Xenoblade Chronicles 2

 Switch
Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 92 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 78 out of 92
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 92
  3. Negative: 1 out of 92
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  1. Slant Magazine
    Dec 8, 2017
    40
    The highly anticipated sequel to one of the Wii's biggest sleeper hits is one of the most overindulgent games of the year.
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This publication has not posted a final review score yet.
These unscored reviews do not factor into the Metascore calculation.

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  1. Ars Technica
    Dec 11, 2017
    Xenoblade Chronicles 2 makes up in manic energy what it lacks in elegance. Its mountain of ideas don’t always work, but the core of the game justifies its experiments.
  2. Eurogamer
    Nov 30, 2017
    The true sequel to the best-loved contemporary JRPG is unrestrained in its ambition, and the result is a chaotic kind of brilliance. [Recommended]
  3. Kotaku
    Dec 1, 2017
    Inelegant and tedious, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is the anti-Nintendo game. In a year full of triumphs for the spunky Switch, this massive role-playing game is a disappointment.
  5. Shacknews
    Nov 30, 2017
    With Xenoblade Chronicles 2, every item down even the darkest corners of my inventory has a purpose. It can feel overwhelming at times and you'll surely pull your hair out trying to decide what to sell, if anything, but hardcore players will be rewarded kindly if they want to spend the time. More casual players will find some fun too, but won't be punished if they decide to obsess over every little detail.
  6. VG247
    Nov 30, 2017
    There’s an admirable, bold level of depth on show here, and even the story begins to pull its weight more vigorously in the second half of the game. The fact that combat still works after so many hours proves that this is the best sort of RPG, one with a longevity and a depth not so often found in story-driven Japanese RPGs in the current market.

Awards & Rankings

25
#25 Best Switch Game of 2017
3
#3 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2017
3
#3 Most Shared Switch Game of 2017

User Reviews

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User Score
8.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2500 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,077 out of 2500
  2. Mixed: 183 out of 2500
  3. Negative: 240 out of 2500
  1. Sandman83
    Dec 1, 2017
    10
    Awesome game. A must for any JRPG fan. Feels state of the art in it's overall world design while still maintaining that feel from the classicAwesome game. A must for any JRPG fan. Feels state of the art in it's overall world design while still maintaining that feel from the classic RPG:s. A smash hit just like the previous games in the series. Think this is a game really every Switch owner should pickup.… Full Review »
  2. Kaspercam
    Dec 1, 2017
    10
    I’ll start by saying most the early user reviews are the same Nintendo haters who lurk on all new releases waiting for user reviews to open.I’ll start by saying most the early user reviews are the same Nintendo haters who lurk on all new releases waiting for user reviews to open. This review is NOT that case or is it a nintendo fanboy it’s simply a RPG and JRPG fan review. Also to add this game isn’t a 10 for me but it’s very close.. please read for an explanation.

    In my opinion this improves on most things over the original besides potentially the plot itself. That is not to say the plot is trash like half the games out there as it’s actuallt really engaging. The world you explore alone is a massive achievement as it feels like a living, breathing ecosystem sometimes. The graphics quality probably sit between the wii u and an actual “next gen” game that you would see on a PS4. That’s not to say the game isn’t beautiful in its own right because it really is and besides some minor rough areas I think it’s pretty darn suitable for a game like this. I personally really enjoy xenoblade combat and it sets perfectly between turn based and fluid so it never feels as casual as action systems like the most recent final fantasy does to some. The game also rewards players who enjoy complex skill tuning and building their character the exact way they want or simply pick what works and continue. There is enough variety in weapons, items enemies and stats that it’s almost mind boggling at times. The characters themselves are pretty well thought out overall and I don’t want to add spoilers but there was a couple that really annoyed me at times and it did kinda ruin a fraction of their cutscenes. I’m not sure I even really need to mention content and value for money but I am going to for the sake of it... THIS GAME IS HUGE! and I don’t only mean optional side stuff but the actual main storyline itself is multiple times bigger then so many games these days. I have not completed this game yet but I received a copy early and I am approximately 35 hours in intentionally avoiding side content so I can focus on what the actual regular playthroughs quality is. I have to say that it’s a really top notch game that somehow after hours and hours has never felt like a chore or too repetitive. This may happen once you’ve finished the story and are trying to 100% (good luck) but the fun and value you get from the main game alone is amazing

    Ok so this game has some cons for me which mostly consist of minor frustrations BUT they did occasionally impact my experience. Firstly the game has some technical issues from the 5 hours I played in handheld including minor frame drops, texture issues and rare freezing. Thankfully these issues can probably mostly be patched if they care enough. Secondly like previous games the quest markers and descriptions can be insanely vague which can result in some un needed wandering and frustrations (original had this issue but some argued it promoted exploring). Ok and finally.... this is NOT a negative for me but I feel critics and users are complaining about this and that’s the “anime” style and facial features. To me personally who isn’t a hardcore anime fan (I’ve enjoyed a few) I actually didn’t mind and I found the facial features showed some good emotion and expressions sometimes. The rest of what I have heard like Japanese cliche moments is nothing new in 90% of jrpgs and possibly will never change besides a select few.

    OK, so that is my review! My actual score for this game so far is around a 9/10 and might head towards a personal 9.2-9.3 as I’ve heard there is more improvements later. I am giving this a 10 on here (as I do with some other games) to balance out all the troll reviews as it does NOT deserve a 0-6 in my eyes even if you hate the genre you could appreciate stuff.    … Full Review »
  3. dmax
    Dec 1, 2017
    1
    Despite the amazing music by Mitsuda carrying the game, the rest of it falls flat on its face.

    Filled to the brim with generic anime    Despite the amazing music by Mitsuda carrying the game, the rest of it falls flat on its face.

    Filled to the brim with generic anime cardboard cutout characters, otaku pandering tropes.
    The character designs present range from extremely bland and forgetabble to extremely try hard at "moe". The voice acting is atrocious, do not play it in English at all, use the Japanese voices, and the repetitiveness of the voice clips is grating. The combat is a real mess of useless combat functions, QTEs and needlessly padding itself out to appear more complex than it actually is. The battles take extremely long too, far more longer than they need to and it makes getting through battles a complete slog where you're just wailing down the enemy sponges while watching autobattle play out. You can't even move when doing autobattle either which makes it even more restrictive. The combat is also very slow compared to the two previous Xenoblade games.

    The graphics are vastly worse than Xenoblade X on the Wii U, which is odd considering the Switch is more powerful than the Wii U, and it takes an even bigger hit when on undocked mode, a blurry pixelated mess with FPS issues across the board.

    The use of different artists doing the character designs creates a huge inconsistency design wise, as everything looks like a mismatched hodpodge of characters like they belong to different games. It's utterly jarring, and the overuse of pervy anime tropes got eye roll worthy real quick.    … Full Review »
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