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Review: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Switch) – Monolith Soft Doing What It Does Best, Albeit With The Occasional Flaw
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is presented as Monolith Soft’s ambitious, story-led return to the mainline formula, following young scavenger Rex and his Blade, Pyra, on a long quest to reach Elysium. The review considers its expansive narrative, memorable world and deep systems major strengths, while acknowledging occasional awkward humour and flaws. Its rerelease coincides with the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, with added impressions of the Upgrade Pack’s performance improvements.
Set across vast Titans floating in a “cloud sea”, the game combines an ancient conflict and power struggle with smaller stories of nations, friendship and isolation. It offers dozens of hours of main story, side quests, layered menus and resource management, punctuated by lengthy, often impressive cutscenes. Unlike Xenoblade Chronicles X, it follows a more linear, checkpoint-driven structure, but its interface is said to be more manageable than its Wii U predecessor’s.
In short
- A vast, story-driven RPG with considerable depth and occasional flaws.
- Rex’s quest explores nations, conflict and an elaborate fantasy world.
- The Switch 2 Edition adds performance-focused upgrade impressions.
Explained simply
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a story-driven role-playing game from developer Monolith Soft that has been re-released as a Switch 2 Edition with performance improvements. The game follows Rex, a young scavenger, and his magical companion Pyra, known as a Blade, as they set out on a journey to reach a place called Elysium.
The game takes place across enormous floating landmasses called Titans suspended in a sea of clouds. It blends a grand conflict between various factions with smaller, personal stories about friendship and belonging, offering dozens of hours of gameplay through a main storyline, side quests and intricate character progression systems.
Monolith Soft has built a reputation for crafting ambitious, narrative-focused games with substantial depth and scale. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is considered a significant entry in the studio's catalogue, and this re-release brings the game to new audiences whilst improving its technical performance.