Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 Hands-On Preview - 2027 Can’t Come Soon Enough

Published Oct 21, 2026, 10:00 AM EDT Two hours with Xenoverse 3’s Parallel Quests made me sure that the full game is absolutely going to ruin my life. Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 Is Far More Different Than I Expected, And That’s A Good Thing Add TheGamer on Google Add Going into a recent hands-on preview for Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3, I was pretty sure I knew what to expect. Having spent hundreds of hours in the first two games (with the original standing as one of my most-played of all time), Xenoverse’s formula is one that I’m very familiar with, and the long-awaited threequel seemed to mostly be following and building on that self-insert success. I would have been happy if my time with the game confirmed that confidence, but all of that went out the window as soon as I started playing. The core of Xenoverse is still here and in all its moreish glory, but the major improvements made to character customisation, reworked combat, and the bigger emphasis on mob battles and heavier MMO vibes come together to make XV3 far more different than I expected. Although we were strictly focused on an exclusive first look at PvE Parallel Quests and had a lot of red tape keeping us from going anywhere we weren’t supposed to, the two hours I played were more than enough to see that Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 isn’t just more of the same. It already feels like a deeper, more involved, and more original new age for the series, and I’m even more certain it will steal all of my free time. Xenoverse 3 Is Taking Character Creation To The Next Level The preview I’d been dreaming of since the start of this year kicked off by offering a selection of pre-made avatars to try out since we didn’t have time to properly dive into creation, including a human, a Frieza race character, a Namekian, and a Saiyan. Sadly, the recently revealed and mysterious Androids weren’t on offer, so I went for the tried-and-true Saiyan (my beloved John Dragon Ball, in fact), like the unashamedly basic Goku stan that I am. It was here that Xenoverse 3’s first major improvement became clear. Even without being able to create an avatar, the customisation options already seem a lot more in-depth, especially when it comes to how you fight. Instead of each race having a generic set of attack animations that get incredibly tiring with how much you see them, you can now choose to copy the style of seemingly every playable character and swap between them at will. This is the sort of feature that fits Xenoverse so perfectly that I can’t believe it’s taken so long to implement. My pre-set hero came with Goku’s fighting style, but I quickly changed that to fight like Gogeta, and later even Jiren. A big part of why Xenoverse’s custom character works so well is because of the creative control you have over your supers, so the combat styles are a natural next step that takes customisation even further than before. Combat And Flying Have Seen Some Big Tweaks That Take Some Getting Used To After quickly being shepherded into a part of West City that lets you take on Parallel Quests, I grouped up with some of the other journalists at the event and jumped into the first of three missions. That quest took us to a wide-open field and tasked our group with defeating 50 generic enemies, an easy trial for a Xenoverse veteran like myself. That being said, this was my first time actually playing Xenoverse 3, which means that it was also where I realised how surprisingly different it feels. Movement has clearly seen a major rework, with flying now much smoother, faster, and not having buttons tied to rising or falling. On-foot movement is also a constant sprint, and snap vanishing now has its own dedicated button instead of being tied to a dodge. It took me a bit to get used to the changes, but they do feel a lot better overall, especially the easier-to-use and all-important snap vanish. It’s not just movement that’s been tweaked, though, as combat also feels like it’s been changed from the first two Xenoverse games. It’s hard to describe, but it feels a lot more suited to mob battles and dealing with multiple enemies at once, especially since attacks are now directional instead of locking you in place. It could have just been the mission we were in and its focus on a massive crowd of enemies, but as my teammates and I threw out beam specials, summoned allies (including previously unconfirmed characters like Super Saiyan God, Mastered Ultra Instinct, and SSJ3 Goku), and generally ripped the enemies to shreds, it felt almost like an MMO. Xenoverse has always dipped a toe into those vibes with its avatars and online missions, but it felt more present here than ever before. It’s almost hard to imagine one-on-one fights in Xenoverse 3 after my preview, but it was confirmed to me that PvP is still sticking around as a dedicated mode. As different as Xenoverse 3 feels to play, at least to someone who’s spent so much time with the series, it still scratches that same specific itch that I crave from the series. Once I’d gotten used to the tweaks, it felt like I’d been sent back in time to 2015, just with a far better art style, tightened game feel, and a world that doesn’t look to just rehash Dragon Ball history. Transformations Are Still More Different Than Most Fans Will Like That was mission one, and the next Parallel Quest took me and my fellow Great Saiya Squad members to another field with the task of protecting towers from the attacking Ginyu Force. This was as close as I got to non-mob battles, but it still didn’t seem like a proper judge since the beefed-up Guldo I faced somehow gave me as much trouble as I’d expect from Beerus. The whooping I got from someone that Yamcha wouldn’t struggle with did give me a chance to properly try out the controversial transformation mechanics. My pre-set character started out with a Soul Switch that let me take control of Kefla for a brief time, which, aside from an intro animation I hope is skippable in the final game, added some nice variety with a whole new moveset available at any time. Honestly, it’s a pretty good alternative to Awoken skills. Soul Switching is very cool, but you know I had to try the thing everyone will actually end up using - Super Saiyan. This build thankfully had the timer removed, which also meant changes to how ki works for supers, but it’s still not a direct one-to-one with previous Xenoverse games. It takes a long while to charge up, so you can’t just jump into it without having to work a little. It’s better, but it’s still a bit different. It was confirmed to me that Kaioken is meant to be the transformation that’s specific to Earthlings, but I’m not sure if that means it’ll be inaccessible to everyone else. The final Parallel Quest of the preview was my favourite, as it saw my team moving through some kind of lab and facing off against a bunch of goons before going toe-to-toe with Jiren and Toppo. As if it didn’t already feel like an MMO, these two were basically souped-up raid bosses that gave us a real challenge. It may not be the one-on-one fights I was desperate to try out, but it was still the highlight. After getting the chance to replay some of the Parallel Quests and earn the best rating possible on all of them, my time with Xenoverse 3 was sadly over. Even with just two hours in three missions, I learned a whole lot about the game and how it’s actively advancing and changing Xenoverse’s formula. While I still have some questions about the actual story, the importance of West City, and, most importantly, how non-mob battles will feel to play, I somehow came away from Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 more excited than I already was. As much as I would have loved a slightly prettier Xenoverse 2, the big push to do something new is going to have me counting down the days until the next step in the series is finally upon us.