Dragon Ball remains one of the world’s most popular anime franchises, and also one that’s the most frequently adapted into video games. Created by Akira Toriyama, the franchise remains one of the quintessential examples of Shōnen manga and anime – media primarily marketed at boys and young men. Its larger-than-life characters, explosive battles and spectacular transformations also make it a natural fit for video games, particularly those in the character-action and fighting game genres.
Since the release of the 1986 shoot-’em-up, Dragon Ball: Dragon Daihikyou, the franchise has inspired more than 100 titles across a wider range of genres, including fighting games, role-playing games (RPG), and action-adventure titles. While many have come and gone, a small handful have stood out, including 2018’s 2.5D fighting game Dragon Ball FighterZ and the highly popular Dragon Ball Xenoverse franchise, which was developed by Dimps Corporation and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment.
While the first Xenoverse, released in 2015, received a mixed reception, Dimps addressed many of its shortcomings in the 2016 sequel. With its expanded systems and improved gameplay, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 became one of the strongest 3D fighting-focused entries in the franchise.
Now, a decade after the sequel’s release, Dimps is looking to build on that formula with Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3, which not only offers revamped gameplay systems, but also an entirely new timeline in Age 1000, an unexplored period in the franchise set far beyond the events of Dragon Ball Z.
Thanks to a pre-Tokyo Game Show event held by Bandai Namco Entertainment at its Tokyo headquarters in mid-September, Geek Culture was able to try our hands on an early, multiplayer-focused demo build of the game, getting a first look at not just its new gameplay systems, but also its much more intense action.
While our demo might have been focused on the game’s multiplayer component, it also served as an introduction to the sequel’s new combat additions – Soul Assist and Soul Switch.
Players coming from the previous game would have no issues at all adjusting to Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3’s core combat mechanics. Players will still run, or fly, at blazing speeds from one enemy encounter to the next as their own custom-created character – choosing from one of six playable character races, including the brand new Android race, and unleash a barrage of basic attack combos, ranged Ki Blasts, and a mix of good old-fashioned special abilities like the ever-iconic Kamehameha.
Like its predecessor, the game is all about finding the right character build for each playstyle. Each race features its own set of attack animations, special moves, and ultimate moves to choose from, alongside a unique trait. Earthlings, for example, are all-rounders that charge their ability gauges much faster than others; Saiyans have increased melee and Ki Blast damage; and Androids, which make their first appearance in the franchise as a playable race, offer much faster skill cooldowns, making them ideal for chaining attack combos and skills, although the preview build didn’t feature Androids as a selectable race, so we were not able to try them out firsthand.
It was during character customisation that we were introduced to Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3’s new combat abilities, the first is Soul Assist, which, as its name suggests, allows players to call in the soul of another character to perform a powerful team-up special move. There was a wide range of characters to choose from, each with their own special moves, with a notable example being Vegeta, who, when called upon using this new feature, teams up with the player character for a massive combined Galick Gun blast. Of course, like all special abilities in the game, this move operates on a cooldown, meaning it’s more useful to save them for stronger foes or bosses.
The other major addition is Soul Switch, which operates on a similar concept, but for a more dramatic effect. In past games, Saiyan characters were able to perform a transformation ultimate move, powering up into their Super Saiyan forms for increased damage and special movesets, but in the sequel, some love is given to non-Saiyan characters too.
When the Soul Switch ultimate ability is performed, characters will absorb a blue flame into their chest and transform into a completely different character for a limited amount of time, such as iconic franchise faces like Jiren, in our case. This isn’t just a visual change, however, as the player will now have access to said character’s entire line-up of moves, including ultimate attacks like Jiren’s Power Rush. This new move isn’t just helpful for the toughest of encounters, it’s also a way to experience a brief power trip as one of the franchise’s most iconic characters, and with a wide variety of Soul Switch heroes and villains to choose from, this allows players to pick and choose which character’s movesets would suit them best, or simply go all out as their favourite fighters from the series.
On to the game’s multiplayer portion, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 will once again allow players to team up to complete increasingly challenging co-op missions, with a PvP competitive game mode also available, although we weren’t able to experience it in our demo. Choosing between one of five preset races (excluding the Androids), we were able to spend some time fine-tuning our characters’ special abilities, Soul Assists, and Soul Switches (for non-Saiyan characters) before hopping into a mission with three other preview attendees.
For the preview, we were able to take on three missions – Fifty-Foe Fracas, a battle-arena-styled mission against waves of 50 Android foes; Communication is Key, which tasked players with fighting off enemies while defending two Communicators; and Canning the RepliCans, which featured a more traditional mission structure where players made their way through basic enemies before facing off with Android versions of Jiren and Toppo as the stage’s final bosses.
While these missions could technically be taken on solo, with AI companions filling in the gaps, they were obviously designed for an actual four-player group, as these encounters were no joke. Even Fifty-Foe Fracas, the stage with the lowest recommended difficulty level, still proved to be an extreme challenge when tackled alone, thanks to highly aggressive foes that could easily swarm and overpower a player without proper assistance from other teammates.
Conversely, when filled with a full team, the same match can become overwhelming in a completely different way, as each player will be throwing off their own combos, special skills and ultimate abilities, which can sometimes fill the screen with a massive amount of particle effects at once, to the point where players can barely make out their own characters. It can be a mess, yes, but at the same time, it’s more of the same superpowered team-up against an overwhelming threat that fans of the franchise crave.
Outside of missions, players are free to customise their build with the gear gained in battle. Apart from the aforementioned skill loadouts, players will also be able to customise their equipment, swapping out clothing like shirts, pants and jackets, each with their own stats and sometimes a special trait. While we weren’t able to explore more of this build complexity due to time constraints and being provided with recommended preset equipment loadouts, these gear options can potentially help to fine-tune a player’s role, such as being a damage-soaking tank or a hard-hitting but squishy glass cannon.
The end of our preview still left us with some lingering questions, such as how varied the multiplayer missions will be, and how progression would work to ensure players are given a reason to keep coming back. Of course, there’s still the entire campaign component to consider too, which brings questions of its own, like how the game will handle Age 1000, the first original timeline seen in the franchise, and whether the new Android race will offer substantial advantages to make returning players choose them over familiar favourites, but fans will surely learn more about these aspects of the game as Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 heads towards its release in 2027 for the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
Si Jia
