We had the opportunity to watch the Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 demo preview by Bandai Namco at the Summer Game Fest Play Days to show us what’s to come for the franchise.

Getting to Know Your Character

The game demo provided us with the design and gameplay action from starting your exhibition to intense battles, such as against Broly from the Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie. Players can choose a race to begin; during the demo, Earthing and Saiyan races were the choices. Bandai Namco will showcase more race options later this year. With the Saiyan race, you can transform into a Super Saiyan, and the hairstyle will match the character’s hairdo. It sounds like more details were included when creating your avatar.

Starting off, you’ll have your own apartment-like room. It’s messy at first, but players can clean it up as they play. It’s a place set as your headquarters, so expect to come back to this area many times, and we expect you can decorate it too.

Before you get too far, we noticed other races, like Namekians, but also popular characters from the franchise, such as Vegeta from the Saiyan arc in Dragon Ball Z and Future Trunks from the same anime series, are roaming around. This preview will explain how to use these characters in a unique way.

You’ll take on missions, and in this demo, Gamma 1 from the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero animated film is here and will assign you a mission to complete. You can have an additional three teammates to join your missions. Details regarding if they are only NPCs or if online players can join have yet to be revealed.

Give it Your Best Shot

Teleported to areas of the mission, you can roam in an open field for exploration. Your player’s attacks can be customizable, very similar to Xenoverse 2. Large-scale attacks such as the Super Kamehameha and at times KO enemies are more cinematic cutscenes. Expect to see a handful of enemies attack you at once for some more intense battles in this open field. During our demo preview of Xenoverse 3, many of the minions we witnessed were henchmen who resemble Frieza’s forces and Dragon Ball characters like the capsule robot from the Red Ribbon Army. Expect to see more variety of enemies the closer to the game’s launch in 2027.

Attacking does seem to carry over some of Xenoverse 2’s controls, but there are some tweaks and additions in Xenoverse 3. One example is the “Soul Change” with a Dragon Ball character, such as Future Trunks. The character’s icon is visible during your gameplay, and to initiate the switch, it requires its gauge to fill the circle. When swapped, you can control that character for a limited time and utilize their skillset. The timer is set on the character icon as a countdown, giving players an easier understanding of the time limit. When doing cinematic scenes from your special character, the timer will continue to dwindle; there’s no pause. You can call upon an additional character like Vegeta to mimic a special attack and not as a Soul Change. It’ll be interesting how many characters will be involved and how customized you can be with this.

It’s fascinating how Xenoverse 3 is taking this approach of utilizing its anime characters. Set centuries after the events of the anime series, the game will focus on new characters while also aiming to satisfy long-time fans by including appearances of Dragon Ball characters in a fitting way. We will provide more details about their existence at a later date.

Visually the upcoming Xenoverse game looks cleaner than its predecessor and still carries the bright and colorful themes over. In comparison, it leans more towards the visual style of Dragon Ball Kakarot. The game is still in its early development, so expect some visual updates down the road. For now, the game does look to be another enjoyable title for Dragon Ball fans.

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 is set to launch in 2027 for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC Fans can visit the game’s official website for more information and purchasing options. We appreciate Bandai Namco for giving us the opportunity to watch the latest gameplay at the Summer Game Fest.