IGN has gone hands-on with Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 at Bandai Namco’s Tokyo headquarters, and the headline feature is a brand-new mechanic that could shake up the anime fighter formula: Soul Switching, which lets you temporarily transform your custom hero into an iconic Dragon Ball character mid-fight.
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 (Credits: IGN / Bandai Namco)
The beefy demo, developed by Dimps, focused entirely on co-op multiplayer — a deliberate pivot. IGN’s previewer notes that Xenoverse 3 leans into raid-style multiplayer brawls, framing the game as a kind of digital hangout space where fan service and fun take priority over one-on-one arena repetition.
How Soul Switching works
Xenoverse 3 introduces two related systems. Soul Assist calls in the soul of another character for a powerful team-up special — one demo highlight had Vegeta dropping in to join the player for a massive combined Galick Gun blast, on a cooldown so you save it for bosses.
Soul Switch goes further: your character absorbs a blue flame into their chest and transforms into a completely different fighter for a limited time. The demo showed a custom character morphing into Jiren, gaining his full moveset including the Power Rush ultimate, and another example had Future Trunks arriving mid-fight against Broly with his sword attacks and Burning Attack.
Age 1000 and Toriyama’s legacy
The game is set in Age 1000, centuries after the series’ present day, with most iconic heroes long gone. It draws on leftover documents from late creator Akira Toriyama, and Bandai Namco claims it will feature the longest story in series history. Androids also join as a playable race for the first time in franchise history. The game is slated for a 2027 release.
Source: IGN — read the full story there.