Xenoblade Chronicles X has one of the most ambitious Nintendo worlds ever – even 10 years on

Originally released for the Nintendo Wii U back in 2015, Xenoblade's futuristic spin-off is finally given a chance to shine fully.

The Nintendo Switch generation ends with a bang instead of a whimper, breathing new life into one of the Wii U’s most underrated (yet ambitious) open-world RPGs.

For the past few weeks, I've been exploring the planet of Mira, and have spent most of that time with my jaw on the floor, staggered that such a giant and ambitious world ever ran smoothly on the Nintendo Wii U (let alone a Nintendo Switch). Maybe it did, maybe it didn't. The truth is it doesn't matter since the version rendered here, in Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, is the latest in a long line of experiences zhushed and shined up to look better than ever on Nintendo's outgoing hybrid console.

It seems rather fitting that the Switch's lifecycle should end with an open-world title equally as ambitious as the one it entered with. But the more I traverse these lands and take it all in, it’s amazing just how much in common Xenoblade Chronicles X has – and always has had – with Zelda: Breath of the Wild in both its ambition and execution.

This being my first Xenoblade game, I knew I was in for a much different experience as soon as my custom-created character was rescued from their recently crashed pod, faced with battling some weird elephant/brontosaurus hybrid and tasked with somehow taking it down. This is an open-world RPG alright, but one that plays differently to most in that its version of real-time action isn’t dependant on direct button inputs.

Commanding your hero and squad effectively rests on deploying a string of unique commands called Battle Arts, which can then be buffed using specifically timed button presses while you manage the cooldown of each one. You’d think such an approach would be at risk of making you feel less involved in the action, yet it works wonderfully to help you soak in the true scope of Xenoblade Chronicles X’s combat. At least for me!

For comparison, another game that released in 2015 is the infallible The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, a game that plays it far safer in terms of player progression, having you solve one problem before moving onto the next. Xenoblade Chronicles X doesn’t do that. Instead, there's a lot more freeform in its approach, letting the shackles off incredibly early on and opening up its grid-based map to an almost intimidating degree. In fact, not 10 minutes after I was introduced to the game’s central hub of New Los Angeles was I encouraged to take on a bevvy of side missions across the game’s grid-based map, and encouraged to approach the world in almost any direction – similar to, you guessed it, a certain The Legend of Zelda game.

Sky high

Playing the Definitive Edition now, I can almost guarantee I wouldn’t have enjoyed playing it back when it originally released for all these unique quirks. The density of Mira would have been almost too intimidating and difficult to parse. However, the way Xenoblade Chronicles X is able to match quantity and quality in equal measure is a trait my more mature self can better appreciate.

Although there are times when a level 4 mission can see me run alongside giant, indigenous alien creatures that are 10 times higher than my character level, it does well to reinforce the harshness of this world, planting the seeds to make you feel unbelievably empowered when you revisit a region 20 hours later – this time while piloting your own flying mech where you can enjoy Mira’s inherent beauty to a whole new degree.

Obviously presenting a world so large necessitates that it is equally diverse, otherwise there’s a danger of becoming bored with your surroundings unbelievably quickly. Thankfully, again, this is an area where Xenoblade Chronicles X understands the assignment, with almost every hill you crest primed to reveal a totally new biome, type of geography, or wild creature design.

Unlike Zelda or The Witcher, where the wildlife is somewhat a known quantity, every monster I fight for the first time here serves as a reminder that Mira is a planet where I do not belong. This is an example of an open-world RPG where we are very much the aliens, and it’s a factor that brilliantly aids in Xenoblade Chronicles’ inherent timelessness and otherworldliness.

Does Xenoblade Chronicles X have the same kind of staying power as Zelda: Breath of the Wild or Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom? Realistically, probably not, purely due to being a game a little tougher to penetrate than those that feature Nintendo’s favourite Hylian elf hero.

That said, if there’s one thing that Xenoblade Chronicles X’s new Definitive Edition proves, it’s that the ambitions and ability for Nintendo (with developer Monolith Soft as a partner) to create a world equally as enthralling as those featured on higher-powered consoles was always there – culminating in the Zelda games that swiftly followed after.

It may have taken close to a decade to happen, but right at the tail end of the Switch’s excellent run, Xenoblade Chronicle’s X full brilliance can now be enjoyed the way it arguably always should have been.