It’s always hilarious to see how a video game gets popular. Sometimes, fans just know that a game will be good and are ready to buy it, no questions asked. Other times, they’ll try out a game because of it getting incredible review scores or possibly having great word of mouth from gamers. There is no “wrong way” to get popular, so long as the game is worthy of that popularity. In the case of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, the 2022 title was a hit on Nintendo Switch when it dropped, and many who played it during that launch period knew instantly how special it was thanks to how Monolith Soft crafted the game’s story.
Fast forward to now, the “Game of the Year” nominee is getting even more attention thanks to a series of posts by certain streamers on Twitch. One such streamer was DeeBeeGeek, who posted a key cutscene image from Xenoblade Chronicles 3 featuring the character Mio with the tag “It’s just a video game” before highlighting the picture to show that it…wasn’t just a video game.
This image spread around like wildfire, and as of this writing, it has over 500K views! Many are commenting on what this scene meant to them, including Nintendo insider Stealth:
Without getting into too many spoilers, the scene in question features several cutscenes that truly highlight the point that “all is lost.” The heroes have “failed” in their mission, and punishment is about to be imposed on one of them. What made this set of cutscenes so memorable wasn’t just the writing but the incredible voice acting that made it feel even more painful to bear. By the time the “fate” was carried out, you couldn’t believe what the game had done, and then there were twists to follow after that, which made everything even more tragic in certain ways.
There’s always been a question of the “true point” of video games, and titles like these help prove that they can be true storytelling mediums of the highest order when handled by the right teams. Monolith Soft truly put everything it had into this story, telling a masterful tale of what life really means and how everyone views it differently.
Again, the game was a hit and won numerous awards, which makes many excited for what Monolith Soft has in store for fans with its next title. We know a certain port from the franchise is coming to the Switch in March, and a new entry should soon follow on Nintendo Switch 2.
