Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 [Preview] The donning of Age 1000

A fresh start in the future of Dragon Ball

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 has been a long time coming. It will be over a decade since the last release in the series, with at least that time’s worth of new characters and stories from the universe to pull from. Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama seemingly wanted to honor that time and the entire timeline with the shift to Age 1000. This time period has been explored before, but this will be the first dedicated experience in it.

Although it is set long after the story lines fans might be familiar with, that doesn’t mean we won’t be seeing familiar faces in the game. Time traveling Trunks seems to play a rather important role in the game’s story, collecting the player and others to help in his cause. Other classic heroes are able to lend their aid in battle, while our presentation also featured a fight with familiar antagonist Broly. Players are able to make their own characters at the start of the game, deciding between one of the many races like earthing or Saiyans each with unique strengths and weaknesses. Things like Saiyan’s being able to go Super Saiyan. It seems like if you have a favorite character with a special fighting style, there is likely a way to get close to that, but if not you might end up being able to control them anyway. Fighting looks just like it does in the animes, often battling it out in the air, blasting each other with ki blast from across a cannon. On one level it seems chaotic, but it’s also a strong power fantasy leaving you feeling like you orchestrated the battle as opposed to watching it just play out.

Not to discount the series’ past, but Age 1000 at its heart is about telling new stories with new characters designed by Toriyama himself. Joining series newcomer Brett, players join the Great Saiyan Squad to take on the challenges of West City. Players will be able to explore the city to take on its challenges while helping its inhabitants. Some of the characters you work with might be future descendants of your favorites, with Brett himself looking like a teenage evolution between Goku and Gohan.

Nostalgia can only get you so far, but what’s been shown so far hasn’t necessarily relied on it. Sure it’s hard to look at anything Dragon Ball related and not shout GOKU! He will be here and so will his friends, but Brett seems pretty cool and maybe his friends are cooler than Gokus.

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 is planned for release in 2027 on PC and consoles. More info can be found at the official site.