Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 gameplay trailer reveals new transformation system and combat overhaul

Bandai Namco dropped the first major gameplay trailer for Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 this week, showing off a full mission and the biggest mechanical changes coming to the series. The game is set for a 2027 release on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.

The most talked-about change is how transformations work. In previous Xenoverse games, you charged a Ki meter and could hold a Super Saiyan form for as long as your energy lasted — items could even extend that indefinitely. Xenoverse 3 scraps that system entirely. Ki now acts as a stamina gauge that recharges passively, and transformations are locked behind a new "Awakening" mechanic that players have to build toward during a mission rather than triggering from the start. The trailer also shows what looks like a timer on the transformation icon, which has the community convinced that Super Saiyan forms are now timed power-ups. Gamespot looked more closely and argues the timer likely tracks progression through transformation stages — going from Super Saiyan up to Super Saiyan 3 — rather than a flat countdown to powering down. Bandai Namco has been contacted for clarification but hasn't responded yet. Beyond transformations, the game introduces two new mechanics: Soul Assist, which lets you call in a legendary fighter like Piccolo or Krillin to use their signature move, and Soul Change, which lets you fully inhabit that fighter and use their abilities directly. Certain characters like Trunks and Vegeta come with faster cooldown timers for these skills. Each playable race gets its own unique transformation, and the trailer confirms Saiyan, Human, and Majin as available options so far. The story is set over 300 years after the end of the main Dragon Ball sagas.

Xenoverse 3 is the follow-up to Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, which launched back in 2016 and has been supported with updates and DLC for nearly a decade — an unusually long tail for a fighting game. Developer Dimps built a dedicated fanbase around the RPG-lite character customization and time-patrol story framing, so any changes to core systems like transformations land with extra weight for that community. The shift from a Ki charge model to cooldowns is a meaningful design pivot, moving the game closer to ability-based action games and away from the resource-management feel of the originals.

Reaction on the Xenoverse subreddit has been loud and largely negative on the transformation question. One of the top-voted comments reads: "I hope to see the whole community bashing this idea non-stop until they change it, because they won't do anything if they can pretend it's only a minority of people." That said, the trailer shows no footage of a player actually powering down after a timer hits zero, and getting knocked out by a boss mid-transformation doesn't appear to cancel the form — which leaves the door open for the community's fears to be overblown. With the game still a year out, there's time for Bandai Namco to clarify or adjust before launch.