Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has always felt like a game being held back by its own hardware. This remains one of the stronger entries in Monolith Soft’s long-running RPG series, but the technical performance on the original Switch was frequently difficult to ignore. Resolution could drop to a genuinely ugly low, image quality was all over the place, and the framerate would buckle the moment things got busy on screen.
That is what makes Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, such an interesting one to dig into. Following the Switch 2 upgrades given to Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition and Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, the second mainline Xenoblade game has finally gotten its own technical overhaul. The results are not quite as dramatic as they could have been, but there is no question that this is now the version of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 to play on Nintendo hardware.
The first thing that stands out is just how much more responsive everything feels. The menus in particular have received a huge improvement, with selections and inputs registering much more quickly than before. Anyone who has spent real time with Xenoblade Chronicles 2 knows there is an enormous amount of information to manage, from equipment and characters to quests and a pile of other systems, so making the interface snappier goes a long way towards improving the overall experience.
The visuals have also gotten a real upgrade. The Switch 2 Edition uses an upscaling solution similar to what showed up in the Switch 2 versions of the other Xenoblade titles, and the difference is immediately obvious compared to the original release. Character models are considerably cleaner, environments are easier to read at a glance, and the whole game just looks far more at home on a modern television.
This is especially noticeable in close-up character shots. Mythra, for example, looks fantastic whenever the camera lingers on her, with a lot more detail visible in her model than before. The rest of the cast benefits in the same way, and cutscenes in general look a lot cleaner too. Scenes that used to look rather soft now come through with much more clarity, and that only helps the game’s many dramatic moments land better.
Unfortunately, the upgrade is not without its problems.
The biggest issue is the shimmering that is still very present throughout the world. Foliage is particularly bad about this, with grass and other environmental elements becoming distracting whenever the camera holds still. Some locations also have inconsistent filtering, which causes certain textures to look noticeably softer than the ones right next to them.
There is even a strange visual glitch involving a thin vertical line that causes the background behind it to shimmer and blur. It does not show up all the time, but it happens often enough to be worth mentioning. None of this is severe enough to ruin the game, but it is surprising in a version that was specifically meant to clean up the original’s technical issues.
Pop-in is also still hanging around. It is not necessarily worse than what was seen on Switch 1, but it becomes easier to notice simply because the rest of the image is so much cleaner now. When the game looks this sharp, having environmental elements suddenly appear in the distance stands out more than it used to.
That said, there are some pleasant surprises too. Certain locations appear to have gained extra vegetation, while other areas have had their foliage rearranged. These are small changes in the grand scheme of things, but they help give the impression that this is more than just the original game running at a higher resolution.
Handheld mode is where the difference gets a bit less dramatic. Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, still looks better than the original version running through Switch 2’s Boost Mode, but the gap shrinks considerably. Boost Mode was already doing a lot of good work for the base game, which left less room for the dedicated edition to make an immediate visual splash while undocked.
This is one area where an extra graphics option would have been welcome. A native-resolution mode paired with a 30fps or 40fps target could have given players another way to enjoy the game. Instead, the Switch 2 Edition focuses on polishing the existing presentation, and while the results are good, handheld mode just does not feel like the same kind of leap that docked play does.
Performance is arguably where this edition earns its keep.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 targets 60fps on Switch 2, though it does not hold that number without exception. There are moments where the framerate dips, and the way the game handles those dips can mean a brief drop down to 30fps before climbing back up. It is not a perfect solution by any stretch, but the overall experience is still considerably smoother than the original Switch version.
More importantly, it never gets nearly as uneven as what showed up in Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition’s Switch 2 release. Combat stays busy and effects can fill the screen, yet the game largely holds its composure, and that difference is especially welcome during the bigger, more chaotic battles where the original struggled a lot more visibly.
That stability carries into exploration as well. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 constantly asks players to move through massive environments, and having the game respond more smoothly makes travelling through Alrest feel a lot better. The improved framerate does not change what players are actually doing, but it changes how it feels to do it, and for a game this large, that distinction matters a great deal.
The faster menus deserve another mention here too. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has a huge number of overlapping systems, and moving through them on the original hardware could genuinely wear players down over a long session. The Switch 2 Edition removes most of that friction. It is the kind of improvement that might not show up on a feature list, but becomes obvious the moment you go back to the older version.
Loading has improved as well. The Switch 2 Edition gets players into the game noticeably faster than the original release running from an SD card on Switch hardware. Loading was never really a major complaint for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 to begin with, so this is not a revolutionary change, but the shorter wait is still appreciated. Even the original game running on Switch 2 hardware sees faster loading, though the dedicated edition remains the better option overall.
There are a handful of other additions here that make this feel like more than a basic performance patch. Video capture support is a particularly welcome inclusion given how large the world is and how many memorable moments there are to capture. Screenshots are also easier to grab now, using the L and R buttons.
HD rumble has been worked into a number of cutscenes as well, giving certain moments a bit of extra feedback. It is a small touch, but it shows that the Switch 2 Edition was not solely concerned with resolution and framerate. There are several other quality-of-life improvements scattered throughout that, taken together, make the whole package feel a lot more complete.
The extra content and modes included with this upgrade also give returning players a good reason to jump back in. Field skills in particular have received improvements, and the rest of the new content helps make this feel like the natural home for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 going forward.
So does the Upgrade Pack deliver the kind of improvement fans were hoping for?
In some ways, yes. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has never looked or played better on Nintendo hardware than it does right now. The performance gains are substantial, the image is cleaner, the menus are far more responsive, loading is quicker, and the extra features are a nice bonus on top. Anyone picking up Xenoblade Chronicles 2 for the first time has little reason to go with the original Switch version instead.
For returning players though, the decision gets a bit more complicated. The visual upgrade is real and noticeable, but it does not fully transform the game the way a proper remaster might. The shimmering and other visual quirks are still very much present, and once noticed, they get harder and harder to ignore.
That is really the biggest disappointment with the Switch 2 Edition. Nintendo and Monolith Soft had a real chance to fix the visual issues that have followed Xenoblade Chronicles 2 since it first launched, and while the game is unquestionably sharper now, a good number of those underlying problems have simply carried over.
Hopefully these issues get addressed in a future update, though the lack of significant post-launch support for the earlier Xenoblade Switch 2 editions does not exactly inspire confidence. If the current visual problems stick around, they will probably end up being the biggest blemish on what is otherwise a very worthwhile upgrade. There is a bit of a silver lining here though, as Nintendo has already acknowledged a couple of other post-launch issues with this edition, including a New Game Plus glitch that can wipe out a driver’s third accessory slot and an audio mix that buries battle music under footsteps and voice work, and has confirmed an update to fix both is on the way. It does not directly cover the shimmering and pop-in problems discussed above, but it is at least a sign that this release has not been forgotten about.
Even with that said, it is hard to recommend going back to the Switch 1 version after spending time with this release. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 benefits enormously from the extra horsepower on Switch 2, and combining a sharper image with smoother gameplay makes the original release feel considerably more dated by comparison.
The sheer size of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 only makes these improvements more valuable. This is an RPG that can eat up hundreds of hours, so anything that makes the world easier to explore, combat smoother, and menus faster is going to add up over that kind of playtime.
There is still plenty of room for the Switch 2 Edition to improve, but the foundation here is a solid one. It takes one of the original Switch’s more technically demanding games and finally gives it enough hardware power to breathe properly. The results are not perfect, but they are meaningful, and the difference shows in every session.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, is therefore an easy one to recommend, even if it falls a bit short of its full potential. The visual improvements are inconsistent, sure, but the performance boost is the real star of the show here. Add in faster menus, improved loading, video capture, HD rumble, and the other quality-of-life additions, and this becomes a much more comfortable way to experience one of the Switch’s biggest RPGs.
There is still an awful lot of Alrest left to explore, and Switch 2 is now the best place to do it. The lingering visual artifacts keep this from being the definitive technical overhaul that Xenoblade Chronicles 2 truly deserved, but the improvements that did make it in here are meaningful ones. For new players, this is easily the version to pick up. For returning players, there is more than enough here to make another journey worthwhile.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided.