Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition | Review | Switch

Nintendo fans have been waiting for quite a long time, but Xenoblade Chronicles X is now available on the Switch via the Definitive Edition. Whether you’ve been waiting to play through the game again or are looking to try it out for the first time, there is quite a bit to like, and quite a bit to unpack with this game. Let’s dive in.

Story

I won’t get into any of the spoilers when it comes to the main story, but I will touch on the basics. Kicking off the game, Earth finds itself up against an alien horde known as the Ganglion. After a tense fight, humanity is in tatters. One remnant of earthlings find their way to a planet called Mira. After establishing New Los Angeles, humanity must figure out how to survive, defend themselves and thrive on this new world. The story takes a lot of twists and turns along the way and overall is pretty engaging. There are some tropes here and there, such as the main character you create having amnesia, but this plays well into the editable avatar being able to be pretty much anyone that you would like them to be. 

Although I do enjoy the main story beats quite a bit, side missions add quite a bit more backstory to the main protagonists as well as tertiary characters. I won’t go into specifics because I think the joy in these is experiencing them for yourself, but there is a great range here. Sometimes you’ll simply be tracking down items for folks or fighting dangerous indigens, all while getting to know in-game characters better. There are some really funny, sad and downright deranged stories on offer. In addition to this, these side missions also grant players in game currency and experience, so it’s beneficial to tackle as many as you can.

New Additions

To change gears here, let’s talk a little bit about what’s new with this version of the game. A number of improvements have been made with this definitive edition release of Xenoblade Chronicles X and overall, I think they just make the game more modern and better. Here’s what’s been added:

• More streamlined user interface
• Improved visuals
• Ability to change your party members at any time
• Change the in game-clock at any time
• Quick cooldown - overrides Arts cooldown times (with some limitations)
• New characters
• Additional story content
• No BLADE levels or Division Points
• FrontierNav reworked to be accessed via menus (the quick map comes up with Y)
• All members gain the same XP regardless of whether or not they are in your party
• Affinity levels fill more quickly
• Gain rewards for surveying Mira
• Quest tracking upgrades

Quite a lot has been added here, and again, these all make what was already a great game even more accessible. One of my main gripes with the Wii U version of the game was quest tracking. In that version, if you had to track down some random items (indicated by the crystals scattered throughout Mira), you would have to basically go by what you hear about where to obtain these from NPCs. The DE makes this a lot more streamlined as these will appear on the map and field with specifically colored indicators. This is a massive, welcome improvement. 

Gameplay - Combat

Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition has many complex gameplay systems that take some time to wrap your head around in terms of both combat and exploration. Combat has several different levels to the menu based options when you are engaging foes. Each of the Arts have a cool down after selecting them, however, you will always be able to do some kind of automatic ranged or melee attack. Even with that said, using the Arts, though, is the key to victory. Using Arts at specific times in the battles can grant benefits and boosts with what is called Soul Voice. Essentially, your squad mates will ask you to perform a specific actions while in battle. If you do this in time, you can gain HP, deal more damage and more. In addition to this, Soul Challenges, a quick time event that requires you to hit B, appears to offer other benefits. After making some progress in the game, you’ll eventually get access to a new feature of the Definitive Edition known as Quick Cooldown. This gives the ability to completely skip cooldowns on attacks, which comes in handy in a number of different situations. There are limits to how many times you can implement this feature, but I felt the system was pretty generous.

While you’re hacking away at enemies, you gain what are called Tension Points, or TP for short. These allow you to make use of stronger Arts and even enter something called Overdrive. This increases your attacks and reduces cooldowns on Arts and is particularly handy when facing bosses or other strong enemies. Speaking of enemies, most of them have various points on their bodies that you can target. For example, tails, other appendages, weapons, and more. Focusing on these can grant a variety of items drops as well as provide a particularly satisfying way to take out enemies. Overall, I found the combat pretty fun. Even after just a little bit of time with the game, you’ll figure out the best strategies for taking out your foes in relation to your class, weapons and party members.

Gameplay - Exploration

Although combat does play an integral part in the overall experience, exploration plays an equally important role. The world of Mira is vast with tons of nooks and crannies to investigate. Leaving the confines of NLA can be rewarding and yet dangerous at the same time. Hostile indigens and xenoforms are scattered throughout the land, making trekking around Mira treacherous. When you come across super powerful enemies, sometimes running away is the best course of action. The world is extremely vast and varied, offering a number of environments from plains, a rain forest, desert and more. Caves can also be found all over the map as well, allowing for even more places to discover. Again, you’ll need to be on your toes no matter where you end up exploring. 

As a member of Blade, you are tasked with helping expand upon FrontierNav, a mapping system that sheds light on all of the different regions throughout the game world. Planting probes gives access to more information about the segments on the map and can also be a way to bring in a variety of items, money and Mirinium, the fuel needed for Skells and other elements. Planting a variety of enhanced probes can do this and is something that you will need to tinker with for story purposes and to just bring in more materials and cash. 

Some of the new additions to the Definitive Edition significantly change how the game is played in a good way. The ability to change out party members on the fly, alter the time of day from anywhere, and Quick Cooldown make the game more accessible that ever. Things like these have taken the tedium out of some of the aspects of the Wii U version. Multiple classes, an online component and a ton of customization are also on offer.

Skells

While the early part of the game will require you to explore Mira on foot, about half way through the game, you will get access to the game’s mechs, or Skells. The first one you receive (and the ones that you can purchase off the bat) can’t fly, but their jumping ability can help you reach places that you simply couldn’t access on foot. By the time you get the Flight Module, everything changes as you can pretty much go anywhere as long as you have enough fuel.

Combat in Skells is similar to on-foot fighting with a few caveats. As with general traversal, attacks that are performed with your Skell will deplete fuel. This depends on the attack in question, however this is something that you will have to manage. In addition to this, the new Quick Cooldown that was found in on-foot combat is not available while piloting a Skell. This aspect took a little bit of getting used to after a couple of dozen hours of playing on foot, but it’s something that you can easily transition to.

Similar to enemies, your Skells can be damaged and even destroyed in battle. Damage can hamper your ability to carry out some attacks, while destruction of your Skell can be a bit problematic. Thankfully, the game is pretty generous should this happen. Just before you Skell blows up, you will be able to salvage your mech with a timely press of the B button (in a similar fashion to the Soul Challenges). Even if you mess this up, Skells come equipped with insurance, so even if they’re scrapped, you can pay a fee to have them repaired. In my play through this time, I never had to use the insurance at all, thankfully. Even with that said, if you use up all of your insurance “claims” and want to still use that Skell, you will have purchase it again. 

One of the new Skells for this Definitive Edition, the Hraesvelg, brings a new feature - the ability to transform into a jet. All of the Skells in the game have the ability to fly after a certain point in the game, but none of them can match the speed of this new vessel. A special cockpit mode can also be toggled in this Skell, which was great to see (but not so great to control this way). It was awesome to see such a cool mech added to the game. Generally speaking, Skells are one of the best parts of X as they are practical for both combat and exploration and are just a blast to use.

Visuals, Audio & Performance

Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is a great looking game. Although it may pale in comparison to similar titles on more powerful hardware, the art direction helps push the game over the top from a visual standpoint. The world of Mira is vast and varied, featuring vivid colors, epic landscapes and a high level of detail. The wild areas of Mira look great and all feature picturesque backdrops that make for some great screenshot opportunities (you can do this with the press of L and R, which removes all of the HUD elements). New LA is also full of detail with a variety of districts, townsfolk, shops, parks and vehicles. Looking even deeper, you’ll find numerous computers, ashtrays (of all things) and more sprinkled throughout the hangers and shops. Things can look a little bit muddy upon super close inspection, but overall, the attention to detail is fantastic.

Character models look pretty good for the most part, but it seems that the aesthetics with these vary wildly. Some characters look like a typical anime character, while others look like a bit more Westernized. It’s an odd mix, but it doesn’t take anything away from the overall game. You can also easily alter your party members with gear and weapons and it’s great to see decked out pretty much any way that you would like. Skells also are full of detail from matte or glossy finishes, thrusters and various lights and weapons - and all of these are customizable.

Xenoblade Chronicles X: DE runs at a pretty consistent 30 frames per second, however there are times when things dip below that. I’ve found that the main culprits for this came when switching out characters who also had Skells assigned to them. You may also experience visual hiccups when wondering around NLA, too. It’s a pretty dense area of the game, so there will be times when you’ll see assets popping in right in front of you. Outside of when you enter the rare building (like the Blade Barracks), loading times are few and far between throughout the experience, which really helps you become immersed in this dense world. To top things off, the UI is a bit busy, but still pretty easy to read. I initially thought the subtitles were a bit large, but they worked great in both handheld and on the big screen. 

X has a varied soundtrack with a hodgepodge of genres. While a majority of what you will hear will be orchestral, there are a few other themes that range from rock to hip-hop to jazz-like tracks. I can’t say that I was a fan of everything that was on offer, but overall, I think the quality here is excellent. Voice acting is also well done and both English and Japanese are available. Not everything is voiced here - that’s usually relegated to the main story missions and some of the affinity missions. Still, there’s a ton of spoken dialogue that can be found in the game. 

Wii U Version

The Wii U version of Xenoblade Chronicles X released in English speaking territories in early December 2015, but was released significantly earlier in Japan. Known simply as Xenoblade X (the whole series in Japan does not include “Chronicles”), the title debuted on the Wii U on April 29, 2015. I was there on day one and picked up a physical version of the game from the local electronics store near my house. Not only this, but I also covered the game extensively over on Nintendo World Report with two sets of impressions and a review. At the time, there was hardly any information available on the game in English, so it was quite challenging to figure out some of the more in depth parts of the game. However, after 82 hours, I rolled the credits. 

While the Switch version of X improves upon the original in nearly every way, quick access to the map is something that I miss. Using the Wii U GamePad, this was always front and center and in the palms of your hands. Given that you will be checking the map quite a bit in the game while exploring, this is awesome in the Wii U version. Embarrassingly with the Switch version, for my first 50 hours with the game, I would press the Start button and then work my way to the map that way, only to find out that Y was a way to access this quickly. Either this wasn’t explained, or it just got lost to me because of the denseness of the game in general. 

When it boils down to it, one of the best changes that Nintendo has made since entering the Switch era is their ability to release games day and date worldwide. The new additions to the Switch Definitive Version of X have really alleviated almost any issue I had with the game with the previous Wii U release. The text is easier to read, finding items for quests is more streamlined and the game just looks better overall. There is little that you’re missing out on (aside from the map on the Wii U Game Pad) with the Switch release.

Conclusion

Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is a great game, even all these years later. The new tweaks made to the game removed some elements that were likely to annoy many about the original. The only downside to this version of the game compared to the Wii U version is the map. Of course, it’s fine on the Switch, but the GamePad really made it so much easier to check. Regardless, everything else about the game, including the obvious point of it being available on a modern platform, are reason enough to give this one a chance. If you’ve been sitting on the fence on this one or are just looking to play the game again, you can’t go wrong here. 

But, let’s turn things over to you. Did you play Xenoblade Chronicles X back in the day on the Wii U? Have you tried out the Switch version? Sound off with any and all comments down below. We’d love to hear from you. 

Final Score: 9.5

by Danny Bivens

Originally posted on Friday, May 23, 2025, 4:00 p.m. (JST)