A decade after Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 launched, the series is making its biggest leap yet. Xenoverse 3 catapults players into Age 1000, a far-future setting that required direct collaboration with the late Akira Toriyama himself to bring to life. The shift in timeline isn't just window dressing, either; it shapes everything from the story and setting to how the game lets players customize their experience.
During a hands-on session, producer Masayuki Hirano explained that Toriyama's vision for this distant era came with extensive documentation. "He designed the characters, kind of came up with the setting and the lore in this [universe]," Hirano said. "The Dragon Ball Xenoverse as a franchise has always been about a new Dragon Ball experience, something you can't experience in any other game or in any past game." The development team worked through interviews and resource sharing to understand how the world functions and what creative freedoms they had within Toriyama's framework.
The demo kicks off with a choice between Earthling and Saiyan characters, followed by an introduction to your base of operations: a hilariously cluttered room stuffed with unpacked boxes, magazines, and furniture, anchored by what appears to be a Saiyan Saga-era pod. There's a story reason for the mess, though. The space actually belongs to Bulma, and COA, a robot AI, will gradually help tidy things up as you progress. It's a small detail that underscores how invested the team is in making Age 1000 feel lived-in and coherent.
Once you head into the field, Xenoverse 3 feels immediately familiar. The combat loop of flying into enemies, stringing together combos, and unleashing special moves like Kamehameha remains satisfying and snappy. For anyone who's spent time with earlier entries, jumping back in is effortless. The game layers in two major new mechanics that shift how battles play out.
Soul Assist lets you summon a character to fight alongside you, triggering combination moves like a two-person Galick Gun. Soul Switch goes further, allowing your character to transform into another fighter entirely, borrowing their full moveset and abilities. Switching into Trunks, for instance, unlocks his Burning Attack and sword combos. Both mechanics operate on cooldown timers, preventing them from trivializing encounters while making them feel impactful when deployed correctly.
The demo's boss encounter against Broly showcased how these systems mesh with the broader design. Broly blankets arenas in ki blasts and devastating physical attacks, forcing you to weave between environmental cover or activate Soul Switch to access fresh tools. It's a dance between your original character and the Dragon Ball legends you're channeling, giving the familiar formula new strategic depth.
Hirano revealed that Xenoverse 3 rests on three pillars: story, new characters, and customization. That last pillar marks a departure from earlier games. "In one and two, we wanted to make it as balanced as possible, but that also doesn't allow for a lot of differentiation and strategy," Hirano explained. "We wanted to really open up that strategy differentiation. You can assign roles to your four-person party just by how you like to play and what you prefer." This shift prioritizes strategic customization over cosmetic variety, letting players experiment with radically different approaches rather than gravitating toward a single optimal setup.
The Age 1000 setting, grounded in Toriyama's original concepts, gives the series room to breathe. Trunks appears as an expected fixture of Xenoverse lore, while early-arc Vegeta shows up with his characteristic arrogance. The mix of legacy characters and the new faces you'll meet in this far future creates a sense of discovery without alienating the franchise's core audience.
Author Emily Chen: "Xenoverse 3 feels like a series that's figured out how to evolve without losing what made its community stick around for a decade."
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