Deep in the depths of space floats Mira. It’s a beautiful world, from its wide green plains to its dense jungles, from its mountainous deserts to its volcanic hotbeds. Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition takes is set in a vibrant world, home to a host of creatures great small, from lean pack hunters and their offspring to towering behemoths that would make an apatosaur jealous of the adorably floofy, traveling Nopon people. It’s a mysterious place, haunted by massive ruins and mysterious technology that ranges from shattered rings to long-forgotten but still very active giant robots. And, with the crash landing of USS White Whale, it’s humanity’s new home.
Earth was lost in the crossfire between two ruthless alien armies, neither of whom had any care for humanity. Indeed, one of those armies, the intergalactic crime syndicate called the Ganglion, has taken a page from Halo’s Covenant and outright wants humanity obliterated, to the point that they’ve come to Mira themselves hoping to make that happen.
If humanity, operating out of New Los Angeles, is to survive, and perhaps even thrive, the members of BLADE (Builders of the Legacy After the Destruction of Earth) must explore Mira, make first contact and establish relations with humanity’s fellow sapient life forms. They also need to fight the Ganglion (who range from despicable tyrants to honorable warriors), search for a key piece of technology that was lost when the White Whale wrecked, and dig into deeper mysteries.
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is a remaster and update to 2015’s Xenoblade Chronicles X, including, among other things, an updated heads-up display, as well as new characters and story material. I cannot speak to the original X, since I wasn’t the Wii U owner in my family. I can, however, say that as a fan of the Xenoblade series and Monolith Soft’s work as a whole. Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is a well-made, enjoyable, and consistently interesting game, thanks to both its failures and its triumphs.
X’s biggest weakness is its player character, called Cross. While numerous party members are individually playable, Cross, the primary viewpoint character, is a customizable avatar. Although they aren’t entirely without character (some of their responses to their crew’s questions are quite funny), they’re a long way from, for instance, Cyberpunk 2077’s V, as far as customizable player characters go.
Cross’ simplicity puts a distance between them and the other members of BLADE that, at its most pronounced, amounts to a wall between the player and the party. The core and recruitable casts make for an interesting, likable crew, but they don’t quite have the spark of, say, Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s protagonists. The latter has the advantage of starting as two tight-knit crews with well-established dynamics that change when they’re forced to work together.
But, while Cross’ blankness frustrates, X’s macro-scale storytelling is darn good science fiction that’s built into a compelling loop with its gameplay. The more Cross and their team explore Mira, the more they learn about it—what natural resources they can draw on, who their fellow sapient beings are and what their goals are. They also discover where parts of the White Whale crashed and how Mira’s many creatures will react to a party of adventurers (eventually in giant mechs called Skells) making their way across the continent.
Sometimes, this gives the writing the space it needs to breathe, as happens when humanity and a diminutive, intelligent, easy-going species called the Ma-non make first contact while dealing with a crew of brutish Ganglion goons. The player, by this point, has first-hand experience with fighting the Ganglion and navigating survival in Mira. The alliance makes sense and leads to the two species learning the delicate art of coexistence amidst tension and crisis, as well as the strangeness of everyday life.
In other cases, X’s focus on exploration leads to striking moments of emergent storytelling. While Skells (whose licenses need to be earned through extensive in-story testing and many hours) make traversal easier and open up specific routes and options, after X’s opening act, there are very few places on Mira that you cannot go (some are certainly more difficult to access due to geography or high-leveled enemies). I remain struck by a moment where I spied what looked to be the wreck of a giant robot in a lake, swam in to get a look, and promptly had to flee for my life because the giant robot was very much not a wreck.
Xenoblade Chronicles X gives fans an exciting new world
Indeed, one of the great pleasures of Xenoblade Chronicles X is that it’s fun to explore Mira. It’s exciting to see how the wildlife reacts to your presence (some are violently territorial, others are content to ignore you, and certain critters have their own theme music) and make your way through obstacles on foot or in a Skell.
X’s focus on exploration extends to its combat system. Triumphing in battle requires being comfortable with fighting on the move, taking advantage of positioning-based attacks (i.e., specific techniques will do more damage depending on which side of the enemy the player is facing when executing them), and knowing how the party synergizes with each other. It’s fast, frenetic, and in some cases, overwhelming, albeit helped by a steady introduction of new mechanics that makes keeping pace with Mira’s relentlessness manageable. It rewards paying attention and experimenting with strategy.
All told, Xenoblade Chronicles X is a very fine piece of work. It’s densely packed with quests to accomplish, places to explore, and challenging foes to fell. It introduces its mechanics with care and impeccable timing. While Cross’ status as a cipher frustrates some of its character work, and one running gag about one of the crews being used as a food supply grates pretty quickly, the cast is a likable bunch with some depth to them. Its score, by Hiroyuki Sawano, is sublime, whether operating in goofy but catchy mode or just plain shredding. After ten years as one of the highlights of a less-than-successful game console, having this more widely accessible is quite welcome.
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