Xenoblade Chronicles 2 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition Review

There’s something wonderfully appropriate about returning to Xenoblade Chronicles 2 in 2026. When it originally launched on Nintendo Switch in 2017, it was an ambitious RPG that pushed Nintendo’s hardware surprisingly hard. Now, almost nine years later, I’ve been able to revisit it on Nintendo Switch 2 thanks to the newly released Xenoblade Chronicles 2 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. It’s the version I always wanted to play.

The upgrade doesn’t reinvent Xenoblade Chronicles 2, but it finally addresses several long-standing complaints while adding new content and dramatically improving the presentation. Nintendo has given the game 4K support in TV mode, 1080p in handheld mode, 60fps performance, sharper cutscenes, a new rare Blade, a new battle mode and additional costumes for Pyra and Mythra. 

Most importantly, it gives me an excuse to return to one of Monolith Soft’s most ambitious and divisive RPGs. Having spent more time with it now, I’m reminded just how special Xenoblade Chronicles 2 can be.

The story follows Rex, a young salvager who lives on the back of a Titan in the world of Alrest. After a disastrous encounter with a group of mercenaries, Rex meets Pyra, a mysterious Blade known as the Aegis. Pyra offers Rex a bargain, help her reach the mythical land of Elysium, and she’ll give him her life.

What follows is an enormous adventure involving Titans, ancient civilisations, warring nations, mysterious Blades and characters whose personal histories gradually become intertwined with the fate of the entire world.

Rex is the optimistic heart of the story, while Pyra and Mythra provide its emotional centre. Around them are characters such as Nia, Tora, Zeke, Morag, Dromarch and Poppi, alongside the antagonists Jin and Malos. It’s an unusually character-focused RPG, and that’s one of the reasons I think the game has aged so well.

The wider Xenoblade connection is also fascinating. Without getting too deep into spoilers, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 eventually reveals that its world is directly connected to the events and mythology established in the first Xenoblade Chronicles. The Architect, the Aegises and the nature of the world itself all tie into the larger mythology surrounding Klaus and the experiment that fundamentally shaped the series’ universe. It’s a story that works on its own, but knowing the first game makes some of its biggest revelations considerably more meaningful.

Where Xenoblade Chronicles 2 really shines, though, is its combat. At first glance, the system can seem strangely passive. My characters automatically attack enemies while I wait for Arts to charge. However, once the different systems start interacting, combat becomes incredibly satisfying. Auto-attacks charge Arts, Arts contribute to Driver Combos, Blade Specials can be chained together into elemental combos, and switching between Blades gives me access to different weapons, elements and abilities.

The result is a constant process of building toward increasingly powerful attacks. I’m not simply watching my characters fight. I’m planning which Blade to use, which Special to unleash, which elemental combination to create and when to trigger a Chain Attack. Once everything clicks, the combat loop is excellent.

This is one of the areas where I think Xenoblade Chronicles 2 improves substantially on the original game. The first Xenoblade Chronicles had an excellent combat system, but Xenoblade 2 gives me considerably more control over how my party functions. Blade switching, Driver Combos, Blade Combos, Pouch Items, Affinity Charts and Core Chips all feed into one another, creating a huge amount of depth.

That complexity can also be a weakness. Xenoblade 2 has never been particularly good at teaching its systems. Some of the tutorials are confusing, while others explain mechanics without giving me a good reason to care about them. It can take many hours before the combat system truly opens up, which is a shame because there’s an excellent RPG underneath that initial confusion.

The Blade system is similarly complicated. Collecting new Blades gives the game an almost Pokémon-like appeal, but managing them can become tedious. Thankfully, the Switch 2 Edition finally fixes one of my biggest frustrations with exploration: Field Skills can now be used without having the relevant Blades equipped. That means I no longer have to constantly rearrange my party simply to pass an environmental skill check. It’s a small change that makes an enormous difference.

The story is another major strength. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 can be silly, melodramatic and occasionally awkward, but its best character moments are genuinely fantastic. Rex’s relationship with Pyra and Mythra gives the adventure an emotional foundation, while Nia’s personal story is one of the game’s highlights. Zeke brings plenty of comedy without being reduced entirely to comic relief, and Morag is a brilliant counterbalance to the more eccentric members of the cast.

The game also understands the importance of letting these characters simply spend time together. Some of my favourite moments aren’t the giant battles or dramatic revelations, but the smaller interactions between the party members. The cast gradually feels like a group of friends rather than a collection of RPG archetypes.

Then there’s the Switch 2 upgrade itself.

The biggest improvement is immediately obvious. The original Switch release could look extremely soft, particularly in handheld mode, and its resolution could drop noticeably in demanding scenes. On Switch 2, the presentation is substantially cleaner. Nintendo officially targets 4K in TV mode and 1080p in handheld mode, both at 60fps, while cutscenes have also received visual improvements. 

For me, the jump in image quality is most impressive when playing docked. Alrest’s environments have always been beautiful, but the extra clarity makes the Titans, towns and enormous landscapes much easier to appreciate. Character models and environmental details look considerably cleaner, while the higher-quality cutscenes make the game feel much more modern.

The 60fps target is just as welcome. Combat feels smoother, exploration is more responsive and the whole experience benefits from a consistency the original Switch version struggled to provide.

There’s also some genuinely worthwhile new content. The Switch 2 Edition introduces MOMO, a new rare Blade with two forms, along with a dedicated quest. There’s also Merc Assault, a new action battle mode that lets me directly control Blades during mercenary missions. Pyra and Mythra receive new equipment designs as well, with the outfits appearing during both gameplay and cutscenes. 

I wouldn’t say these additions transform the game, but they’re much more substantial than simply increasing the resolution and frame rate.

Still, this isn’t a perfect remaster. The handheld presentation, while substantially improved, can still look softer than I’d ideally like, and there are moments where the upgraded visuals expose the age of the underlying assets. The UI also feels dated, particularly when compared with more recent entries in the series.

I would have liked Nintendo to go even further with quality-of-life improvements. The Field Skill change is fantastic, but there are other systems that could have benefited from the same treatment. Blade management, inventory organisation and some of the game’s menus remain more cumbersome than they need to be. Even so, those complaints feel relatively minor compared with what the Switch 2 Edition gets right.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 remains one of the most ambitious JRPGs on Nintendo’s platform. Its world is enormous, its combat system is deep and rewarding once understood, and its cast carries a story that can move from ridiculous comedy to genuine emotional drama without losing its identity.

The Nintendo Switch 2 Edition is therefore much more than a simple resolution patch. The visual upgrade finally lets Alrest look closer to how I always imagined it should, the 60fps performance makes combat feel better, and the new content gives returning players another reason to revisit the adventure. Most importantly, the quality-of-life changes show that Nintendo has actually listened to some of the complaints fans have had for years.

For newcomers, this is easily the definitive way to experience Xenoblade Chronicles 2. For returning players, it’s an excellent excuse to step back onto the Titans and experience Rex, Pyra, Mythra and the rest of the cast all over again.

Nearly nine years later, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 still has plenty of rough edges, but its heart, characters and incredible sense of adventure remain as strong as ever. On Switch 2, it finally feels like the hardware is doing justice to the scale of the journey.

A Nintendo Switch 2 review code was provided by Nintendo for the purpose of this review.

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