It’s hard to believe that Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 has been out for ten years now. What’s even more impressive is that it has continued to get steady content throughout those ten years. Hell, it even has its final upcoming DLC coming September 30th this year called Future Saga Chapter 4. However, whether you’ve been a fan through the entire length or came and went, I’m sure all of can agree it’s time for an upgrade. Well, we are finally getting Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3, and I was able to get a behind closed doors hands-off gameplay preview of some gameplay, and it looks great.

For those that may not know, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 is set 200 years after the events of Dragon Ball Z and 148 years after Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2. It takes place in a whole new unexplored world called AGE 1000, featuring much more futuristic and advanced cities. You will be able to create a character with a ton of customizability and choose between various races with Bio-Android, and Kaioshin being newly added races. Besides the new races, the previous five races are also getting deeper and expanded transformations. You’re part of the Great Saiyan Squad, and you’ll fight alongside allies throughout the story.

The characters, lighting, and environment details have all gotten a massive upgrade.

While the preview was pretty light on the story aspects, they point out that while we will interact with familiar characters, this is focused on you and telling a unique story that doesn’t directly involve the original cast as much. The demo opens up with the player inside an apartment overlooking the vibrant West City. Making their way out of the building we were greeted with the reveal of the new setting and the upgraded visuals. West City looks nice, it’s bright, there are flying cars going around, NPCs scattered throughout, it’s definitely a large update from Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2.

Talking to Gamma 1 and it skips to Special Mission: Digging into the Land of Ice! Joint by three other NPC fighters that are part of your squad, we finally get to see some action. Set in a large ice cavern area with snow and massive ice stalagmites scattered every. Flying through the caverns, running to pockets of enemies showing off various combo moves, special moves, and great looking cinematic animations, the fights are looking crisp and fun! The new visuals and lighting are definitely noticeable. There are still some awkward moments where enemies will look like they hit an invisible wall when getting punched backwards, but its still an early build.

They didn’t stand a chance!

Showing off different ways to attack situations, a large group of enemies spawn ahead of the player, using a wide-range attack can hit multiple at a time. L2+Triangle does the Ultimate Attack which triggered a slick animation of a charged up massive Kamehameha that damages all enemies in that area. L2+Square will call in your partner for a team up attack which will be unique depending on who you have. Besides that, holding R2 and using the four face buttons lets you do more Super Attacks like a Super God Fist and a Kaioken Assault. Mixing all of that up with your Boost Chases, Light and Heavy attacks and there was a ton of action going on.

The last part of the preview was a boss fight, and it was none other than Super Saiyan Broly. This fight went on for a full three minutes and was tough; Broly was no slouch with a ton of fast and powerful moves. Using the massive ice pillars through the area to take cover from his massive blasts was paramount. This is where they did feature the new summon system, where you can bring in a power character and play as them.

Summon special characters and fight as them with their entire unique set of moves.

For this demo, they were able to bring in Trunks. Having his full power and move set, the fight got much easier from here. Trunks utilizing his sword and superior speed was able to get most of Broly’s life down before he had to return. The demo ends after Broly’s defeat, but I was thoroughly impressed by it all. I can’t wait to see what they do with this unique story line since this is something completely new. As well as what they did with more of the combat depth and customization. But what I’ve seen so far, it’s looking to be are great step up!

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 is planned for release in 2027 for PlayStation 5, PC, and Xbox Series X|S.
*All media provided by the publisher.