After a surprise bumping up of its release last month, Nintendo and Monolith Soft’sXenoblade Chronicles 3is very quickly approaching. Earlier today, Nintendo aired theXenoblade Chronicles 3Direct, a presentation focused entirely on showcasing the upcoming JRPG as it gears up for an early release. The show ended with a surprise in revealing that the game will be supported by post-launch DLC alongside an expansion pass, which teases newXenoblade Chronicles 3story content arriving by December 2023.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3was first revealed during the February 2022 Nintendo Direct presentation, where it was revealed that the highly anticipated follow-up to 2017’sXenoblade Chronicles 2would release in just roughly seven months. Nintendo then shocked fans again by revealingthatXenoblade Chronicles 3would be pushed forward to July 29th, withSplatoon 3now occupying its September release window. Given that the game is expected to include hundreds of hours of content, it came as a major surprise to fans to learn that its release was being pushed forward, and with the absence of an E3-style Nintendo Direct or Treehouse presentation, fans began to wonder whenXenoblade Chronicles 3will appear again.
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That is until earlier this week, when Nintendo announced theXenoblade Chronicles 3Direct, which has now aired and revealed a plethora of new details regardingXenoblade Chronicles 3’s combat, characters, world, and story. One of the biggest surprises came at the end however, where it was revealed that much likeXenoblade Chronicles 2, the third game will receive post-launch DLC alongside an expansion pass that will cost $29.99 at launch.
The expansion pass will be available alongside the game on July 29th, and will arrive immediately with “helpful items,” and an Outfit Color Variants pack, likely containing cosmetics. The game will receive two more batches of DLC by December 2022 and April 2023 respectively, adding two new extra challenge battles, Hero characters, quests, and outfits. The fourth and final DLC batch will arrive by December 31st, 2023, and will include a new story scenario, likely similar in scope toXenoblade Chronicles 2’sTorna - The Golden CountryDLC.
Fans ofXenoblade Chronicles 2will likely rememberXenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna - The Golden Country, the game’s DLC expansion that launched around nine months after the main game and featured roughly 25 hours of brand-new content, serving as a prequel.Torna - The Golden Countryalso introducedmany new mechanics that can be found inXenoblade Chronicles 3. IfXenoblade 3’s DLC is anything like its predecessor’s, it will be well worth the price tag.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3will release on July 29th 2022, exclusively for Nintendo Switch.
