Xenoblade Chronicles follows Shulk and his band of friends as they search for answers about the mysterious "Monado" sword and defend their homeland from violent robotic creatures known as the Mechon. The game contains an open world design and strongly emphasizes exploration due to the world's large size. The game was very well received by critics, with many citing it as a great example of innovation and improvement in Japanese role-playing video games. The game has spawned a sub-series of the larger "Xeno" series, including Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U) and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Switch).

Life in the world evolved on the bodies of two giant motionless world-gods named Bionis and Mechonis. In this world, Shulk, a young man with mysterious origins, comes across a magical sword named Monado, that allows him to see glimpses of the future. Shulk finds himself caught in the struggle between the humans from Bionis and the machines from Mechonis. Along his quest to defeat the machines he will have to help the inhabitants of Bionis rebuild their world.