Xenoblade Chronicles X has always been about scale, systems, and the sense of carving out a place in an alien world. Those elements remain just as compelling as ever and after all these years, it’s still one of the most ambitious and rewarding open-world RPGs available – flaws and all.

Earth has been destroyed after being caught in the crossfire of a battle between two alien forces. The last remnants of humanity, fleeing aboard the White Whale spaceship, are attacked once again. In the chaos, a Habitat unit breaks away and crash-lands on an unknown planet. Two months later, you’re awakened from a sleep pod by Elma. Welcome to humanity’s new home: the planet Mira.

Welcome to humanity’s new home: the planet Mira.

Little time is wasted throwing you into the deep end. Humanity is on the back foot, and every able body is needed to help establish a foothold on this hostile world. Unlike other entries in the Xenoblade series, your protagonist here isn’t voiced. Instead, you create your own character, shaping their appearance and combat tendencies from the outset. It’s a small change, but one that reinforces the game’s focus on player-driven exploration. Once that’s done, you’re dropped straight into a series of early encounters alongside Elma, as you begin the journey toward the remains of the Habitat unit, now re-established as New Los Angeles (New LA).

Building a Foothold on Mira

New LA acts as the central hub for everything that follows. It’s here that you’re introduced to the reformed government and formally inducted into BLADE, short for Builders of a Legacy After the Destruction of Earth. It’s a name that sounds slightly over the top, but it fits the tone. Your role within BLADE is simple in theory: explore Mira and deploy data probes across the planet.

Mira itself is divided into hexagonal segments on your FrontierNav map, and planting probes is the backbone of the entire experience. Each probe does far more than just fill in the map. First, it creates fast-travel points, which quickly become essential given just how dangerous and vast Mira is. Secondly, probes reveal valuable information about each segment. Everything from resource locations to potential threats, some of which you’ll want to avoid for a very long time. Lastly, they generate miranium through mining and research probes, which feeds directly into your ability to upgrade gear and progress your capabilities.

It sounds like a lot, and early on, it absolutely is… Xenoblade Chronicles X doesn’t hold your hand.

It sounds like a lot, and early on, it absolutely is. Xenoblade Chronicles X doesn’t hold your hand, and the number of systems layered on top of each other can feel overwhelming. But stick with it, and everything starts to click. What initially feels like complexity for the sake of it slowly reveals itself as a well-integrated web of mechanics that constantly feeds back into exploration and progression.

Progressing the main story, which spans twelve chapters, isn’t as straightforward as simply moving from one objective to the next. Each chapter is gated behind specific requirements. You might need to survey a certain percentage of a region, complete several affinity missions, or reach a particular level. In other words, the game forces you to engage with its side content, and that’s very much by design.

Thankfully, that side content is often excellent. Affinity missions stand out. These focus on your party members, fleshing out their personalities and often rewarding you with new allies once completed. It adds a layer of investment to your team that goes beyond simple combat utility. Even the more standard side missions tend to offer worthwhile rewards or interesting world-building, making them feel less like filler and more like an essential part of the experience.

Combat That Rewards Patience

Combat itself will feel familiar to anyone who has played a Xenoblade title, but there’s enough nuance here to keep things engaging. Your abilities, known as Arts, are tied to the weapons you equip, and you gradually unlock more as you level them up. You can have up to eight Arts equipped at any one time, each operating on a cooldown system. There’s also an added layer where waiting longer before activating an Art can result in a stronger effect, encouraging a bit of patience and timing rather than button mashing. Then there’s the integration with the weather system. Lightning abilities are stronger when it’s raining, but your beam attacks are weaker.

One of the defining traits of Xenoblade Chronicles X is its approach to exploration.

Positioning plays a key role too. Some Arts deal bonus damage when used from the side or rear, meaning you’re constantly moving around the battlefield to maximise effectiveness. Then there’s the Tension Point (TP) system, which builds as you land hits and is used for powerful abilities or reviving fallen teammates. It creates a constant push-and-pull between offence and survival. Of course, it wouldn’t be Xenoblade without the familiar stagger and topple mechanics, allowing you to temporarily incapacitate enemies and unleash your strongest attacks. A few hours in, you’ll also unlock Overdrive, which dramatically speeds up cooldowns and ramps up the intensity of battles. When everything clicks, combat becomes a fast-paced, strategic dance that’s immensely satisfying.

One of the defining traits of Xenoblade Chronicles X is its approach to exploration. See a massive creature roaming in the distance that’s 50 levels higher than you? You don’t have to fight it. In fact, you probably shouldn’t. The game encourages you to pick your battles and rewards curiosity above all else. Mira is enormous, varied, and genuinely breathtaking, with each region offering its own distinct visual identity.

 

The Skell Changes Everything

But to truly appreciate it everything that the visuals in Xenoblade Chronicles X has to offer, you need to see it from above, and that’s where Skells come in… These giant mechs, prominently featured in the game’s marketing, aren’t handed to you early. You’ll need to put in the time – roughly 30 hours – before earning one. It’s a long wait, but it makes finally unlocking a Skell feel like a genuine milestone. And once you have one, the game changes dramatically.

For newcomers, Xenoblade Chronicles X remains a massive, 100-hour experience packed with depth, discovery, and systems to master.

Traversal becomes faster and more fluid, and combat shifts in your favour. Skells are incredibly powerful, equipped with their own weapons, abilities, and Overdrive systems. They make previously intimidating enemies far more manageable. That said, they’re not invincible. If your Skell’s HP drops to zero, it’s destroyed, and what happens next depends entirely on your reflexes.A well-timed button press can eject you safely without penalty. Miss it, and you’ll either burn through Skell Insurance or be left limping away with 1HP. It’s a surprisingly tense mechanic that adds real stakes to using your most powerful tool. And yes, the idea of Skell Insurance feels just a little too close to real life.

For newcomers, Xenoblade Chronicles X remains a massive, 100-hour experience packed with depth, discovery, and systems to master. Those of you who have returned from the Wii U era will find it much the same, except that it looks fantastic with the initial Switch upgrades and at 1080P when playing in handheld. It’s hard to imagine how we dealt with it at 480P on the Wii U. For those who bought it on the original Switch it might be a bit of a tougher sell. The recent 1080P handheld boost mode on the Switch 2 has made the Switch 2 edition a little less desirable. Unless you must simply have the game at 4K on TV, there’s very little reason to indulge in it all over again.

Unless you simply must have the game at 4K on TV, there’s very little reason to indulge in it all over again.

Xenoblade Chronicles X has always been about scale, systems, and the sense of carving out a place in an alien world. Those elements remain just as compelling as ever. Whether you’re stepping onto Mira for the first time or returning after all these years, it’s still one of the most ambitious and rewarding open-world RPGs available – flaws and all. And in a landscape where exploration often feels guided and predictable, there’s something refreshing about a game that simply drops you into the unknown and says: go figure it out.

REVIEW CODE PROVIDED BY: NINTENDO

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