Xenoblade Chronicles X

Description

Xenoblade Chronicles X follows a group of human survivors who escape Earth after a catastrophic war and crash on the planet Mira. It is a branch of the series rather than a direct sequel. The original Xenoblade Chronicles tells a focused story with fixed characters and a fantasy setting, while this game moves to a science fiction world and lets players create their own avatar. The story focuses on adaptation and coexistence with unknown species while searching for remnants of humanity. Themes of resilience and discovery are expressed through the setting’s diversity and the gradual uncovering of Mira’s secrets.

Gameplay centres on freeform exploration across vast regions with dynamic weather and day-night cycles. Players control avatars who join squads, undertake missions, and pilot transformable mechs called Skells. Combat uses a real-time system with positional tactics, cooldown-based arts, and resource management. Progression includes affinity systems, equipment crafting, and extensive character customisation. Online functionality enables asynchronous multiplayer through squad tasks and shared achievements. The title introduces large-scale vertical traversal and seamless biome transitions, distinguishing it from the original.

Upon release the title was praised for the expansive world design and technical ambition. It’s not perfect with a narrative that can feel secondary to exploration. Performance issues on the Wii U were also criticised. However retrospectively, the game is really the best of the Wii U, maybe only second to Breath of the Wild, which should really be played on the latest Switch hardware. Xenoblade Chronicles X pushed the Wii U showing it could compete in open world games. An expanded remaster was released late into the life cycle of the Switch, just before the launch of the Switch 2 console.