I cannot even begin to describe how much I love Xenoblade Chronicles 2. In many ways, this 2017 RPG revived my love for single-player games, as I found myself mostly sticking to multiplayer games aside from Super Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild. When I picked up my copy, I never could have imagined it would become one of my favorite games of all time. Yet, here we are, nine years later, and I still feel as strongly about Xenoblade Chronicles 2—if not more so.
In the years since, I have had the opportunity to review hundreds of games for Final Weapon, ranging from experiences I would call masterpieces to others I have no intention of ever picking up again. However, Final Weapon didn’t exist in 2017, meaning I never had the opportunity to review one of the games that would ultimately mean the most to me. That changes with the release of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition.
Booting up Xenoblade Chronicles 2 again on Nintendo Switch 2 was almost surreal. I felt similarly when I tried Handheld Mode Boost earlier this year, but the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition has made Alrest look better than I could have ever imagined. Seeing Alrest with this level of clarity and fidelity felt like Monolith was finally realizing the version of its world I had imagined throughout more than 700 hours of playing at sub-720p resolutions.
Art direction has always been one of the strongest aspects of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, with huge, living Titans, colorful environments, and distinctive character designs throughout. Like Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles X before it, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was enormously ambitious for the hardware and pushed the Switch to its limits. As a result, the original version of the game often struggled to present that ambition cleanly, especially in handheld mode, where image quality dipped as low as 368p.
Returning to Uraya was legitimately breathtaking. The Petal Rain, glowing flora, and massive interior of the Titan all came through with a level of clarity the original Switch simply could not maintain. I’ve always found Uraya to be one of the most beautiful locations in the game, especially at night, and the enhanced visuals make that a certainty. Sometimes, I find myself going back to games years later and realizing perhaps my brain did some heavy lifting where resolution or textures couldn’t keep up. Uraya is a case of the Switch 2 Edition finally matching what I had always pictured, to the point that it’s almost like a completely different game. That increase in fidelity was all I ever wanted from an upgrade to Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
I had some concern about how Xenoblade Chronicles 2 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition would turn out on the technical side. Monolith has released two half-baked Switch 2 Editions in a row between Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition and Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition, and considering the upscaling and frame rate issues those versions faced, I feared the worst for Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Thankfully, this is far and away the most technically competent Switch 2 Edition Monolith has released so far. Performance issues are rare, with only some minor frame drops that I mostly noticed during cutscenes and a few minor visual glitches here and there. There is also a known audio mixing issue present at launch, though Monolith has already confirmed a patch is planned. Additionally, while the game is clearly rendering at an upscaled resolution, the Van-Gogh mess is not present, but whatever is implemented for XC2 is good enough. It’s far and away the best the game has ever looked.
The jump to 60 FPS had a similar effect. I’ve never been one to say that Xenoblade is a series that must have a higher frame rate to truly be enjoyed. Even for games with performance options, I tend to prioritize resolution to take in the beauty of worlds unless a lower frame rate will genuinely break the experience. I played nearly all 350 hours of my time with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth at 30 FPS on PlayStation 5, for example, and never felt I was missing out. That said, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 benefits from this increase in every way imaginable. I almost felt like something was wrong as I turned the camera while crossing through the Leftherian Archipelago, only to be met with a level of smoothness I never once associated with the series before. Combat especially benefits from this increased frame rate, as the fluidity makes encounters much easier to follow. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has a lot going on in combat at all times, with Drivers, Blades, enemies, orbs, and Art effects all contributing to a chaotic battle scene. At 60 FPS, I found it much easier to keep track of everything happening around me, while Arts, movement, and Blade switching all felt noticeably more responsive.
Though truthfully, cutscenes may very well be the area that benefited most from this upgrade. The original game featured beautiful choreography and expressive character animation that the lower resolution and frame rate could not always do justice. Honestly, seeing these scenes play out with this level of clarity and fluidity genuinely felt like reliving them again, which says something considering how many times I’ve played the game over the years. It was basically a dream of mine to see some of my favorite cutscenes and characters look this sharp. Long gone are the days of jagged edges obscuring character models.
Not every meaningful improvement or addition in the Switch 2 Edition is technical, though. Field Skills, one of the biggest grievances of the original game, have been significantly reworked with an update Monolith did not even reveal in marketing. Previously, this system required you to have Blades in your party that could fulfill the required levels needed to trigger an action. Now, the game pulls levels from all Blades in your inventory, so there’s no need to constantly open up the Blade menu and reshuffle your party or further develop a Blade’s Field Skills to clear an obstacle. This may sound like a very minor tweak, but ultimately, it removes an absurd amount of friction from exploration that previously added hours and hours to playtime.
As for new content, there’s another new Blade to meet and master, MOMO, who is Xenoblade Chronicles 2‘s third Xenosaga rep. You love to see it, and I continue to scratch my head and wonder why that Xenosaga Remastered empty check is sitting on a shelf at Bandai Namco collecting dust. There’s also Merc Assault, a mode that turns Merc Missions into what I can only describe as a lite Warriors-like experience. It’s fun, but I’ve had my fill and don’t really plan to spend too much time there moving forward. Finally, it wouldn’t be the definitive version of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 without some love for Pyra and Mythra. The two have received brand new outfits and in-game artwork from character designer Masatsugu Saito, and both are a treat to use throughout the game. I’ll always prefer their original outfits, but I really appreciate the subtle design choices Saito made here, especially the animated details worked into the new looks.
Everything I wanted out of a Switch 2 upgrade of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is here, and in multiple ways, Monolith went even further than I expected. Truthfully, all I really wanted was for the game to look and run better. Instead, there’s worthwhile new content that fans will genuinely appreciate, and one of the original game’s biggest frustrations has been remedied. The funny thing is, none of this changes the fact that Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was already one of my favorite games of all time.
What has always stood out to me the most about Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is just how unapologetically itself it is. This idea of being unabashedly original is something I praised Death Stranding 2: On The Beach for last year: I find myself connecting with games that fully commit to what their creators want them to be far more than those shaped by the broader trends of the industry. So many games feel carefully sanded down to appeal to as broad an audience as possible, but not once does Xenoblade Chronicles 2 ever seem embarrassed by its own identity. That comes through in its anime influence, humor, romance, and even its character designs. I still remember the day I reached the end of Chapter 3 for the first time, filled with sadness, shock, and excitement, and realized how invested I had become in this world and its characters. More than anything, I wanted to know who Mythra really was and how Rex would recover from everything that had just happened.
As time would tell, Pyra and Mythra would become the characters I cared the most about in Xenoblade Chronicles 2. I can point to so many different reasons as to why this is, but I believe it boils down to the theme of duality, which runs through nearly every part of this game. The two characters are opposites in personality, but really, they act as two entirely different responses to grief and guilt that the Aegis herself experienced over the course of her life. Pyra responds to that trauma by turning inward, internalizing her pain behind a much softer and more caring personality. She is incredibly gentle and kind to those around her, but that softness also can feel like part of how she tries to make herself less dangerous and less burdensome to the people she cares about. Pyra is also far more secretive than she first lets on, constantly holding information back from Rex and the rest of the party even when they question her about it. A lot of that comes from the fact that she still believes she has to carry everything herself.
Mythra responds in almost the opposite way. She externalizes that pain through pride and keeps others at a distance, with many of her actions driven by the fear of getting close to people and losing them again. She fears her own power, the possibility of hurting the people she cares about, and repeating the events of 500 years ago. That fear ultimately drives her to lock herself away before awakening in Chapter 3. As we later learn, Mythra originally didn’t care too much about the world. Yet, after experiencing it and finding connection and love within those around her, she grew to care deeply about both the world and those living within it. Even Pyra and Mythra’s character designs reinforce this idea of duality, with both of their designs complementing and completing one another later in the game.
Rex is another reason why I adore this game so much. He is naive about the world in many ways, but that naivety also allows him to keep believing in people when others would have already given up on them. Even when facing those who have done everything in their power to prevent him from reaching Elysium, he still looks for the person underneath everything they have become. Rex genuinely would do anything for his friends and loved ones; this entire journey is proof of that, as he fights to reach a place only known as myth solely for the girl he loves. By the end of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Rex has a much clearer understanding of what his place in the world actually is. As he recites late in the game, his role is helping people smile and live their lives together.
This idea of finding meaning in your life is something Rex comes to terms with over the course of the game, and it’s something that connects him so well to Pyra and Mythra, two who spend much of the game questioning whether their own lives have meaning at all. Rex’s optimistic worldview and desire to help reach their goal is what truly allows the two to find a reason to live despite carrying the burdens they do. He never treats them as weapons or defines them by the destruction they are capable of, but rather as people who deserve a future and can choose the way they want to live. That choice and the decision Pyra and Mythra make as a result of it give their journey so much meaning to me.
Naturally, the characters and story only work so well because of the world and the rich lore throughout it. Alrest is a huge reason that I still hold Xenoblade Chronicles 2 in such high regard all these years later. Every Titan has such a distinct style and design that feels full of its own character and lore to discover. Though, my favorite element of Alrest is easily the World Tree, which sits in the very middle of the world, always watching over your journey. In a way, it gives a sense of direction, but I adore how the mission lies in front of you at all times and gets closer with each Titan you explore; it’s something so many RPGs simply do not have. As you get closer to the World Tree, your understanding of it and of Alrest keeps changing. And once you arrive, everything about the entire world is recontextualized in the most brilliant way.
The soundtrack is another inseparable piece of my Xenoblade Chronicles 2 memories. So many of its tracks are tied to specific scenes and emotions that hearing the first few notes can immediately transport me back to those moments. “The Tomorrow With You” is among my favorite compositions ever, and so many others like “Drifting Soul,” “Counterattack,” and “Walking With You” flood me with emotions. The soundtrack defines Xenoblade Chronicles 2‘s identity in so many ways. Area themes give such character to each Titan, battle themes immediately engage you no matter the enemy, and major story compositions give an indescribable emotional intensity that elevates everything.
The gameplay is just as important to that identity. Everything in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is built around the concepts of Drivers and Blades, with that connection and duality directly intertwined into combat. Once all of its systems open up, battles become so much fun as you chain arts, launch chain attacks, and find ways to break the game. Experimenting is almost always rewarded, and mechanics like stutter-stepping let you exploit the combat system to recharge Arts faster, making learning how to break systems part of the fun. Even after hundreds of hours, I’ve never gotten tired of playing Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and that freedom in combat and the vast number of Blades to team up with are huge reasons why.
Nine years later, I still find myself thinking about all of it. I think about Pyra and Mythra, the sweeping melody of “One Last You,” exploring Alrest from top to bottom, and the dozens of hours I spent trying to beat bosses faster. Everything is so intertwined that I can’t simply point to one reason as to why I love Xenoblade Chronicles 2 so much. It is the way everything comes together that has made this game impossible for me to leave behind.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was never a flawless game, and neither is its Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. The biggest issue that still remains is how poorly the game explains some of its most essential combat systems, which can make battles incredibly challenging and frustrating for newcomers. Orbs, for example, are central to dealing massive damage in Chain Attacks, yet there is barely any explanation on how to consistently create them and chain together elemental combinations. The same is true for canceling Arts, a system that can completely change the pace of combat. Once these systems click, the combat becomes incredibly rewarding, but Xenoblade Chronicles 2 does far too little to help players reach that point.
Another unchanged system that remains a core piece of the game is the Blade acquisition system, which is tied to RNG and can be frustrating. I adore how much of a celebration Xenoblade Chronicles 2 can feel like with its massive roster of guest artists for Blades, but hunting down a specific Blade like KOS-MOS can be absurdly time-consuming. Like any good gacha game (Hi, FGO!), there is absolutely a thrill in not knowing who you will pull next, but that excitement can quickly dissipate when you blow through dozens of Core Crystals only to be left with just one or two Rare Blades.
These issues are frustrating, but they have never been what I think about when I think about Xenoblade Chronicles 2. I remember the characters, places, music, and moments that have stayed with me for almost a decade at this point, not the Core Crystals I burned trying to get all the Rare Blades. I already felt this strongly about the original game on Switch with its, at times, fuzzy visuals and missing quality-of-life features, and the Switch 2 Edition only makes that easier by addressing some of its biggest shortcomings. Field Skills are finally less intrusive, performance is dramatically improved, and the image quality is finally doing the game justice. Yet, the heart of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is the same.
In a way, I feel like I’m finally checking off a box that’s been open since 2017. It’s kind of strange finally scoring a game I’ve carried for almost a decade now, especially when I knew what that score would be long before I ever started writing this review. I’ve changed and grown in too many ways to count since I naively picked up Xenoblade Chronicles 2 at my local Best Buy, but my feelings toward this game have barely changed at all.
The Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is the version I always wanted to play, but I never needed any of these improvements to love it as much as I have. I spent years hoping Monolith would eventually give this game another chance on better hardware, and seeing that finally happen feels almost surreal. It is exhilarating seeing the game I know every moment of in a new light like this. Even after hundreds and hundreds of hours, returning to Alrest still reminds me why Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has never left its place among my favorite games of all time.
Disclaimer: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition was reviewed on Nintendo Switch 2.
