Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition review for Switch 2

Xenoblade Chronicles is one of those franchises that when it first came out you probably never heard of it. For some people, the initial exposure to Xenoblade Chronicles was likely the 3DS port announcement a decade ago or the announcement of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on the Switch. I knew about it during the Wii period from some internet forum discussion somehow, so seeing it be ported to Switch 1 with the Definitive Edition was insanely exciting for me. Imagine my further excitement seeing that Nintendo announced during their big June Nintendo Direct that the whole Xenoblade Chronicles trilogy was getting a Switch 2 upgrade pack. Coming off the heels of Xenoblade Chronicles X’s upgrade pack, I was cautious about it, but we now have hands-on with XCDE’s Switch 2 version and can get a pretty good idea of what this trilogy’s Switch 2 Editions will consist of.

The biggest elephant in the room I don’t really know if anybody expected was new content being added. Monolith added a brand new hoverbike into the game to make traversal that much faster, and it’s been great. Not only does it include some Mario Kart style races in your JRPG, speedrunners have loved it too. The Bionis isn’t a bad traversal regardless with plentiful fast travel checkpoints scattered throughout, but giving us a way to cross the landscapes even faster is never a downside.

The increased visual fidelity is pretty noticeable all around. The upgraded 4K resolution and the boost for 60 frames per second is fantastic. If anybody was holding off on playing the games for this kind of upgrade, there quite literally isn’t a better time or place to get into Xenoblade Chronicles, especially before Genesis releases next year. Despite a more stylized visual style, Xenoblade really shines with this new upgrade.

Not all that glitters is gold, however. It appears that while the upscaling is definitely improved from Xenoblade Chronicles X’s Switch 2 version, it’s still not as good as it should be. The upgrades made are nice, but there’s still a certain blurriness that permeates the increase to resolution and texture quality. Without knowing full details of the process Monolith and Nintendo go through for these upgrade packs, it’s hard to tell whether this new version was made using DLSS upscaling thanks to the NVIDIA hardware or using some sloppy AI upscaling. It’s not absurdly noticeable in handheld mode, thankfully, but you’ll likely notice it in docked mode on a decent TV screen. It’s a shame, honestly, because these games do deserve better and not all Switch 2 upgrades are like this. Look at the Zelda upgrades for Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom in comparison, if you’re curious.

I do think these Switch 2 editions are going to be a net positive no matter what, and Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (mouthful, right?) is no different. While they’re not doing what they should be for proper upscaling, it’s not a severe downgrade. You do get noticeably improved visuals, a doubled framerate, and some neat new features added to a game that nobody expected to even be touched on again. If some blurriness in the backgrounds isn’t a dealbreaker, and it shouldn’t be, then jump right in to the Switch 2 Edition of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition if you’re seeking a replay or a first time experience with one of the greatest RPGs ever made.

Note: Nintendo provided us with a Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition code for review purposes.

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