Xenoblade X: Definitive Edition Review:

Remastered on the Switch Xenoblade X truly shines, and just like with the original that was released on the Wiiu back in 2015, the game still is a more than fascinating work that manages to captivate me in its own unique way. Through experiencing it once again and my playthrough of this remaster there was simply so much enjoyment that I took from this game, and I could hardly stop playing it. There's something really special about this game, and I think that there are without a doubt many more than worth mentioning aspects about this game that make it such an interesting and rather unique experience. Especially with this fantastic remaster that greatly enhances the game compared to the original. As Tetsuya Takahashi's works already went into a more exploration focused direction with the first Xenoblade that had a much bigger focus on the exploration with its large open areas, compared to his previous works that had a wider focus on telling a profound, deep story with complex characters, Xenoblade X focuses even more on its big open world and the exploration of this world throughout the game.

With having a much broader focus on its open world, the planet Mira, and the general exploration of this whole planet, Xenoblade X absolutely delivers and shines in that aspect of the game, and it's probably one of the defining aspects that make this game so truly unique and fascinating compared to many other open world games. Not only is this game a true open world where you don't have any boundaries and can go wherever you want within the limitations of your character movement, the game additionally gives you some incredibly great movement with how fast you can roam, jump, and sprint around the world, which in turn is only being topped by the giant Mechs that you can get later in the game through which you can explore even more, move even faster, and later in the game being even able to fly with these Mechs through which you can achieve true freedom. I honestly can hardly express how much fun I once again had exploring the entirety of Mira, and this is not only because of the absolutely fantastic movement and the ability to explore the whole planet with Mechs later in the game, but also because of how astoundingly and fascinating this whole planet, Mira, is designed. Every area, every corner of this game, of this world, looks interesting through its structure, its design, and its fauna. It's an absolute bliss for the eyes to look at this game and the planet of Mira is one of the most beautiful worlds I have ever seen and experienced in a video game. In every area of this game there is something to be explored there is something you can find, whether it is a Data Probe you can install, a Tyrant you can defeat, or a mission, this world has something to offer nearly everywhere. It truly cannot be understated how amazing Mira is and how incredibly much fun I had exploring this whole world once again on the Switch. The game is in that regard an absolute masterpiece and without a doubt my favorite open world, and no other game came close to what this game had to offer to me in that regard.

One important aspect while exploring the world of this game is definitely the battle system, as there are all different types of enemies throughout the world. As such it's certainly essential to have an interesting and engaging battle system that makes fighting these enemies interesting and enjoyable throughout the game, and I can confidently say that Xenoblade X has a really great battle system that massively improves and builds up on the one that was implemented in the first Xenoblade. Comparatively it is much more complex and offers much, much more different options and customization, which is really great and one aspect that I really love and appreciate about this series. As for ground combat you have so many options, so many different builds you can go for, and you can even become insanely strong with the right set up. It's so much fun to try out all the different classes, weapon types, arts, and skills the game has to offer, which is only being enhanced by one of the greatest and overpowered mechanics in any game with Overdrive through which you can greatly increase your character's power in battles. Truly understanding and using Overdrive is probably one of the most fun aspects of the battle system, and I wouldn't want to have Xenoblade X in any other way in that regard. In addition to the ground combat Xenoblade X, similar to previous Xeno games before Xenoblade, offers Mech combat again, which is a really nice addition to the game. Being able to customize and optimize your Mechs is really great, and while fighting with them, at least in my opinion, isn't necessarily as fun as the ground combat, since that offers more options and can make you even more powerful, it's still really fantastic and enjoyable. With everything this battle system and mechanics of the game have to offer, I think it's totally great and I really love this whole aspect of the game too.

While playing and even starting the game there is one aspect that immediately stands out and that is the absolutely amazing and astounding soundtrack that was composed by Hiroyuki Sawano. Through its unique style it truly gives Xenoblade X its rather unique identity that is really recognizable and you can really feel that this is a soundtrack composed by Sawano. While the soundtrack as a whole goes in a pretty different direction compared to the other soundtracks of the series, I really love it, and probably exactly for that reason. One aspect I really love about it are definitely all the vocal tracks and songs, which are great, and give the game its rather unique vibe and touch. More than worth mentioning is most definitely Uncontrollable which is probably one of the best boss tracks that I have heard, and Black Tar, Wir Fliegen, and The Key we've lost along with that are absolutely fantastic songs too, which play during battles. But also the lyrics themselves are for the most part pretty interesting with them incorporating themes and even events of the game and its story, especially with the new content of this remaster it can be really interesting to listen and read through the lyrics of some of these songs again. Regarding my favorite tracks I probably could list pretty much all of the songs and it was once again absolutely great to hear the whole soundtrack by playing through the game again on the Switch. Even now while writing this, I'm still listening to this amazing soundtrack and I think Hiroyuki Sawano has done an absolutely remarkable job with this entire soundtrack, and the new tracks and few remixes for this remaster that are composed by Sawano and Misaki Umase are really nice as well. Genuinely this whole soundtrack of this game is still magnificent.

As for the story I really love the whole concept and general premise of it, having these people that had to flee from earth because of two fighting alien civilizations and have to survive on this alien planet now that they had to crash land on it is really interesting and a great concept, which offers an interesting set up for the whole story and characters of the game. In general the entire setting is fantastic with the whole planet of Mira, and I love that the game goes much more into a sci-fi direction, similar to previous Xeno games before Xenoblade like Xenogears and especially Xenosaga. The only big drawbacks there are to the overall story of the game is in my view that there is much less focus on the main story and the silent protagonist. While I generally really love the story, I think that holds it back from its full potential. Still even with that, I think that the general main story of the game still is really good and has some really great moments especially in the later chapters. But with there being less focus on the main story, there is instead much more focus on the side quests and general side content of the game, which is absolutely great and definitely has all the strengths that otherwise would've been in the main story. There are many really great and memorable side quests that are absolutely worth playing, with especially the affinity missions being really good too and having some fantastic moments with the characters. In general I think that the characters of the game are really good and throughout the game there is this sense of community with all the different characters, and that's one aspect I totally appreciate and like about this game. So while the main story itself might not be the strongest aspect of the game, I think that the general story of the game has some really big strengths, it's just much more spread out through all the side content.

New to the remaster of the game on the Switch are additionally a lot of QoL features, which make the game even more enjoyable than the original and greatly enhance the overall experience with the game. One of the most significant improvements is in my opinion, that you now finally have the option to change party members at any time compared to the original where you always had to search the character in NLA to add them to your party, which could become rather frustrating if you wanted to more frequently use different party members. That's such a big improvement that makes playing the game so much more enjoyable and led me to use different party members much more often, which was only reinforced by now not being required anymore to use certain characters in most affinity quests and story chapters. Along with the shared experience points for all characters, that makes actually using and playing with all the different party members of the game, of which there overall is quite a high amount, way more convenient and enjoyable. But that's not where it ends, since the whole UI is for the most part way more and easily readable than the original, there are quest markers for items, the whole map is vastly improved and easier to use, and you now also have the option to still jump with your Skell once you get your Skell license, since in the original you would just immediately go into the fly mode. There's simply so much that I can hardly talk about all of it, but one of the more noticeable changes would be the new character models, which for the most part look really great. While I certainly miss some of the older models since they kind of grew close to me, I definitely still think that most of the new ones are an improvement compared to the original. I only wish they would've added a cutscene viewer of the game, that would've been a pretty nice addition, but aside from that all of these QoL features are absolutely fantastic and greatly enhance the experience with the game.

In addition to all of these QoL features the game also features new content compared to the original on the Wiiu. One of these additions would be new playable characters, most notably the two new playable characters, Liesel and Neilnail, which you can unlock relatively early in the game that are really great and feature some interesting stories along with some new lore. In my view they are a fantastic and very fitting addition to the game and it's great to have two new female playable characters. Since a character like Neilnail also was in concept art for the original game, it's really great to see how they added this content to the remaster of the game that was cut from the original. Along with Liesel there is additionally a new type of Skell added to the game, the Hraesvelg, which too is an absolutely wonderful addition to the game and through its new flight mode, through which you can fly like a jet, adds a whole new unique layer of exploration to the game. This new Skell is awesome and I love that they added it to the game, exploring Mira with it through a whole new perspective is simply amazing and is so much fun. But aside from that the most notable new content added to the game would absolutely be the whole new epilogue that finally continues the story after 10 years. Since I don't want to spoil anything, I can foremost say that I absolutely loved it for what it is and had to offer. While you can definitely feel the more limited budget they probably had with it being an addition to this remaster, what it has to offer is still absolutely amazing. Aside from some smaller critic points like the gameplay being a little bit on the weaker side compared to the main game, there are many aspects I really love about it and I personally really loved my time playing through it, with the story and characters it had to offer.

That being said Xenoblade X is a truly special game that means a lot to me, and this remaster, Xenoblade X: Definitive Edition, truly lives up to its name, it absolutely is the definitive version of this game, and overall greatly enhances the whole experience it has to offer in a more than wonderful way. Through my time of playing and completing this game once again I had so much fun with it, exploring Mira for a second time was, like with the original, breathtaking, and I would already love to completely re-experience this game. While it certainly isn't perfect, and I personally definitely still have some problems with it or aspects I personally don't like as much, like the freely moveable camera in certain cutscenes, the silent protagonist, or something like the Blood Lobster quest, overall I still absolutely love this game and the incredible experience it has to offer. There's something so special and unique about this game that for the most part no other game managed to replicate like this for me. Nearly every second of exploring the whole planet of Mira is awesome, and so incredibly enjoyable. It's really hard to properly put it into words to me, but this game is, from a technical, artistic, and general perspective, even with its problems and weaker aspects, truly an absolutely astounding and fascinating work.