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"Come into my parlor", said the Spider to the Fly...
Given that this game is a Spiritual Successor to (and Stealth Sequel of) the notoriously Darker and Edgier Pokémon Adventures manga, it's not a surprise that said darkness rubbed off on it.
Main Storyline
- The player's introduction to the first X Pokémon, Elekid X, is to witness a wildfire in the middle of a city caused by it. While Aster is able to extinguish the fire before it causes any real damage, it's a stark warning that even the easiest X Pokémon to deal with can still be a major threat if left unchecked.
- Shortly after completing the first Gym, the player takes a ride on the S.S. Comet in order to reach the mainland of Eldiw. While there, the protagonist is tasked by Taraxo (the region's premier tech specialist) with giving a special remedy to the ship's captain, who is suffering from seasickness. However, just as the player is about to deliver the medicine, a sailor bursts into the room, informing the captain that the ship is under attack by Sharpedo, is taking on water at a disastrous rate, and is going to sink- just before the lights cut out, followed by a huge crash. When the protagonist comes to, they're marooned on a dark, stormy island, with none of the the ship's passengers (save for a single merchant) in sight. Thankfully, it's eventually revealed that Taraxo was able to have is Alakazam teleport everyone else off the ship before it sank, but still.
- The island itself- Darkhole Island- is also creepy. It's constantly raining, and as you explore it you'll come across the ghost of a little girl who is implied to have drowned. Add in the unsettling soundtrack, and it's an unnerving experience. Unsurprisingly, it's also where Darkrai can be found in the postgame.
- Eventually, after using the medicine originally intended for the captain to heal an injured Lapras, the protagonist is taken to a wrecked ship that is the lair of the Sharpedo that attacked the ship- and surprise, surprise, they're being led by an X Pokémon, Sharpedo X. It has an unnerving, almost skeletal appearance and Extra Eyes where its gills should be, and it's even a rather nasty Wake-Up Call Boss compared to Elekid X.
- The first encounter with Team Dimension at Newtron Campus is mostly silly thanks to the antics of the Ridiculously Human Mecha-Mooks, and even the higher-ups, the robotic twins A and B, seem more interested in giving the player their autographs than fighting them at first. Then you actually get into a battle with them... and it's a Hopeless Boss Fight. Oh, and not the "winnable if you're sufficiently prepared and try hard enough" kind of fight- the game is hard-coded so that they knock out your Pokémon in one hit, while your Pokémon are hard-coded to do absolutely no damage to them in return. It's only due to the Terrestrial Plate they were trying to steal giving your starter a new form and a Heroic Second Wind that they are prevented from having their Pawniard straight-up execute you. It's a nasty wake-up call that for all their silliness, Team Dimension is a credible threat.
- The encounter with Galvantula X in String Forest. When you first enter, it has already heavily affected the environment by its mere presence, with a permanent hailstorm covering the forest and several item chests being frozen over. Still, it's nothing too scary at first... until you get to a clearing at the end of the forest, where it has caught several humans in its freezing web, one of who comes to and can only muster the strength to utter a simple "get out". Unfortunately, it's too late- the camera reveals that the Galvantula X and its Joltik X children have the player surrounded, complete with Scare Chord. Even the splash screen for the battle (the current page image) is terrifying, with the Galvantula X and Joltik X staring out from the gloom.
- And then there’s its Pokedex Entry where it’s revealed that its victims slowly die of hypothermia… those people trapped in the web were lucky that you arrived when you did as it’s likely that if they were left there any longer they would have died.
- While it's mostly Played for Laughs, Gengar X enslaving all of Ishtar City with its psychic powers and forcing its inhabitants to gather food for it can be unnerving thanks to the Fridge Horror of the situation- after all, imagine the things it could do with that power if it wasn't such a Harmless Villain...
- After you defeat your Alter and gain the Xenoversal Core and Ring during the protagonist's visit to Starburst Mountain, you are instructed to give the Xenoversal Ring to your starter to power it up further. It works... but the Xenoverse's influence causes your starter to go ballistic, resulting in a boss fight against it. This hits harder when you realize the protagonist has lived with their chosen starter for years; to them, the experience would be like watching your pet get rabies and having to put it down. Fortunately, you're able to safely get it to regain control of itself after the battle, and it's able to utilize its Xenoversal Evolution without incident for the rest of the game.
- The Wild Bull Saloon, the run-down and haunted saloon on the outskirts of Westar City. If the haunting background music wasn't enough to unnerve you, it's also home to an incredibly powerful Hangead/Whisteract note - one that is powerful enough to single-handedly overpower and possess every member of G.E.I.S.T., all of whom are experienced ghost-hunters, before using their bodies to attack the players. Thankfully, the is able to defeat and exorcise the G.E.I.S.T. members, who then weaken the ghost to the point where it no longer poses a threat.
- The Quasar Express. Hoo boy, where to begin...
- While Team Dimension's hijacking of the Quasar Express starts off rather lighthearted (the Mecha-Mooks are as silly as ever, and the scientists are more interested in slowing you down with quizzes rather than battles), things take a turn for the worse when you come across Victor, Team Dimension's General. How does the game show you he's a major threat? Simple- he's captured the same Gengar X that you fought in Ishtar City; the same one that overpowered the entire city. Even worse, by Gengar X's own admission, it wasn't even a close fight- Gengar X got demolished.
- Victor proceeds to deliberately hammer the protagonist's Trauma Button regarding Versil, revealing that he was responsible for kidnapping him and that Team Dimension still has him. This causes the protagonist to reach their breaking point, and their Alter overtakes them- and proceeds to almost demolish the entire train! It's only thanks to Aster and his Suicune that everyone survives, but even then all the Mecha-Mooks throughout the room are reduced to scrap. In case Abraham's warnings didn't cue you in, this proves beyond a shadow of a doubt just how dangerous your Alter is. It even seems to shake the protagonist after they regain control, as they deliberately go out of their way to free Gengar X in defiance of their Alter's ideals.
- Finally, after a Bait-and-Switch Boss fight against Team Dimension's Colonel Dahlia, Victor reveals that by unleashing your Alter, you've given him exactly what he needed, and proceeds to transform his Tyranitar into an X Pokémon... which then demolishes the Quasar express with a single attack. While the main characters survive the derailing, the Quasar Express- which was explicitly referred to as a regional treasure- is demolished, marking Team Dimension's first real, unambiguous victory. Damn.
- During the events at the Shyleon Temple, Victor uses a Roserade X to brainwash the local guardians into giving him and Trey access to the temple's Xeno Gate so that Trey can harness Blue Energy. It's unnerving at first, but not too scary... until you catch the Roserade X and learn that it was controlling the locals not through Psychic Powers, but by using high-pitched sound frequencies to directly screw with their bodies and minds, with the PokéDex and Chua confirming that the process is potentially fatal. It's a good thing the protagonist and Ruta arrived when they did, or else Victor's ploy could have straight-up killed Chua!
- Some additional Fridge Horror: Gengar X has showcased similar mass mind control abilities, and was being transferred by Team Dimension on the Quasar Express en route to the Shyleon Temple. It's likely that Gengar X was originally going to be used by Team Dimension to brainwash Chua and his guards, but Team Dimension had to pivot to using Roserade X after the protagonist's actions on the Quasar Express led to Gengar X being freed. In other words: the protagonist is indirectly responsible for endangering Chua and his guards.
- After fighting Roserade X, Trey is able to harness the Xenoverse's power, but is completely overtaken by his Alter. Previously, he was aloof, but reluctant to aid Team Dimension and devoutly loyal to his partner, Sabolt. Under his Alter's influence, in contrast, he not only happily plays along with Team Dimension's plans so that he can gain more power, but he actually verbally lashes out at Sabolt after Sabolt demolishes the player's Starter, accusing it of wasting energy on a weaker opponent. The Dark Side Will Make You Forget, indeed.
- Lt. Surge's Dark and Troubled Past, recounted to the protagonist after the Gym Battle against him. After Team Rocket's dissolution, he reentered the military for what he thought would be a quick offensive, only to get stuck in it for the long haul. One day, one of his buddies got caught in an ambush, and he tried to use his Electric-types to save him... unfortunately, the opposition were using Ground-types, which shrugged off his old tricks and proceeded to brutalize him and his Raichu. While he "only" lost his right arm in the attack, his poor Raichu was beaten to the point of being near-unrecognizable. While Team Dimension was able to rebuild him and his Raichu, the experience still left him a Shell-Shocked Veteran, living in the ruins of his old Gym and never leaving.
- While storming Team Dimension's spacecraft HQ, the protagonist has to fight A and B (who have fused into a single robotic entity named S) and Dahlia again, and just like Victor, each of their their signature Pokémon has been transformed into an X Pokémon. While S's Bisharp X isn't too bad (it's a bulkier fusion of A and B's Bisharp), Dahlia's Scovile X is noticeably more unnerving- it's regressed from bipedal to quadrupedal, and its tail has become a roughly tail-shaped burst of electricity. Victor's Tyranitar X also deserves mention, as its hands have morphed into pincers.
- The Reveal that Versil was Team Dimension's true leader the entire time, albeit as an Anti-Villain. Imagine your parent was seemingly taken from you at a young age, and after years of searching for them, you find out that not only was their disappearance staged, but that they were leading a terrorist organization. It's no wonder that the protagonist slips into their Alter self after this revelation.
- Versil's reasoning has shades of this, too- turns out, he was Silver, who changed his name and moved to a new region to escape his past as Giovanni's son. Giovanni, on the other hand, tried experimenting with interdimensional travel (likely to start Team Rainbow Rocket) and stumbled upon the Xenoverse... whereupon Dragalisk promptly murdered him and his Pokémon, with only his badly-injured Mewtwo as the Sole Survivor. This caused Versil to completely change his perspective on the Xenoverse from a potential boon to humanity to a ticking time bomb waiting to destroy everything he cared about, and thus he created Team Dimension to destroy the Xenoverse once and for all.
- The climactic battle with Dragalisk:
- After finally reaching Versil and Dragalisk, the protagonist engages Dragalisk in battle... and it ignores everything thrown at it. It's a good thing that Luxflon was able to intervene in time, or Dragalisk would have almost certainly killed everyone!
- While Luxflon is able to curb-stomp Dragalisk, it strangely stops short of killing it. Gengar X then explains that Luxflon and Dragalisk are linked: should one be slain, the other will die shortly afterwards. In other words, Versil's plan was All for Nothing from the start: if by some miracle he was able to kill Dragalisk, he would have doomed Luxflon and Earth as well!
- Speaking of Versil, Dragalisk ends up possessing him in an effort to defeat the heroes, forcing Luxflon to empower you to Beat the Curse Out of Him. If the concept of being forced to fight a loved one wasn't bad enough, the Dragalisk-possessed Versil's face is absolutely horrifying.
- Finally, after exorcising Dragalisk from Versil, it seems that the day is saved... only for Dragalisk to fuse with Luxflon, turning back into Vakuum and beginning to unravel the world with its very presence. Even Gengar X utterly horrified, and practically begs the heroes to help it stop the fusion. While the protagonist is able to defeat Vakuum thanks to their Alter finally making peace with them, Dragalisk's reckless fusion still ends up causing the entire Expansion Pass's story to happen by reforming Vakuum's consciousness.
- Even after Vakuum is unfused, Dragalisk still attempts one last push into Earth through the portal left behind by Luxflon, forcing Trey to preform a Heroic Sacrifice by detonating a bomb implanted in his cyborg body as a failsafe. While just the idea that a person was rigged to explode as a last-ditch effort to stop an enemy is scary, it hits harder from Versil's perspective- he's essentially watching his adoptive son die to fix a problem he recklessly caused.
Expansion Pass 1- 2
- When you first arrive at Shinobi Island, you're treated to a minor case of Nothing Is Scarier, with your only surroundings being rain and a Dielebi shrine. It stops being scary on the other side of the shrine, but it's still pretty foreboding.
- Over the course of pass 2, you have to face multiple Pokémon that have Mega Evolved on their own, something that should normally be impossible. Special note goes to the 2 Mega Charizard you have to face in a burning-down Sunshine Circus. Oh, and to make matters worse, you have to fight new Mega forms of Raikou, Entei, and Suicune.
Expansion Pass 3- 4
- Pass 3 is where things really start kicking into high gear, where you must explore an Abandoned Laboratory with GEIST, Caspar, and Versil. The entire area has an ominous, tense atmosphere, and is infested with Ditto X, which are stated to be far more hostile than regular Ditto. And it shows, as you fight multiple Ditto X transformed into previous X Pokémon you fought as bosses, up to and including Mewtwo X.
- Dahlia ends up getting possessed by Fury Energy, serving as Pass 3's last boss. It's a brutally hard fight, and when you try to use the Fury Seal on her, it breaks, and she ends up in a coma.
- There's a side path in the bunker with a unique background music, consisting only of creepy noises and the giggling of a little girl. Not helping is the "RUN!" message written in blood on the wall. You never find out the purpose of this place until Pass 5, where it turns out to be where you can find and catch Mewtwo.
- Pass 4 starts with the player trying to enter Mt. Zodiac to help the Cardinals, only to get stuck in a Stable Time Loop, which even the player character themselves finds to be eerie.
- After obtaining Aegislash X, you go back and enter Altered Mt. Zodiac, which has become a mess of weird environments and surreal imagery as a result of the X Tapus going berserk.
- As you confront the Tapus, the Cardinals all speak ominously about some alien presence at the top, adding a sense of dread to the already chaotic situation.
- Upon reaching the peak, you step through a portal to a place called the Event Horizon, where you meet the presence and discover that it is Vakuum, the entity fought at the end of the Team Dimension arc. This time however, it has taken on a human form, and tells you its plan: it wants to pull a Grand Theft Me on you. This leads to you battling it, this time as a trainer, where it uses the game's resident Infinity -1 Sword, Egorgeon, and then Tornadus, Thundurus, Landorus, and Enamorus, all of them having illegal moves and abilities.
- After this, Vakuum uses the Fury Energy to resurrect Dragalisk, resulting in a final battle against its new form, Dragalisk X.
Expansion Pass 5
- The pass starts off rather innocuously, with you going to take part in a new tourney at the Apollo Tournament. You face Looker, then Versil, who spends a suspicious amount of time talking about how he has repented for his actions. But the kicker is the last opponent, Trey. You know, the Trey who's supposed to be dead? After you beat him, he flat out points out to you that he shouldn't exist, revealing that you're in a Lotus-Eater Machine created by Vakuum as a last ditch effort to stop you from interfering with his plans!
- You then spend most of the pass playing as your Alter, seeing the story from their perspective. The Xenoverse areas you traverse through are all thoroughly unpleasant and eerie. Small wonder your Alter was jealous of you.
