A recent interview with Monolith Soft suggests that more Xenoblade Chronicles games will follow – but will that really be the case?
Up until this point, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has largely been seen as the end of a trilogy. Director Tetsuya Takahashi had previously declared (opens in new tab) that the game was to combine the worlds of the first two games for a whole new story. Which seems like a fantastic way to end the trilogy.
However, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 producer Genki Yokota made it sound like that wouldn’t be the case. On a Ask the developer interview (opens in new tab) on Nintendo’s website, Yokota responded to the question about whether the Xenoblade Chronicles series will continue, saying, “Yes, it still will! I want to continue as long as possible!”
In the same interview, Yokota also confirmed that Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s story DLC will likely be as big as the previous game’s expansion – Torna: The Golden Country. If this is confirmed, the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 DLC will likely take 20-30 hours to complete.
If you believe in Yokota, then Xenoblade Chronicles is here to stay. But I don’t think that means Xenoblade Chronicles 4 is set in stone…
More Xenoblade Chronicles to come?
At face value, Yokota’s comments might seem like Xenoblade Chronicles 4 will eventually happen. But will this really happen?
I have no doubt that Monolith Soft will continue to make excellent games. But they may not necessarily be named Xenoblade Chronicles. That’s because the Xeno series in its entirety has been around for decades. It started with Xenogears on PS1 and continued with the Xenosaga trilogy on PS2.
I hope more Xeno games will come in the future. But not necessarily with that ‘blade’ suffix. I think it’s more likely that we’ll have a new set of games that are part of the overarching Xeno franchise.
That, or we’ll have some Xenoblade spin-offs. A Xenoblade Warriors game would be at the top of my list in that case. In recent years, Omega Force has proven its prowess with Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity and Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes. So I think the developer is well positioned to bring their signature hack ‘n’ slash combat to the Xenoblade universe.
Ultimately, I think Monolith Soft’s next game will release on whatever successor to the Nintendo Switch. Developer talent for awe-inspiring scale is begging to be unleashed on more powerful hardware. What better time, then, to start a new series under the Xeno banner?
Only time will tell, of course. Maybe Xenoblade Chronicles 4 will come to life. But given that the recently released third game seems to wrap up the series’ story quite succinctly, I’d honestly be surprised if it was something entirely new.