Ludography
46/100
Metacritic4 critic reviews
More scores
Metacritic usersuser score
46/100
GameFAQsJust Right
2.5/5
Player reviews
48% positive143 reviews
Steam Deck
Verified
Runs on
Windows
Price
US$14.99

Where to get it

XEL cover

2022 · Action-adventure · Adventure

XEL

Timed Nintendo exclusive

Xel is an epic 3D sci-fi fantasy action-adventure. Explore the mysterious world of Xel and help protagonist Reid to uncover her enigmatic past. Make new friends and foes along the way and collect exciting gadgets to master challenging dungeons and solve time bending puzzles.

Released
12 July 2022
Platforms
Nintendo SwitchPlayStation 4PlayStation 5WindowsXbox OneXbox Series X/S
Genres
Action-adventureAdventureIndieRole-playing
Developers
—
Publishers
Assemble Entertainment
Modes
Single-player
Perspective
Third person
Themes
ActionFantasyScience fiction
Country
Germany
Age ratings
GRAC 15+USK 6ACB MCLASS_IND 12PEGI 12ESRB T
Languages
Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Russian
Time to beat
7.5hmain story12hcompletionist

About

XEL is a 2022 action-adventure video game developed by Tiny Roar and published by Assemble Entertainment.

›Story

Play as Reid, shipwrecked on the strange world of XEL. Without any recollection of her former life, it is up to you to unravel her past and connection to XEL. Ready your sword and shield as you explore the overworld of XEL and dive into imposing Zelda-like dungeons full of unforeseen threats and challenging puzzles. Throughout your journey you will make new friends and foes, learn new moves, find new gadgets as well as being able to jump through time and space.

As Reid delves deeper into the mysteries surrounding XEL, she discovers an endless cycle of peril. Will she be able to break free from it and what will it take?

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

After crashing her spaceship on an alien planet, the pilot, Reid, suffers amnesia. Players control Reid as she explores the planet, solves puzzles, and engages in combat. Reid has the ability to manipulate time and can visit the past to solve some puzzles. It is an action-adventure game inspired by The Legend of Zelda series and features isometric video game graphics.

Development

Tiny Roar is based in Hamburg, Germany. Assemble Entertainment released XEL for Windows on July 12, 2022; Switch two days later; and for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on April 21, 2023. The same day it was ported to consoles, the Breaking Time DLC was released. This adds another chapter to the story.

Reception

XEL received unfavorable reviews on Metacritic. Nintendo Life said it had the potential to be a good science fiction Zelda-style game, but software bugs and performance issues made it an "ultimately unsatisfying experience". TouchArcade said it was a decent action-adventure game that Zelda fans may enjoy, but the number of technical issues they experienced made it a "mild recommendation". Nintendo World Report called the story "quite boring and lackluster" and said it is "absolutely one of the worst performing games I've seen on the Switch".

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Windows12 July 2022Worldwide
Nintendo Switch12 July 2022Worldwide
PlayStation 421 April 2023Worldwide
PlayStation 521 April 2023Worldwide
Xbox Series X/S19 May 2023North America
Xbox One19 May 2023North America

Editions and related releases

Included in
Xel: Complete Edition
Downloadable content
Xel: Breaking Time

Games like this

Collections2 collections

Years

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.