Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is looking like a hugely ambitious game, not only because of its size and scope, but also because it looks like it’s going to serve as a convergence point for the series’ sweeping and nuanced narrative up until this point. And while the point of the game very much seems to be to bring the worlds of the first two Xenoblade games together in a completely new one, contrary to what that might imply, it’s not going to be the last game in the series.
Speaking in a recent interview published by Nintendo, Genki Yokota – producer and co-director on the game – provided assurances that Xenoblade Chronicles 3 isn’t the end of the series, and that he would like the franchise to continue “as long as possible.”
“Yes, it will still go on!” he said when the question was posed to him. “I want to keep it going as long as possible!”
Meanwhile, senior creative director, series creator, and Monolith Soft boss Tetsuya Takahashi explained elsewhere in the interview that he views Xenoblade Chronicles 3 as a culmination of the trilogy so far, but explained that that’s more about the series’ themes and gameplay ideas than it is about a single narrative throughline.
“I used the word ‘culmination’ earlier, but this title brings together all the themes that have been developed over the past 15 years since 2007, when development of the first title in the Xenoblade Chronicles series began, as well as the gameplay systems that have been developed throughout the series,” Takahashi said.
When Yokota suggested that the game “rounds out the trilogy thematically” rather than bringing closure to it, Takashi agreed, saying, “Yes, that’s right. I guess you can say that this is like a summary for moving on to the next step in the future.”
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 launches for Nintendo Switch tomorrow, on July 29. It’ll also get a story expansion in late 2023, which, according to its developers, will be similar in scope to Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna – The Golden Country. Read more on that through here.
