This story is part of our Summer Gaming Marathon series.

Nintendo premiered its Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Direct and revealed that it will receive an expansion pass. It costs $30 and it’ll give players some helpful in-game items and outfit color variants at launch.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Direct - Nintendo Switch

At the end of the year, the game will add a Challenge Battle as well as a new hero character, quests, and outfits. More extras will come on April 30, 2023, while an entirely new story scenario will be added by the end of 2023. Interestingly, the artwork on the expansion pass shows three swords, one of which is from Rex, the protagonist of Xenoblade Chronicles 2. This indicates that he could be one of the Challenge Battles or have a place in the new story scenario.

The game will also have amiibo functionality. The Super Smash Bros. series Shulk amiibo will change Noah’s sword into the Monado, Shulk’s own weapon in the first Xenoblade Chronicles game. There are other amiibo that will be compatible with the game, but those details weren’t revealed.

It doesn’t seem like the expansion pass will be included with Switch Online memberships. Nintendo has recently bundled its add-ons into its Expansion Pack tier of the service, but Xenoblade won’t be following that trend for now.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3‘s story follows the nations of Keves and Agnus as they fight continuously in a never-ending war. The soldiers of Agnus all have a 10-year lifespan and seeing it through completion and receiving a homecoming ceremony from the queen is seen as the highest honor. However, most don’t manage to make it as they perish during battle. It seems like the main cast is looking for some way to break the cycle.

The playable cast consists of three people from Keves and three from Agnus. After fighting with each other, they must set aside their differences to band together against a new enemy that pledges to constantly hunt them down.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 launches on July 29 for Nintendo Switch.

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