Every piece of Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition feels meticulously placed. Pieces like it’s beautiful world, well paced combat and music, and gameplay variety give you the motivation to keep exploring every rock formation, combat encounter, and unique mission. Not every game has all these pieces that fit together this well, but this game does and it does it very well.
Given the small team that it was made by, they have done a nice job delivering an entertaining experience. It just falls short by trying to be too many things in its gameplay and not having enough depth in its story to deliver the best experience possible.
Grounded on Switch is what it needs to be, a stellar survival sandbox with a uniquely crafted world and visual style. Added features like quests help to guide players new to the genre and those who have played these types of games before, but want a more quest focused experience, closer to an Obsidian-style game. What Grounded really seems to nail the most is it’s uniqueness in a space that is filled with similarly functioning games. Obsidian has found a way to take a tried and true formula and make it work in a new way that fits within the story and world that they have created. It also fits nicely on Switch, despite the fact that the long loading screens make it a drag at times, but this can be avoided by sticking to the respawn system instead of loading saves.