Xenoblade Chronicles 3 preview – very open world RPG

metro.co.uk:

GameCentral goes hands-on with the opening hours of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and discovers the first secrets about its plot and combat system.

It’s peculiar how Xenoblade Chronicles started out as a relatively niche role-player that flew under a lot of peoples’ radar. Released as the Nintendo Wii was nearing the end of its lifecycle, it originally wasn’t even considered for an American release and was only available in Japan and Europe. American audiences had to beg for a localisation from Nintendo (along with The Last Story and Pandora’s Tower), resulting in the Operation Rainfall fan campaign.

Over 10 years later and Xenoblade Chronicles is now a full-fledged series with two numbered sequels, a Nintendo Wii U spin-off, and a remaster each on Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch. There’s also been plenty of representation in Nintendo’s premiere crossover series, Super Smash Bros., and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was deemed important enough to have its own Nintendo Direct showcase.

Much like its heroes, Xenoblade Chronicles defied its fate and has now become a major Nintendo franchise. The one downside to its ever-growing popularity is that it now has much larger expectations to meet. Given developer Monolith Soft’s track record, however, there is little reason to be concerned over Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s quality, especially after we got to play its opening hours for ourselves.

In many respects, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 feels very familiar. While not identical to its predecessor, its combat, at its core, is very similar to Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Your party attacks enemies automatically, in real-time, while special moves known as Arts require only a single button press once charged. You only directly control one character at a time,