TheNintendo Switch 2marks the perfect opportunity for its makers to do something truly remarkable. Nintendo, despite its boundless creativity, has always been shackled and restricted somewhat by its hardware.Pokémonhas suffered from poor, low-quality visuals for a number of years, never quite pulling off its grand ambitions, and even hardware-pushing titles likeXenoblade Chroniclessuffer from poor performance and blurry textures. Of course, the Switch 2, in all itsCyberpunk 2077-playing glory, can fix that.
However, despite now finally sporting some pretty impressive hardware, Nintendo has yet to actually put out many first-party titles. It launched withMario Kart World, and that was it. We haveDonkey Kong Bananzaon the horizon, but we know little beyond that. Naturally, everyone wants a newZeldagame to rivalBreath of the Wild, andAnimal Crossingfans are hurtthey haven’t gotten a look in, butonly one Nintendo franchise would actually get me to buy a Switch 2 despite the lack of any other first-party offerings, and it’s neither of the aforementioned games.
The Nintendo Switch 2 Needs A Monolith Soft Game
Xenoblade, Xenosaga, Xenogears, Or All Of The Above
As much as I loveZelda,Fire Emblem,Animal Crossing, and evenAdvance Wars,the only franchise that would make me pick up a Nintendo Switch 2 right now isXenoblade Chronicles. In fact, any game from its incredibly talented developer, Monolith Soft, would do, whether that was a remaster or straight-up port of its older titles likeXenogearsandXenosaga, or a brand-new project. That isn’t just because Monolith Soft’s games are consistently some of thebest JRPGs ever made, but also because they’re a great benchmark for the Switch 2 itself.
Monolith Soft is the best and perhaps only developer that has proven itself capable of pushing Nintendo’s hardware to its absolute limits. Whereas other first-party developers and even third-party ones tend to play it safe with smaller worlds, stylized visuals, or scaling back on in-game assets, NPC counts, and overall visual fidelity,Monolith Soft consistently offers huge environments and worlds, plenty of visual variety, and lengthy, extremely cinematic, cutscenespacked with amazing animations, music, and dozens of character models.
TheSwitch 2 needs Monolith Softjust as much as I need its next game, if only to really showcase how next-gen it is. Of course,Cyberpunk 2077running on the console is pretty impressive, but Nintendo hasn’t had a truly next-gen-looking and feeling experience for quite a while, and Monolith Soft can deliver that. As much as a new entry in theXenoblade Chroniclesfranchise or even a port of their older games, as aforementioned, would help with that,an entirely new IP would allow it to do something completely unprecedented.
Monolith Soft Needs A New IP
Something To Push The Switch 2’s Limits
One ofXenoblade Chronicles’best featuresis just how surprising it can be, even after having sunk well over 500 hours across the trilogy. However,there is a format that has become expected, a visual style associated with it, and certain gameplay tropes that it adheres to. These are all amazing, and I’m glad they carry over across the entire trilogy, but it does mean that a new entry wouldn’t feel as new or fresh if it stuck to what Monolith Soft knows and is extremely good at creating. That is, of course, where a new IP would come in.
Back in August 2017, Monolith Soft announced it was working on a new action RPG and even posted some concept art that looked radically different from anything it had made in the past. Since then, it has been completely quiet about it, and that concept art hasn’t led to anything new. Of course, it’s possible that the project didn’t end up getting made, butit is also possible that, behind the scenes, Monolith Soft has slowly been working on a brand-new IP that was too bold and ambitious for the original Nintendo Switch.
It would be amazing to see Monolith Soft expand its repertoire and introduce the world to a brilliant new IP.
Monolith Soft, while under Nintendo’s stewardship, has always worked within the constraints of the company’s limited hardware, butthe Switch 2 offers it a much greater freedom to explore bigger and more audacious projects. Whether it’s that aforementioned action RPG project or something entirely new, it would be amazing to see Monolith Soft expand its repertoire and introduce the world to a brilliant new IP. That may actually be more likely than you think, as there’s a good chance we won’t be gettingXenoblade Chronicles 4anytime soon, if ever.
We Probably Won’t Get Xenoblade Chronicles 4
The Series Finished With Xenoblade Chronicles 3
A message from series co-creator Tetsuya Takahashi, that was packaged into the limited edition ofXenoblade Chronicles 3’ssoundtrack, explained that if there is to be anotherXenogame or even aXenoblade, it will “betray everyone’s expectations, in a good way.“Takahashi wants it to be a complete departure from the other trilogy, which was completed with the third game’s DLC,Future Redeemed, thatconnected all three gameswith a beautiful finale. The excerpt from the message that discusses the nextXenoblade, which was translated from Japanese to English by the blogXenomira, reads:
“Rather than playing on defense, going on the offense; change rather than maintain. This is a stance that I have continued to hold for thirty years. If there is another “Xenoblade,” it will likely be something vastly different from what came before. In style and in music, I would like to make my next goal something that will betray everyone’s expectations, in a good way.”
However, when asked in aNintendo “Ask the Developer"interview whether the series would continue after the third entry, producer Genki Yokota expressed enthusiastically that “Yes, it will still go on! I want to keep it going as long as possible!” Of course, just as there wasXenogearsandXenosagabefore it,it is possible that Yokota just means there will be moreXenogames, rather than a brand-new entry in theXenoblade Chroniclesfranchise. Or, perhaps there will be a newXenobladegame that ditches theChroniclessubtitle and goes with something new.
Regardless, I doubt that we’ll be getting a game from Monolith Soft that continues the stories of the characters from theXenoblade Chroniclestrilogy or its many worlds. Those werecompleted withXenoblade Chronicles 3, a game that was all about change and stepping out of one’s comfort zone and into the future. It would be a shame, then, as much as I love those games and everything they represent, for Monolith Soft to revisit what it is comfortable with, rather than try something new and bold on the impressive newNintendo Switch 2hardware.
