Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed - Review

"So just...walk on."

Console: Nintendo Switch

Kept you waiting on this one, he? Truth be told I was procrastinating. Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed is the epilogue to the story that started with the first Xenoblade Chronicles game on the Wii back in 2010. I didn't play the series for that long, my start was with Xenoblade Chronicles 2 in 2018, but I have played all main Xenoblade games since then, expansions included. I'm invested in this story and the idea that it would all be ending soon... well I kind off didn´t want it to.

So, I kept putting off playing this expansion until something happened that broke the stalemate. No, it wasn´t getting spoiled on the ending (that wasn't so neat but oh well), it was Xenoblade Chronicles X getting that Switch port at long last. With some extra story content to boot! That pulled the series back the front of my mind and now that it wasn't the last Xenoblade game I could play... well, I was eager to experience 'the end' myself at last. 

Let's stop all the procrastination and talk about Future Redeemed at last!

Set 100´s of years before the events of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Future Redeemed focuses on survivors original City. The settlement of people living outside of the endless cycle of war the Moebius have them trapped in. 

While looking for other survivors, Matthew and A stumble across quite a couple of colourful strangers. Glimmer and Nikol, last survivors of a clash between Agnes and Keves, and The Liberators. A group of people led by Shulk and Rex living outside of the cycle of violence Moebius has the world trapped in. Learning of an enemy even Moebius fear these six unlikely teammates set out to save Aionis from certain doom. 

It's ironic, really. My experience with the last entry in the trilogy parallels my very first. I got Xenoblade Chronicles 2 as a Christmas present back in 2018. A JRPG for the guy who had fallen in love with Octopath Traveller. After the 1st 15 minutes or so, I paused the game and seriously considered never playing it again. I did not understand how the game was played and found its real time battle system jarring. 

At the same time though I was intrigued by the story and the world it had introduced. Enough so that I decided to keep on playing and as they say, the rest is history. The deeper I got into the game the more I started to understand and like the gameplay. Before long, whole package clicked for me.

With Future Redeemed for the first half or so I was playing for the gameplay first and foremost. The story wasn't doing it for me. I liked our main characters but but I didn’t grow as attached to them as I did with the casts in the other games. Even the adult Shulk and Rex didn't leave much of an impression on me. This is probably due to less screen time, which is understandable for an expansion, but also a loss. 

It's a similar story with all the callbacks to the other games. When I approached this game's hub area, a strong sense of familiarity creeped up. A catching glimpse of that iconic corner house was enough for me to recognize it for what it was: this was a a worn-down Colony 9, the starting point of the entire Xenoblade series. A cool and appreciated callback that is just one of many. From the beautiful shot of the corpse of Mor Ardain in the distance from Xenoblade 2 to multiple musical cues and remixes from the soundtrack across all games. 

Witness the corpse of what once used to be the Mor Ardain Titan from Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

All of this is certainly nice but they overstayed their welcome. I became less and less interested in these callbacks and wanted more out of the story that was currently being told. 

That eventually happened near the end of Chapter 3. The puzzle pieces started to fall into place, the bigger picture came clear, the pacing ramped up and our crew was properly assembled.  That’s when Future Redeemed hit that sweet spot: fun, engaging gameplay paired with a more emotionally provocative narrative. From that point onwards I thoroughly enjoyed myself all the way to the end. It went from by 'off on the side B-game' to the only game I played for about 2 weeks. 

I’m not sure whether this 'delay in enjoyment' is due to shortcomings in the writing department such as weird pacing and an uneven focus or simply my own headspace at the time. Either way, I’m glad I eventually found myself enjoying it. And, for a fan, this is a worthwhile story to experience if only for much of the connective tissue between all the games to become much clearer. I do believe it even tries to subtlety retcon the series’ spinoff, Xenoblade Chronicles X, into the main series. Quite interesting indeed…

On to the next point. Unlike Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna – The Golden Country, this expansion is not a standalone title with its own physical release. I withheld from buying Future Redeemed for a while hoping a physical would come a bit later but alas - it never came. Story wise I understand. You would do yourself a disservice by starting right here, spoiling so much of the story of the other games. Content wise though it could've easily stand on its own legs. 

It took me nearly 25 hours to get to the credits. That's double the length a modern triple A-game gives you and the post-game content comes on top of that. I'd say that there are about 40 side-quests in the game to keep yourself busy with and that's not counting stuff like filling out the collectopaedia or finding and beating every mini boss. 

The map is larger than I expected, with a good amount of secret areas and zones you can only really get to after you completed the story. For a JRPG this might be a short experience, but compared to most other genre, it's a beefy experience. 

Since this is an expansion there isn't much more for me to go over. Graphics are the still very nice looking, the music is still stellar and the performance is the same. Nice and stable though I did encountered stuttering and audio hiccups during the final boss. Lines would cut out mid-sentence, and the performance clearly struggled to keep up with everything happening on screen. It felt like the Switch was being pushed past its limits there. Not going to hold it against the game but it is noteworthy. 

The gameplay is also 90% the same affair as in Xenoblade Chronicles 3. I'm not going to rehash that real-time battled system here but focus on that 10% that didn't stay the same. The Ouroboros system, where 2 characters fuse into a gestalt for a limited time for with their own arts and abilities, is replaced. 

In its stead we have tag-team super move. These do high damage to your enemies, can cap off Break-Topple-Launch combos for extra damage and effects and each pairing have different side effectives in chain attacks. It's a system that works well as a simpler replacement to the Ouroboros fusions, one that's even slightly more customizable. Don't like a pair? Simply change it up!

Time for a supermove!

The other big chance is one I'm not fond of. Affinity points. Where in the base game more slots for accessories, gears and arts came available as you levelled up here you need to earn them through exploration. You get points from, for example, beating those mini-bosses. Slots, meanwhile, are unlocked through specific items you need to find in treasure chests.

I’m not a fan of locking so much character growth behind these items. It stifles natural progression and feels too restrictive. I like that they want to boost exploration with this but I think they went a step too far. It makes character growth slower and more complicated than it should've been. 

Another point of criticism of mine: I do wish they did more with that 7th character slot. Just like in the base game there is place for a computer controlled 7th party member. Unlike the base game though this spot only gets filled in the postgame. I think there were plenty of opportunities to add a rotating 7th character or two through side characters Linka and Panacea. It is understandable that Monolith Soft didn't go this route given this is just expansion, but it is still a bit disappointing. 

All in all, the gameplay remains well thought out and fun if you can get into this style. You can really dive into the layered systems if you want to, but it’s also easy to play more casually—levelling up and auto-equipping will still carry you through. If you’re even a little strategic, you can push damage surprisingly far.

Conclusion

While not flawless, Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed is a strong sendoff to the trilogy that delivers where it counts. It took a while for the story to grab me, and the gameplay chances don't all land, but once it hit its stride, I was fully on board. What starts as a slow burn eventually lights up into a satisfying final with solid mechanics and just the right amount of payoff for fans.

This is a nostalgic celebration of Xenoblade Chronicles as a whole more than it is a standalone chapter. That little fact is both its strength and its weakness. You won’t get much out of this if you haven’t walked the whole journey, but if you have? Then this is the epilogue you need to play. Future Redeemed gives the trilogy the closing curtain it deserves. I’m glad I didn’t put it off any longer.