by Danreb VictorioOne of the most anticipated but mysterious showings at Summer Game Fest was Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3. What we thought would be hands-on time turned out to be hands-off, which is strange, since the Xenoverse series is hardly anything new. We’ll definitely give it credit for introducing new ideas, and for telling an untold story we’ve never seen in that universe before, but as someone that considers himself a Dragon Ball fan, I don’t understand why Bandai Namco is being so cagey about this game.
Xenoverse 3 takes place in Age 1000, putting it more than 100 years after Xenoverse 2 and well over 200 years after the events of Dragon Ball Super. If you watched the reveal trailer (above), the main things to really take note of, aside from the timeline, are that the game was in development long enough for the late Akira Toriyama to play a foundational role in shaping its creative direction, and for some reason or another, Bulma is in the game. Why is she there when she should not be alive? Who knows, but she’s still one of the most brainy people in the Dragon Ball universe, so we gotta imagine she’s there for a “good enough” reason.
As mentioned, we never got our hands on the game, but we did see some real gameplay footage of the protagonist waking up in the messy room from the teaser, as well as some combat footage. Beginning with exploration, there really wasn’t much to talk about in the room aside from holograms and what looked like oval-shaped Saiyan spaceships. After that, the protagonist leaps out of the room and into what appears to be the Capsule Corporation’s hallway, where she runs into Vegeta, who mocks her.
After that, we’re shown a mission called “Special Mission: Digging into the Land of Ice” with the main character in a party of four. As we explore the icy terrain, battles with characters that look like friendlier members of Ginyu Force happen, showcasing the arena-style combat that the Xenoverse series is known for. At least from what’s shown, you have light and heavy attacks at your disposal, a boost button, super attacks by pressing any face button while holding R2, and an Ultimate Attack that you can unleash by pressing Triangle with L2 held. We see some cool maneuvers, including the orange-haired female protagonist landing a Kamehameha.
Once the crew had taken out every enemy, which was the main way to clear the mission, a warning appeared indicating that a boss fight was up. The boss turned out to be none other than Broly in his Super Saiyan form. Broly starts off the fight super aggressively, throwing a barrage of Ki Blasts from just about anywhere, and the only way to really deal with them is to hide. While hiding, you can charge up your Ki before going for one of your own combos, including the ability to somehow summon Trunks. One thing particularly funny about this demo was that while the protagonist was clearly communicating in Japanese, Trunks was speaking nothing but English as both a guide and an assist character. When Trunks was summoned, the protagonist pretty much used him for a limited time to land a blow, and I don’t understand why we couldn’t at least try the game out on the supercharged Super Saiyan. It’s unclear whether the protagonist actually transforms into known Dragon Ball characters or if this is just some form of technology that Bulma also came up with. Remember, Vegeta was in the last bit of footage we saw, mocking the protagonist about how easy it was to help.
Eventually, Broly is taken out, and that was it. Truth be told, this was a pretty run-of-the-mill 30-second presentation, and I don’t understand why we couldn’t at least try the game out. Either way you look at it, Dragon Ball fans who’ve been waiting over a decade for the next entry are extremely excited about it, and should be happy once the new year begins. Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 is scheduled for release on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC sometime in early 2027.
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3
