Xenoblade Chronicles 3 will bridge the gap between XC and XC2

Xenoblade Chronicles X remains in Wii U jail

There is a myriad of ways Nintendo could have ended today’s jam-packed Direct. It could have given us some new footage and release dates for The Sequel to The Breath of the Wild or Bayonetta 3. It could have presented the first footage of Metroid Prime 4 or a sequel to Super Mario Odyssey or that Detective Pikachu port/sequel that may or may not still be in the works. It could have revealed a revival of Mole Mania. So many options with so many highly anticipated titles in the works, but Nintendo decided to end its first Direct of 2022 by throwing a bone to the Xenoblade fans out there with its Xenoblade Chronicles 3 reveal.

From developer Monolith Soft, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 will put players in control of Noah and Mio as they navigate a treacherous world and two nations at odds with one another. In a letter published shortly after the game’s reveal, Executive Director Tetsuya Takahashi explained some of the visuals seen in the trailer, including the broken sword of the Mechonis and the Urayan Titan’s body, were conceived years ago following the completion of development on the first game in the series. The central theme of XC3 will be “life.”

Masatsugu Saito, who designed the cast of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, is back on character design duty for the upcoming sequel. Koichi Mugitani created some of the key art for the game that will be revealed at a later time. As for the soundtrack, musicians from past Xenoblade titles, including ACE, Kenji Hiramatsu, Manami Kiyota, Mariam Abounnasr, and Yasunori Mitsuda, will compose the score.

Mr. Takahasi ended the letter stating:

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a new adventure bringing together the worlds of Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 to take players into the future.

I’m not 100% sure how that’s going to work having not completed either of the previous games in the series, but I’m sure it’ll be interesting nonetheless. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 launches exclusively for Nintendo Switch this September.

CJ Andriessen

Just what the internet needs: yet another white guy writing about video games.