Xenoblade Chronicles
2010
- role-playing (rpg)
- adventure
- action
- fantasy
- science fiction
- open world
- single player
The story
Xenoblade Chronicles follows Shulk and his band of friends as they search for answers about the mysterious "Monado" sword and defend their homeland from violent robotic creatures known as the Mechon. The game contains an open world design and strongly emphasizes exploration due to the world's large size. The game was very well received by critics, with many citing it as a great example of innovation and improvement in Japanese role-playing video games. The game has spawned a sub-series of the larger "Xeno" series, including Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U) and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Switch).
What it’s like
Wide, sun-warmed vistas that stretch to a horizon of towering, moss-covered giants, with grassland rolling under a sky that shifts through a full day and night. The palette is lush and saturated in the open fields, cooler and colder in the ruined machine landscapes, and the lighting changes the mood of the same ground hour by hour. The score leans on sweeping strings, choral swells and quiet pastoral passages, and the English voice acting gives the long conversations a warm, earnest texture. Exploration is slow and wandering, with long walks between camps and a steady drift of side quests, so the pace feels unhurried and meditative until a sudden burst of real-time combat breaks it. Its tone is hopeful and melancholy at once, with friendships tested by war and a steady undercurrent of grief. Violence is frequent but stylised: robotic enemies are fought with big, flashy attacks, bloodless and unlingering, with a few sombre, emotionally heavy scenes. It suits long, unbroken evenings, slow travelling and comfort-minded players who love vast worlds and sincere character bonds, and who don't mind a fair share of battles between the quiet stretches.
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