo
Platforms: Wii U (as Xenoblade Chronicles X), Nintendo Switch (reviewed)
Release Date: March 20, 2025
Price: $59.99
The original story of Xenoblade Chronicles X remains the same: humanity’s last-ditch effort to escape an alien menace leaves a colony stranded on the planet Mira. It’s up to the survivors to make do with what they have and make the planet their new home with gamers assuming the role of a player-created avatar.
Unlike other Xenoblade games, you don’t play as a legitimate character with stakes in the story apart from being one of the hundreds of people stuck on Mira. That isn’t to say that there are no character arcs with stories you’ll care about; Xenoblade Chronicles X has that in spades and with an impressively large party too.
Getting used to life on Mira means becoming a valuable asset to the colony and helping people out because everyone is in it together. You get a palpable sense of community as the NPCs become familiar faces and the gang gets more involved with the everyday goings of their lives. This is all flavor to the greater driving question of the main story and the principle cast of characters.
Elma is the closest thing to a protagonist Xenoblade Chronicles X has. She’s an ace combatant but struggles with connecting to regular people and fans of the Xenosaga games will recognize her KOS-MOS-like characteristics. There about 18 recruitable party members and that doesn’t count the four new ones exclusive in this Definitive Edition.
The new story content is incredible and even more so for gamers who have been keeping up with all of the prior Xeno games. The Definitive Edition content ties everything together. Jaws will drop and pants will be soiled from the utter shock and gutsiness of the story direction in the latter portions of the game.
As epic as the story gets, most of the time players are free to move it along at their own pace. It’s actually preferred to take your time and to work toward a better future by helping New Los Angeles by going out on side missions, setting up Frontier Nav sites for Miranium extractions, and going out on safari.
Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition‘s main gameplay is focused on exploration. The landmass of Mira is huge; roughly 250 square miles. This is several times larger than Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, but that doesn’t mean getting around Mira is a slog.
You move a lot faster in Xenoblade Chronicles X, so you’re never feeling like you’re not getting anywhere. Mobility is key in Xenoblade Chronicles X. Stamina is infinite and getting skilled by a level 80 four-armed gorilla is only a minor setback.
Load times are fast when using fast travel, so there’s never a feeling of being inconvenienced. You can go basically anywhere and jump high as hell… but not so high as to clear some of the insanely massive and surreal rock formations.
The infamous Skells are still saved for later. The first 20-something hours is the game drip feeding you a disgusting number of features and game mechanics that feed into each other.
Getting one of these high-powered armors also means reaching ungodly heights and new areas that were above you that you never realized were there. It always feels like you’re discovering something in Xenoblade Chronicles X.
Combat in or out of a Skell still works like it has with the MMO-style auto-attacking system that the Xeno games are known for. Xenoblade Chronicles X is most like the first game on Wii with its hot bar of options and cooldowns. Inflicting various status effects and trying to exploit canceling will be familiar to veterans.
If you never cared for it, don’t expect to suddenly love it. The strategy leans on preparation and quick-thinking in the head of battle. The class system is flexible for gamers to customize the avatar, while all party members have their fixed roles.
The range of options when customizing a play style and plan of attack is nigh limitless. You can get lost for hours in the menus coming up with diabolical strategies.
One of the tweaks added to the Definitive Edition gives players limited charges to skip cooldowns. This is extremely helpful when trying to get some of the menial hunts out of the way or if you find yourself in a pinch when going toe-to-toe with a tyrant or alien forces.
Xenoblade Chronicles X‘s graphics were always impressive and stood out on the Wii U. The massive scope and scale of the world combined with detailed character models always made it look a generation ahead. Even on the Nintendo Switch’s modest specs, it still impresses and looks on par with most current gen releases.
The draw-distance reaches further than ever and while NPCs still take a little to render while dashing around the colony, the monsters in Mira will usually always be visible. X was always a technical marvel and still is.
This is a gorgeous-looking game that evokes memories of Pandora from the Avatar films. The bizarre alien biology and bio-luminescence always reminds you that you aren’t in Kansas anymore.
While Mira is one large continuous map, it does have some loading screens. Thankfully and impressively, the load times are shockingly short. Even when fast-traveling from the furthest reaches of the map, the load times are only a couple of seconds, keeping the flow of gameplay moving steadily.
The size and scope of Xenoblade X is massive. Just when you think you’ve seen what the world has to offer, you get blindsided by how much bigger it is when flying in a Skell and reaching previously unreachable areas. This is a game that just keeps on giving and surprising and it keeps up the pace for well over 70 hours.
Gamers can drop over a hundred hours into Xenoblade X and still not see everything it has to offer. The game is jam-packed with features and content that feeds into each other. You can play past the 100 hour mark and not even realize there is a multiplayer component.
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is an all-you-can-eat buffet of sweeping sci-fi intrigue and huge mech battles. There is a lot to do to keep humanity thriving on Mira and an encroaching threat of aliens will keep players guessing where the story will go and how it all connects to the prior Xeno games.
This was already one of the best RPGs published by Nintendo, and now it’s even better. Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is like the weeb’s answer to Mass Effect, only better in every conceivable way.
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition was reviewed on Nintendo Switch using a code provided by Nintendo. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is now available for Nintendo Switch.
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