Dragon Ball fans have been waiting a long time for a proper follow-up to Xenoverse 2, and Bandai Namco is finally starting to pull back the curtain in a meaningful way. A brand-new nearly seven-minute gameplay presentation has dropped, and it gives the clearest look yet at what Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 is actually going to play like — including the introduction of one of the game’s default protagonists, a white-haired Saiyan named J-Age.
Meet J-Age: The Default Saiyan Protagonist of Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 follows the same formula the series has always been built on — you create your own character and step into the Dragon Ball universe as your personal warrior. But for players who don’t want to build from scratch right away, or just want to see what the game looks like with a polished default setup, Bandai Namco has put together preset protagonists as default options.
The one spotlighted in this gameplay reveal is J-Age — a white-haired Saiyan whose moveset and fighting style pull heavily from Vegeta. That’s a deliberate race-based design choice; Saiyans in Xenoverse 3 are built around aggressive, high-power combat that mirrors the Prince of all Saiyans. The companion default option is an Earthling character whose attacks and combos draw from Goku’s fighting style instead, giving players two distinct combat flavors right from the start.
The contrast between the two presets isn’t just cosmetic. Race selection in Xenoverse 3 is confirmed to have a bigger impact on gameplay than it did in previous entries. Saiyans lean into multi-tier Super Saiyan transformations and aerial offensive pressure, while Earthlings bring a more balanced and versatile combat approach. Your race choice also influences how your character synergizes with the new Soul systems — more on those in a bit.
The Great Saiyan Squad and AGE 1000 Setting
For anyone coming in fresh, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 was first revealed around April 2026 under the working title “Project Age 1000.” The game is set in futuristic West City during AGE 1000 — a future Dragon Ball era with roots in Akira Toriyama’s original creative work on Dragon Ball Online years before Dragon Ball Super ever came to be.
Players join an organization called the Great Saiyan Squad and take on missions across this futuristic world, working alongside a mix of classic Dragon Ball characters and brand-new original ones. The new characters — including Brett, Lilica, ROM, and Tap — were all designed by Toriyama himself, giving them the same creative DNA as the rest of the franchise. Familiar faces like Bulma and Gamma 1 are also present in West City, with Gamma 1 directly involved in recruiting players into the Great Saiyan Squad.
It’s a setup that feels fresh without abandoning what the Xenoverse series is known for. Instead of sending players back in time to patch up familiar story beats, Xenoverse 3 moves the timeline forward into territory the franchise has never properly explored in a mainline game before.
Soul Assist and Soul Switch: The Big New Combat Mechanics
The gameplay reveal spent a lot of time on two new combat systems, and they’re easily the most exciting additions shown so far.
Soul Assist
Soul Assist lets your character call in a legendary Dragon Ball warrior to unleash a coordinated, cinematic team attack during battle. It’s not just a cameo — it’s a high-damage synchronized strike that can break an enemy’s momentum or extend your combo strings when you need it most. In the gameplay presentation, the Soul Assist characters demonstrated were Future Trunks and Vegeta, giving you a sense of the kind of heavy hitters you’ll be able to call on.
Soul Switch
Soul Switch takes things a step further. Instead of calling an ally in to help, Soul Switch lets your character fully transform into that Dragon Ball warrior for a limited time — taking on their appearance, moveset, and abilities completely. The Soul Switch is tied to a dedicated Soul Gauge that charges during battle, so you can’t just pop it constantly. But when you do activate it, you’re effectively playing as a completely different character mid-fight.
In the gameplay video, J-Age used Soul Switch to become Future Trunks mid-mission, gaining access to his sword attacks and his Heat Dome Attack ultimate move. The switch also fully restored the health bar, making it a legitimate comeback mechanic when a tough encounter starts going sideways. It’s one of those mechanics that sounds good on paper and actually looked great in action from what was shown.
The confirmed characters available for Soul Switch so far include Vegeta, Future Trunks, Piccolo, Krillin, and Tien — a solid early roster that suggests there will be plenty more options to unlock as you progress through the game.
What the Gameplay Mission Actually Looked Like
The mission shown in the presentation had J-Age teaming up with three other Great Saiyan Squad members to take on what started as a fairly standard Dragon Ball action-RPG setup — exploration, movement through 3D arenas, waves of enemies, super attacks, and ultimate moves doing exactly what you’d expect.
The mission escalated into a boss fight against Broly — specifically the Dragon Ball Super version — which capped off the gameplay reel in a way that immediately confirmed two things. First, Dragon Ball Super characters are going to be woven into the AGE 1000 story in some capacity. Second, the Soul Assist and Soul Switch mechanics aren’t just novelties — they’re designed to make tough boss encounters feel manageable and exciting at the same time.
Super Saiyan transformations also got a notable visual upgrade. Your character’s hair actually changes and spikes up when you transform now, which sounds minor but is genuinely one of the most requested fixes from the Xenoverse community for years. Super Saiyan 3 even gets a dedicated animation showing the hair growing out. It’s a small detail that goes a long way toward making the game feel authentic to the source material.
West City: The Hub World and Home Base
Outside of combat missions, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 gives players a proper living space to call their own within West City. Your personal room serves as a home base where you can decorate, rearrange furniture, and adjust your character’s appearance with help from COA, your robot assistant. It’s a personal customization layer that sits on top of the character creation system.
When you step out into West City itself, you’re entering an online hub where other players are present and you can team up, explore, and interact. The city includes West City University as an interactive zone where key story characters are found, and vertical exploration is actually part of the design — soaring and boosting through the skyline is how you reach certain mission markers and hidden collectibles on rooftops.
It’s a significant upgrade from Conton City in Xenoverse 2, both visually and in terms of the depth of activities available. Bandai Namco hasn’t shown everything yet, but even the slice revealed here suggests West City is a proper living hub rather than just a menu room with scenery.
Akira Toriyama’s Legacy Is Part of What Makes This Special
It’s impossible to talk about Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 without acknowledging what makes the original character designs here particularly meaningful. Toriyama passed away in 2024, but his creative work on the world and characters of Xenoverse 3 was completed before that. The AGE 1000 setting and the new original cast — Brett, Lilica, ROM, Tap, and the protagonists including J-Age — all carry his fingerprints.
That’s not a small thing for Dragon Ball fans. These aren’t characters created by a committee to fill a gap — they’re part of Toriyama’s vision for what Dragon Ball’s future could look like. Getting to experience that through a game like Xenoverse 3 adds a layer of significance to what could otherwise just be another entry in a familiar action-RPG series.
Release Date and Platforms
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 is confirmed for a 2027 launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Steam. No specific month or date has been locked in yet, but wishlists are already live on all three platforms. Based on everything shown so far, it’s shaping up to be a genuine evolution of what made the first two games so popular — familiar enough for returning fans but clearly building toward something bigger than what came before.
If you’re into gaming news, check out what else is going on with our coverage of GTA 6 Online drawing bullish investor interest and the latest LEGO Pokémon Red set reveal. Keep an eye on this page as more Xenoverse 3 details roll out ahead of its 2027 launch.
