It seems like yesterday I was playing Xenoblade Chronicles X on the Wii U, ages ago… and man, 2015!? Even then it was clear that Monolith Soft was doing something insanely ambitious. A huge open world, monsters the size of buildings, a complex class system, fights that seem chaotic and unclear at the beginning, but later settle down. The problem was that the game both looked impressive and felt like the hardware was barely keeping up with everything it was trying to do. I remember looking at my little, unpopular console and thinking, "Well, how does this even work?"
The Definitive Edition already brought a good return to the planet Mira last year on the Switch, but the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition is the version where I feel for the first time that the game looks and works the way it always deserved. And no, not everything is suddenly photorealistic. The game still carries some of its old imperfections. But when it all comes down to it, Mira still manages to leave the impression of one of the most fascinating open worlds Nintendo has ever released.
The story is more of a framework for exploration than the main star
Unlike other Xenoblade games that often live and die on melodrama and a deep story with recognizable actors, Xenoblade Chronicles X sends a different message from the start: the story is there, but the world is more important.
The premise is still great. Earth is destroyed in the middle of an interstellar war, the surviving humans escape on a huge colony ship, and after a forced landing end up on the planet Mira. There begins an attempt to build a new civilization, with the expected problems such as hostile fauna, alien races and the fact that half the planet is probably capable of being eaten for breakfast. That's always been one of the trademarks of the Xenoblade series: the game doesn't care that you just started and you're still getting the hang of it, here's a couple of level 50 monsters in the starting zone. It also gives the impression of a living, dangerous world, and not a game that adapts to you with scaled zones.
If you're expecting the narrative power of Xenoblade Chronicles 1-3, you'll be disappointed. The story is there, it has interesting sci-fi ideas and a few strong moments, but it doesn't carry the game. What is remembered are the view from the cliff, the first encounter with something huge that wanders the plains and the feeling that you are on a planet that does not see you as a main character but as a passing nuisance. Xenoblade X never tried to be the most intimate or emotional game of the series, but rather the broadest, most open and most ambitious.
Gameplay: a system that first confuses you, then conquers you
The biggest obstacle for new players will likely be the same as the biggest obstacle before: Xenoblade X initially feels like the game is deliberately hiding from you why it's fun. Numerous menus and submenus, an intro that lasts too long before throwing you into the open world, and of course, the combat, which is vaguely explained through a thousand little tutorials.
Combat is a hybrid of real-time movement, auto-attacks, positioning and Arts ability activation. In addition, classes, loadouts, cooldowns, soul voice system, equipment, side quests and a thousand other different mechanics are immediately added. It is somewhat reminiscent of an MMORPG fight like in World of Warcraft. If the first hour or two feels like you're just standing next to a monster without a clear sense of what exactly you're doing, you're not crazy. It's literally a Xenoblade X experience, but once you get the hang of it, everything just clicks. I suggest watching a Youtube video explaining the combat, the in-game tutorials are really not up to par.
The class and build system is one of the reasons people are so forgiving of this game's initial mess. You can experiment, build a character according to your style, and over time you get the feeling that your choices really change the course of the fight. It is not the most accessible RPG system in the world, but it is one of those that rewards effort.
More importantly, the world and gameplay constantly work together. Exploration is not just about walking from marker to marker. Mira looks like a planet you want to study, not just run over. That's a big difference. In many open-world games, the map exists to entertain you. Here you often have the feeling that the map existed without you. And that's exactly why this game still works. Not because of one system, but because it constantly pushes curiosity forward.
And then you finally get a mech
Much of Xenoblade X's identity revolves around one thing: Skellov. As soon as the Skells enter a more serious game, Xenoblade X stops being "just" a big open-world JRPG and becomes something much crazier. By then you already know that Mira is huge, dangerous and full of things that can trample you without much discussion, but only with the Skells do you really feel how ambitious that world is. Suddenly, you are no longer exploring the planet as a little man cautiously running between points of interest, but you get a tool that completely changes the rhythm of the game.
This is felt not only in movement, but also in the fight itself. Skells aren't just there to look cool. Fights with them gain new weight, new possibilities and a different sense of power. The classic Xenoblade chaos with cooldowns, positioning and proper timing of Arts abilities doesn't disappear completely, but everything gets an extra layer of spectacle. Once you get into the mech and start thrashing enemies that you previously bypassed in a wide arc, the feeling of power is too good.
The greatest value of Skells, however, is not only that they are fun, but that they finally combine what Xenoblade X has been trying to be all along: a game about exploring a huge, hostile planet that at one point gives you the reins and says "go wild!". That's why their arrival seems like one of those moments that justifies all the initial frustrations.
Performance and graphics
The Switch 2 version brings a resolution of up to 4K in docked mode and up to 60 fps, and this is very clearly felt compared to the earlier version from 2025, which, according to technical analyses, mainly aimed for 30 fps with occasional drops. In addition to the almost constant framerate, there is also a jump from 720p to 1080p in the handheld, with a cleaner image and slightly clearer distances. That, honestly, is exactly what this game needed.
Xenoblade X has always been a title that suffered when the framerate dropped or when the image became too blurry, because its whole point is precisely in scale and moving through vast spaces. When it finally runs smoothly, the world "sits down" much more easily. It is this framerate improvement that does most of the work, perhaps even more than the visual boost itself.
It doesn't mean that the game is suddenly a technical masterpiece. Some textures are still blurry, some surfaces seem flat, and some models still bear traces of their origins. This is not a remake from the ground up, but a refined game from 2015, and it shows. But the difference between unrealized ambition limited by hardware and finally smooth performance is great. In translation: If you haven't played Xenoblade X, this is the version to play.
Also, Monolith still knows how to sell a sense of grandeur, and the soundtrack of individual zones backs that up. The battle themes do sound a bit anime, exaggerated and cringy, although after a few times they get in your ear and you really start to feel them. Effects in battle and ambient sounds convey well the feeling of being on an enemy planet. This isn't an audio revolution, but it's strong enough to reinforce what the game wants to be: a massive sci-fi RPG that captivates you more with the world than the script.
Conclusion
Xenoblade Chronicles X is not a game that will suit everyone. It's still a bit stubborn, it's still too complicated for its own good at times, and the story never reaches the emotional heights of the rest of the series.
Mira remains one of the most impressive worlds Nintendo has ever released, and the Switch 2 version finally gives that ambition the technical backing it deserves. It's no surprise that Monolith Software helped develop and shape the world of Breath of the Wild. The higher resolution, smoother framerate, and generally cleaner feel don't exactly solve every problem, but they solve the most important one: the game finally feels less constrained.
That said, if you've already played X on Wii U or last year's Switch release, this might not be the return you need to make. But if you're coming for the first time, it's hard to imagine a better version to start with. It's not the warmest or most emotional Xenoblade game, but it could very well be the most ambitious.
A copy of the Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game was provided by the distributor CD MEDIA for review purposes
