In the wake of a successful remaster of the original game, developer MonolithSoft is once again venturing into the world of Xenoblade Chronicles this September.
During today’s Nintendo Direct, Nintendo announced Xenoblade Chronicles 3, saying it will be set in a new world with connections to both the first and second game. Its reveal trailer showed off new characters and locales, teasing lots of story threads without sharing too many exact details on its plot or mechanics.
A press release after the Direct had a little more info, saying “Players will step into the roles of protagonists Noah and Mio amid turmoil between the hostile nations of Keves and Agnus. Six characters hailing from those nations will take part in a grand tale with ‘life’ as its central theme.”
Xenoblade Chronicles was first released in 2010 on Nintendo Wii, where it gained prominence as part of a fan campaign to get it localized in North America. Following a spinoff on the Wii U and a sequel on the Switch, Xenoblade Chronicles was remastered in HD in 2020, with its protagonist, Shulk, also appearing in Super Smash Bros.
Xenoblade Chronicles can trace its roots back to Xenogears, a trippy PlayStation RPG that won acclaim for its mindbending story and fantastic soundtrack. Xenogears was directed by Tetsuya Takahashi, who served as the scenario writer on both Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and 2.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is set to release in September 2022.