---
title: 'Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 First Impressions: Our 10-Year Wait Is Over!'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=UamMDcZk2GE'
video_id: 'UamMDcZk2GE'
date: 2026-06-25
duration_sec: 401
---

# Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 First Impressions: Our 10-Year Wait Is Over!

> Source: [Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 First Impressions: Our 10-Year Wait Is Over!](https://youtube.com/watch?v=UamMDcZk2GE)

## Summary

At Summer GameFest, IGN's Ryan McAffrey and Will discuss their first impressions of Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3. The demo is set in a far future timeline, bringing together characters from every Dragon Ball era, and was one of the last projects Akira Toriyama worked on.

### Key Points

- **Far Future Setting** [0:18] — The demo is set in a far future, featuring characters from all eras of Dragon Ball, like Trunks from Z and Vegeta from the Saiyan arc, creating timeline mysteries.
- **Toriyama's Involvement** [0:44] — The game's timeline was one of the last things Akira Toriyama worked on, and the team collaborated closely with his team to ensure accuracy.
- **Demo Impressions** [1:08] — The demo felt very good, with a mission leading to a boss fight against Broly. New mechanics include summoning assist characters and taking the soul of another character to use their moves.
- **Funny Broly Story** [2:27] — During the Broly fight, the player tried to hide behind an ice shard, but Broly's energy shield explosion destroyed it, leading to a humorous defeat.
- **Q&A Insights** [3:13] — The development team focused on fan feedback from Xenoverse 2, aiming to make the game accessible to newcomers while introducing new characters, setting, and mechanics like playing as Trunks or calling Vegeta.
- **Hype Level** [4:36] — Coming in with no expectations, the demo left Will very interested, noting the new setting and original characters make it feel different yet familiar to Xenoverse.
- **Unanswered Questions** [5:33] — Will is curious about the hub world, as the demo focused on combat. He wants to see character interactions and customization, which are key parts of the Xenoverse experience.

### Conclusion

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 promises a fresh yet familiar experience with a new timeline, original characters, and enhanced mechanics, though more details on the hub world are awaited.

## Transcript

Hey everybody, I'm Ryan McAffrey with
longtime IGN contributor Will. We are
here at Summer GameFest. We're seeing a
ton of games. Happy to be here, loving
all we're seeing. Uh, and you got to
see, my friend, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3,
which people have been waiting for for a
while. So, give me your first just top
level thoughts of the demo that you had.
Uh, so one of the coolest things about
the demo is that it's set in the far
future and it's bringing back characters
from every era of Dragon Ball. So,
you're wandering around and you might
see like Trunks from Z or you might see
Vegeta from the Saiyan arc, right? Um,
and all these characters are kind of
coming together in this far future
setting where it's like, oh, why is
Bulma here? Like, that's a little bit
weird. Shouldn't she be really old, you
know, long dead? Um, so it's it's
playing with the timeline. And one of
the cool things that they told us about
it was that this period was one of the
last things that like Akira Toriyama
worked on. And so they worked very
closely with that team to make sure that
the game was set during that timeline
and portraying it accurately. Um, so
that is the thing that jumps out
immediately. But it's if you've played
Xenoverse, like it's going to feel very
much like the games you remember. So on
that note, uh, how was the demo? Like
what were your kind of topline thoughts?
Impressed, not impressed, where are we
at with it? Uh, it felt very good. Um,
so they dropped us into a mission where
we were just kind of going through
fighting a lot of guys. It ended with a
boss fight against uh Broly, which was
very intense. I have a very funny story
about that. But one of the things that's
neat is if you've never played
Xenoverse, it is a team- based game. So,
it's you, your created character, and
then several other characters who join
you. In this case, those characters were
original for this new timeline that you
are kind of teaming up with. Um, but one
of the neat things is you can summon uh
in addition to those characters that are
running around with you, like you can
summon assist characters. So, I had one
of mine was Vegeta, and he could come in
and he could do the gaug gun with me,
and that was oh, cool, right? Um, but
there's also this mechanic where you can
you can take the soul of another
character into you. So I could play as
Trunks. I could be like, "Cool, Trunks,
come down here. I'm going to play as
Trunks." Have access to all of his
moves, all of his abilities. And it was
this incredibly awesome power up. And
then in addition to that, you had these
really cinematic supers. I had this
really crazy Kamehameha that like you're
kind of aiming and you're trying to get
as many people in it as you can. And I I
think I hit maybe like 10 15 guys with
it. So, like lots to play with, but
still very much in that Xenoverse uh
kind of tradition of you're flying
around, you know, you kind of got up and
down, vertical movement. Um, it's very
quick and you've got all these
characters on screen at once. Love it.
All right, circle back to that funny
story that you were just going to get
into. Yes. Um, so one of the things that
Broly does, if you know, if you familiar
with the character, he's he loves to do
like big energy like shield explosions.
And so I'm trying to hit him and he
keeps doing it and eventually he's like,
"All right, I'm gonna do the big energy
shield explosion and then I'm also going
to shoot a ton of like other beams at
you and I'm like, "Oh no, this is really
bad. I should hide." So I find this
we're in an ice level and I find this
big kind of shard of ice and me thinking
I'm being very clever go hide behind the
ice shard and I'm like, "Awesome. Can't
hit me." And then the ice shard gets
broken and I get blasted.
But it was great. It was a lot of fun
and uh it was a fun fight that kind of
challenged you to be like, "All right,
you got to pay attention to not just
what you're doing, but what he's doing,
react to that. Use those abilities that
we talked about."
>> Love it. Uh you also got a chance to do
a little Q&A with the development team.
So, what did you learn in that?
>> Um the biggest thing was how much they
were trying to kind of respond to fan
feedback for what fans expect from
Xenoverse because Xenoverse 2 was
>> I think about a decade ago. So, they've
had a long time to support that game and
and really learn what people wanted.
They were they were talking about the
new setting and bringing that to
Xenoverse and and kind of making it so
you don't have to have played, you know,
Xenoverse 1, Xenoverse 2 to understand
what's going on and and realizing that
setting. Um, we had a very funny
question where one of the things that
you your character uh does is you're in
this very messy room and this is where
you're staying. And I asked him like,
why is the room so messy? And it turns
out there's a lore reason for that. Um,
and it's cuz the room isn't really
yours. You're, you know, kind of
borrowing it from another character. Um,
but it was it was really fascinating to
hear their thoughts about revisiting a
series that like is so popular and so
beloved, but also it's been, you know,
it's been like 10 years. So, they had to
rethink like what is Universe now? What
do we want to carry over? What's the
feedback that we've received? How do we
give people this experience while
bringing in these new characters, while
bringing in this new setting? and then
doing like these really exciting new
mechanics where like you know you can
play as Trunks briefly or you can call
in Vegeta and have him do this stuff and
all these new original characters that
are also you know on the field with you.
So as someone who has spent time with
the series before coming into this where
were you at like hype levelwise
excitement wise and coming out of the
demo and the Q&A where are you at with
it now? So coming in I didn't really
know what to expect right because like
Xenoverse one and Xenoverse 2 are very
similar games. their setting is very
similar. Coming out of this, I was like,
"Oh, they're doing something that's that
feels very different just because of the
new setting and and the stuff with the
new original characters that are there
and and the new mechanics." So, I think
um you know, for people who have been
playing Xenoverse for a while and are
really interested in that in those games
and dedicated to those games, like you
are going to see something that feels at
least to me very different than what
you've seen, but also very much like
Xenoverse. Like, it's exciting. It feels
new. Um there's some mystery to it. you
know, you want to figure out what's
going on in this new timeline, how these
characters are fitting together. You
know, why is Bulma still here? Truly is
a question, right? So, it's it's I came
out really interested to see what what
else they show.
>> Love it. Uh, I guess last thing would be
any any sort of unanswered questions for
you after this? Like, what do you still
any yellow flags that you're still like
maybe concerned about that the demo and
Q&A didn't answer or uh or are you kind
of locked and loaded at this point and
we're just ready for this thing to come
out? I don't know if it's a yellow flag,
but the demo was largely combat focused,
very mission focused. So, I'm curious to
see what the hub world looks like in
Xenoverse 3, like what the character
interactions where you're wandering
around look like. I got to briefly
experience that, but it was largely like
we're going to show it to you a little
bit and then we want to get you into
this mission to play with these new
mechanics. So, I think um you know, if
you've played Xenoverse before, those
hub worlds are places where you spend a
lot of time, you know, outfitting your
team and and talking to the characters
and you know, playing multiplayer with
other people, right? So, you spend a lot
of time there and I really did want to
see more than what we got. Will, thank
you so much. Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3,
one of many games we've been seeing here
at Summer GameFest. For more from
everything in the gaming industry, which
is all centering right here in Los
Angeles right now, uh, keep it tuned
right here to IGN.