Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed Review
“A Fond Farewell” Written by: Ethan (@ChaoticAether)
Xenoblade has genuinely become a very important franchise to me. After initially trying Xenoblade 2 in 2017 as a joke, I immediately fell in love with the world of Alrest and its likeable cast of characters. With the release of Definitive Edition in 2020, I finally got to experience the original classic for the first time and just last year Xenoblade 3 released; instantly becoming one of my favourite games of all time. There’s something special about the series and how it manages to top itself with every new entry. We’ve known since the announcement of the expansion pass that a standalone story was on the way, and with Torna the Golden Country being an absolute gem of an expansion I was eagerly anticipating this final bout around the world of Aionios.
Nine months later, and Future Redeemed is finally here! A love letter to both Xenoblade 3 and the entire trilogy, Future Redeemed mixes new and old characters and settings to create an incredible final journey in the Klaus saga. But is it worth the price of entry to join Rex and Shulk on their journey through the endless now? Let’s find out!
Image Credit: Monolith Soft, Nintendo
Before we begin, I should probably state that this review assumes you have played the main story of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, and at least know parts of Xenoblade 1 and 2’s main story. I strongly recommend playing at least all three games before experiencing Future Redeemed, as it dives deep into the backgrounds of all three games. The expansion is also available from the start without needing to play the base game first, but that is a terrible idea that I really cannot recommend. I’ll keep the spoilers to a minimum but beware, some basic plot spoilers ahead!
Future Redeemed is a direct prequel to the main story of Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Taking place hundreds of years in the past, you take control of Matthew; a resident of the recently destroyed City who is looking for his lost sister Na’el. He meets A soon afterwards, a mysterious person who wields a Monado and wears a rather familiar earring. They decide to partner up and embark on a journey through the Cent-Omnia region of Aionios to find the missing residents of The City, hunt down the Moebius who caused The City’s destruction, and track down Matthew’s lost sister. Along their journey they meet Nikol and Glimmer, two soldiers from the unending war between Agnus and Kevis, and the main protagonists from the first two games: Rex and Shulk. These six form your main party for the entire duration of the story, and their dynamics are easily the heart of the expansion.
Without diving too deep, all six of the party members are narratively linked to each other in one way or another. This leads to consistently engaging dynamics between the cast and dozens of insightful conversations that all end up supplementing the greater story. It genuinely feels like there is little to no filler in Future Redeemed. Every side quest and heart to heart adds to the games overall narrative, with some of my favourite moments coming from these random tangents the game likes to take. These are all enhanced by amazing performances from the game's main voice cast.
Matthew is easily the most likeable protagonist the series has had to date. Imagine Noah meets a perfect combination of Lanz and Reyn, making for a likeable hero with a lot of heart. A is calculated and often reserved, bouncing off of Matthew wonderfully. Nikol and Glimmer, despite deliberately being similar to prior performances from the franchise, do so effortlessly. Adam Howden returns as a mature version of Shulk and is Stellar as usual. But the easy standout for me has got to be Fergus O'Donnell’s Rex. As much as I would have loved to have seen Al Weaver’s take and it is sad to not see him return; Fergus has captured the essence of Rex to a tee, and if you weren’t already a fan of Rex you will be screaming his praises by the expansion's end.
These performances are supported by a secondary cast of old and new faces, all doing an excellent job with the material they were given. The story Monolith has crafted is a genuine love letter to the franchises past and present, tying up loose threads while bringing the trilogy to a satisfying conclusion. Not everything is explicitly said as the credits roll, but I believe it does a damn good job of bringing the story to a close.
Image Credit: Monolith Soft, Nintendo
When it comes to the game itself, the gameplay of Future Redeemed makes a few little tweaks from the base games exploration and combat to make a more succinct but still enjoyable experience on the whole. Most combat encounters play the same as the base game, but as mentioned prior, the party has been reduced from seven members to six, removing the hero slot and leaving the six remaining party members with locked roles. It sucks that the custom role system from the original game has been removed, but the way that the characters can be customised still make them a joy to play. Matthew and Rex are your attackers, Shulk and Nikol are on defence, and A and Glimmer are your supports. Each one has a unique role not previously seen in the base game, and all mesh well together. Matthew uses his gauntlets to get up close and personal. A provides support and invulnerability with her talent art. Glimmer provides support via field buffs and debuffs. Shulk and Nikol are your crowd control and take most of the heavy damage. And Rex swings his big swords like a chad dealing so much regular and critical damage that you won’t want to play the other characters anymore and continue to spin around like a mad person to your heart's content.
There are also a few added mechanics to make the more limited playstyle of Future Redeemed feel more flexible. Fusion arts now grants ouroboros powers, granting additional abilities on top of the fusion. They are also joined by the addition of unity combos. These are the new replacement for the main game’s ouroboros mechs, which are single use moves where two chosen party members team up to perform a deadly blow, which can be paired with a launch combo to deal serious damage. With all three pairings being accessible on the menu without switching characters; this can lead to a nice rhythm of juggling the enemy and using these combos. Although the enemy would need to survive long enough to make this happen; a rare occurrence as the expansion is one of the easiest Xenoblade experiences to date.
Unlike the ouroboros in the main game, these can be customised to any pairing of the main party, allowing for different party members to team up and have different finishing moves. Want to see Shulk and Rex show them a thing or three? Pair them up and watch them go crazy! I really enjoyed swapping characters over and seeing which pairings I enjoyed the most. These pairings also extend to chain attacks, so it really does add a nice level of customisation to the combat. This also extends to the loadouts as well, where you now have to purposefully unlock ability and equipment slots using items you get from exploring the world. These items vary from adding buffs and passives to changing the ability granted to characters in chain attacks. These changes make combat and exploration more closely linked, and it’s a welcome change of pace to be rewarded from your exploration as opposed to just obtaining upgrades solely from levelling up.
Speaking of exploration, Future redeemed feels far more similar to the original Xenoblade than its sequels; having one larger play area instead of the separate zones found in the base game. This area is split into smaller zones and is filled with chests to find, monsters to beat, and plenty of references to the original two games. From Colony 9 to Tantal, Cent-Omnia is an entirely new region of Aionios filled to the brim with wonders to explore and it has honestly become one of my favourite regions from the whole game. This, the return of the collectopedia and monsterpedia, and the additional affinity goals provide a satisfying gameplay loop of exploration; rewarding you with valuable points and resources used to upgrade your characters.
The community system last seen in Torna also returns, although this time is entirely optional. Completing quests and talking to allies increases your community rank again providing points that can be used to upgrade your skill tree. It’s a nice and welcome re-addition, and the fact that it is rewarding yet optional takes away most of the issues I had from Torna, the Golden Country. All these systems pair nicely with the expansion's shorter runtime, around 15 hours, allowing you to gain most of the abilities and item slots you want by the end of your journey as long as you are willing to do a small bit of exploration.
Image Credit: Monolith Soft, Nintendo
Presentation, just like in the base game, is some of the best I have seen on Nintendo Switch. I feel like Monolith have become wizards when it comes to working on Switch hardware, but I really want to give a massive shout out to the world design and music. The score and world really do feel a step above this time around. From the epic battle theme to the catchy overworld themes, the music is always on point here. This is matched with the excellent world design that despite being smaller in scope feels vast, grand and full of secrets to find.
Just like Xenoblade 3, Future Redeemed also features some incredible character designs. Shulk and Rex have never looked better, and the new character designs are truly some of Monolith’s bests to date. Monolith have really stretched the limits of the switch hardware with this one, and if this is to be their last on the console, they’ve gone out on an astounding high.
Image Credit: Monolith Soft, Nintendo
Summary
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Future Redeemed is a heartfelt conclusion to one of the most influential JRPG Series of the last decade. Its refined gameplay, stellar music and wonderful performances mesh perfectly with a lovingly crafted narrative filled with respect for its previous entries; creating not only one of the highest points in the franchise, but one of the greatest game expansions ever made. Future Redeemed is easily worth the price of the expansion pass alone, and is a must play for fans of the franchise. For those of you that have yet to experience this amazing trilogy of games, know that a stellar ending awaits you when you finally take the plunge into the endless now.
Regardless of what Monolith Soft has planned for the future; with three incredible JRPGs, 2 excellent expansions and a hand in some of the Switch's most beloved games; they have easily cemented themselves as one of Nintendo’s strongest developers of the past ten years. I personally cannot wait to see what they create next. Whether that is Xenoblade or something new we’ll just have to wait and see.