Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 Preview: Soul Switch Reshapes Squad Combat

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 got its most detailed public showing at Summer Game Fest Play Days 2026, with Dimps and Bandai Namco opening the doors on West City and AGE 1000 for press behind closed doors. The sequel is headed to 2027 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam, and the preview highlighted two new combat systems: Soul Assist and Soul Switch.

Those mechanics put veteran Dragon Ball characters in and out of the player’s hands mid-fight, and the preview framed the sequel around four-player squad combat. With a US Road Tour starting July 10 in Houston and Xenoverse 2’s final DLC pack scheduled for September 30, both events sit ahead on the calendar.

Ten Years After the Last Outing

Bandai Namco’s June 23 announcement framed Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 with one specific line: “Coming ten years since the last game in the series.” The reference point is Xenoverse 2, an action RPG Dimps shipped in 2016 and has kept alive through a steady stream of downloadable content. Way Too Many Games reports that a final DLC pack called Future Saga Chapter 4 is scheduled to arrive September 30 of this year. Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 is now the next entry in the series, listed on the official Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 game page alongside the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam tags.

The sequel comes from the same development team behind Xenoverse 2, with Dimps returning as developer and Bandai Namco as publisher. The publisher-developer pairing was confirmed in Bandai Namco’s June 23 West City trailer announcement, with the same credits listed on the official game page.

• 2016: Xenoverse 2 launch year
• Ten years: The gap Bandai Namco cites since the last series entry
• 2027: Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 release window
• September 30, 2026: Final Xenoverse 2 DLC, Future Saga Chapter 4

RPGamer’s preview said the story would focus on “connection,” with the characters, setting, and gameplay all rooted in that theme. The 2027 release lands on three platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. Way Too Many Games notes that the new visuals look closer to Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot than to Xenoverse 2’s lighting model. The original Dragon Ball author, Akira Toriyama, designed the new setting and several original characters before his death. The new setting is officially called AGE 1000.

A Fresh Map in West City

The Summer Game Fest Play Days demo opened inside an apartment overlooking the new West City, per Way Too Many Games, with flying cars, NPCs scattered through the streets, and a brighter palette than Xenoverse 2’s city hub. The setting is officially called AGE 1000, and GosuGamers notes that West City University is a new location for daily life. According to Temple of Geek, Bulma appears in this future timeline alongside Gamma 1, a character from Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. Gamma 1 is the one who welcomes the player into the ranks of the Great Saiya Squad.

• Brett: original character, one of the final designs from the late Akira Toriyama
• Lilica: original character debuting in the franchise
• ROM: original character debuting in the franchise
• Tap: original character debuting in the franchise
• Gamma 1: character from Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero who recruits the player
• Bulma: returning, joins the new setting alongside Vegeta

The Bandai Namco press release introduces a cast of original characters alongside the returning faces. Brett, Lilica, ROM, and Tap are all making their franchise debut, and Brett in particular carries weight as one of the final characters designed by Akira Toriyama. Bulma appears in the new setting, joining Vegeta and Trunks as the returning faces shown in the preview.

Soul Switch and Soul Assist Change the Combat Loop

The combat system has always been the Xenoverse series’ signature, and the Summer Game Fest Play Days preview pulled two new mechanics into the spotlight: Soul Assist and Soul Switch. Both were first detailed in Bandai Namco’s June 23 West City trailer announcement, and both are built around letting classic Dragon Ball characters step into the fight. The difference between them is what the player gets to do once those characters arrive, with one system focused on team-up attacks and the other on full character possession. Dimps is centering the design on 4-player squad combat, with both mechanics built around that framing.

Soul Assist is the first of the two systems: it lets the player launch a powerful attack alongside an ally from the Dragon Ball universe. The Bandai Namco West City trailer page describes it as a way to “unleash a powerful attack alongside a powerful ally from the DRAGON BALL universe.” The preview did not specify which ally was summoned in the demo. Way Too Many Games describes the team-up input as unique to whichever ally the player has equipped, though it stopped short of confirming which characters are summonable. RPGamer frames the system as one half of a wider design intent, with the developer pushing players to “offer a wider variety of battle situations that make full use of a 4-player squad.”

Soul Switch is the deeper mechanic. Per the Bandai Namco press release, the system lets players “temporarily harness the power of a DRAGON BALL character’s soul, such as Krillin, Piccolo, Vegeta, Future Trunks, and Tien.” In Temple of Geek’s preview, the player swapped into Android Saga Future Trunks, complete with a Capsule Corp halo overhead. Way Too Many Games reports Trunks’ full moveset includes his sword, Burning Attack, and Heat Dome abilities. The swap also granted the player a full heal, per Temple of Geek, “which feels like a very powerful after effect of such a cool mechanic.”

Soul Switch and Soul Assist both lean on the same underlying idea: the player’s custom character is one piece of a much larger squad, and the rest of the roster gets called in as needed. The 4-player framing puts a four-warrior team on the field together for missions. The full Bandai Namco write-up of both systems sits on the June 23 West City trailer details.

The Broly Fight Sets the Pace

The Play Days demo ended with a boss fight against Full Power Super Saiyan Broly, and that fight was where both new mechanics got to breathe. Way Too Many Games reports Broly started the encounter already at full power, launching scattershot ki blast volleys that forced the player to use the ice cavern’s pillars for cover. The demo showed a three-minute exchange in which the player had to mix melee combos with cover dodges to manage Broly’s offense. Temple of Geek describes Broly as “ripped straight from the Dragon Ball Super: Broly film,” the modern theatrical look used for the boss. The demo put both new mechanics into a single encounter.

Trunks was the Soul Switch target during the Broly encounter, and Temple of Geek reports the swap came with Trunks’ full moveset, including Burning Attack and Heat Dome abilities. The combination of cover-and-trade tactics with on-demand character switches was something Way Too Many Games flagged as crisp and fun throughout the demo.

RPGamer described the combat as fast, fluid, and stylish, with stats split into strike attack and defense, ki attack and defense, and HP. Earthlings were more balanced while Saiyans focused on ki, RPGamer reported, with multiple Super Saiyan forms confirmed in the trailer. Way Too Many Games notes that mid-match Saiyan transformations also appeared in the demo. Temple of Geek adds that the preview was light on story, with the demo whisking the player from the apartment straight into the first mission.

The Road Tour Begins in Houston

Bandai Namco has lined up an in-person preview push to bridge the gap between the Summer Game Fest showing and the 2027 release. The Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 US Road Tour launches at Dream Con in Houston, Texas on July 10, per the official Road Tour announcement, and runs through December. Each stop will host a playable demo and merch giveaways while supplies last.

1. July 10 to 12: Dream Con, Houston, TX
2. July 18 to 19: Anime Impulse, Santa Clara, CA
3. July 23 to 26: San Diego Wine & Culinary Center, San Diego, CA
4. August 8: Head in the Clouds, Pasadena, CA
5. August 22 to 23: Anime Impulse, Anaheim, CA
6. September 18 to 20: Lost Lands, Legend Valley, OH
7. October 3 to 4: King of Prussia Mall, King of Prussia, PA
8. October 16 to 18: Mall of America Rotunda, Bloomington, MN
9. November 14 to 15: Camp Flog Gnaw, Los Angeles, CA
10. November 21 to 30: LA Auto Show, Los Angeles, CA
11. December 18 to 20: Del Amo Mall, Carson, CA

Dream Con runs July 10 to 12 at a Houston convention center, and the Xenoverse 3 stop is listed as one of the convention’s feature attractions per the Dream Con 2026 event blog post. The rest of the calendar mixes anime conventions, music festivals, and shopping mall stops across the country. Bandai Namco notes that the schedule is “subject to change,” with the latest information published on the official Road Tour announcement and stops. Fans can sign up for the official mailing list at the Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 site for direct updates.

A Toriyama-Designed World, Closed Out in Memory

The Welcome to West City trailer explicitly credits the late Akira Toriyama with the design of the new setting and several of its original characters. Toriyama was the original creator of Dragon Ball, and the Bandai Namco press release frames West City as a “completely new DRAGON BALL world by Akira Toriyama.” The trailer description draws a line from his hand-drawn cityscapes to the game’s neon-drenched look in AGE 1000. Brett is one of the final characters Toriyama designed, and Temple of Geek describes him as “one of the final characters designed by the late Akira Toriyama.” Per the West City trailer page, Bandai Namco will reveal “many more exciting details” about the sequel in the months to come.

Way Too Many Games highlights four other original characters that join Brett in making their franchise debut in Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3. The preview also introduces new race options including Bio-Android and Kaioshin, with the previous five races returning alongside deeper transformation trees. The Soul Switch roster, as listed in the press release, names Krillin, Piccolo, Vegeta, Future Trunks, and Tien as the launch examples. The Bandai Namco West City page confirms the mechanic is built around “gaining new abilities during combat.”

The series returns on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. Temple of Geek notes that the new graphics look “much closer to an enhanced Kakarot than Xenoverse 2.” Bandai Namco’s West City trailer page notes that “many more exciting details” will be revealed in the months to come.