Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition doesn’t mess with what already works

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Table of Contents A strange new world Small, but smart, additions Getting hooked

Everybody has their gaming white whale. For me, and plenty of RPG fans, that is the Xeno series from Tetsuya Takahashi and Monolith Soft. With decades of real-world and in-game lore across multiple entries known for intimidating runtimes and complex interconnected philosophical stories, it has reached a near mythic level. So it’s only apt that my time with Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition begins with a Moby Dick reference in the form of a spaceship called the USS White Whale.

A remaster of the original 2015 Wii U game, Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is set to release for the Nintendo Switch on March 20. As a standalone story, it acts as one of the best entry points to an intimidating series. For me, it might just be the one I finally roll credits on. In the opening hours of the game I’ve played so far, carefully chosen improvements to the original amplify an already exceptional open world I am eager to get lost in.

A strange new world

Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition begins with the USS White Whale crash landing on the planet Mira. This strands the remnants of humanity, fleeing from an intergalactic war Earth got caught in the middle of, on an alien world with few resources. Beyond a stylish opening cinematic and some expository dialogue in the game’s opening hour, Xenoblade Chronicles X sees fit to let you lose on the world without much preamble. This is to its benefit, as feeling like a stranger in a strange land is very much the point of the story.

The player is one of the lucky survivors of the crash, and a resident of the freshly established city of New Los Angeles. The destruction of the rest of the White Whale has thrown the city into a race for survival dependent on scouring Mira for resources. After choosing my appearance, a unique feature