YS IX: Monstrum Nox – PS5 Review

Adol Christin has had many adventures in his time. One of his greatest adventures comes to the Playstation 5. Let’s visit the prison city of Balduq once more as we relive this adventure in our Review of YS IX: Monstrum Nox!

• YS IX: Mostrum Nox
• Platform: PS5™ (Retail & Digital) 
• Release Date(s): May 9, 2023 (NA – retail, digital), May 12, 2023 (EU – retail, digital), May 19, 2023 (ANZ – digital) 
• Genre: Action RPG 
• Publisher: NIS America, Inc. 
• Developer: Nihon Falcom 
• Audio Languages: English, Japanese 
• Text Languages: English, French 
• Website: https://nisamerica.com/ys-ix/

*Special Thanks to NIS America for providing a Playstation 5 review key! Note, this review will only cover the differences between the Playstation 5 version compared to the Playstation 4 and Nintendo Switch versions. You can find the PS4 review here, and the Nintendo Switch here. *

Intro/Story:

To briefly cover the story of YS IX, here is the official plot summary from the game’s website:

Experience the thrilling adventure of Ys IX: Monstrum Nox as it pierces through the shadows onto PS5™! After being cursed by a mysterious woman, Adol Christin becomes a Monstrum—a powerful being who can exorcize monsters. To escape from the prison city of Balduq, Adol must ally with five other Monstrums, each with their own unique Gifts, and stop the Grimwald Nox, a shadowy dimension on the brink of overflowing into the real world!
Feared Protectors: Play as any of the six notorious Monstrums, each with their own unique Gifts that grant abilities, such as scaling sheer walls or detecting hidden objects, to protect the city from shadowy creatures.
The World Within the Walls: Explore the massive city, accept quests to aid the townsfolk, and enter the Grimwald Nox to vanquish the threats to Balduq.
Strength of the Night: Familiar mechanics such as Flash Move and Flash Guard allow you to outmanoeuvre your foes, while new additions such as Gifts and Boost Mode further augment your ability to fight.

If this is your first adventure, you take the role of Adol Christin. Adol is a legend in the world known for his travels and exploits which he documents. His adventure finds him arriving at the city of Balduq, where our hero is arrested, ironically due to his past exploits. From his arrest, Adol finds himself on another adventure unexpectedly.

During this new adventure, the narrative is delivered in a well-paced, yet predictable format. It works well for the YS games, and as the saying goes “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. The devs found the right pacing, and build upon it each YS game. However, this review will not go into detail about that, the previous reviews of this game go into great detail about it. This review covers the PS5 version differences. Let’s take a look at the gameplay:

Gameplay:

Adol has never played better compared to other versions of YS IX. The game holds a solid framerate, and does not drop. The load times are next to non-existent, except for the initial game load in. This PS5 version improves on the issues from the performance from the previous versions. As a result, Adol and his gang of Monstrums function much better. Based on this, the PS5 version of YS IX alone should be the version to go for if you are aiming for the best performance. Additionally, this version includes ALL the DLC from the previous versions of the game ready to download.

Visual

Visually, the game is on par with the PS4 version, but much clearer and sharper. It looks good. See the screenshots in this review to make that determination as you compare it to the other versions. The Playstation 5 captures Adol in all his adventurer glory.

Wrap-up/conclusion:

If you are a new player to the YS games and your platform of choice is not a barrier to entry, I recommend going for the playstation 5 version. You get the best performance for Adol’s newest adventure and the best looking version of it. Portability still goes to the Nintendo Switch. Playstation 4 version should only be considered if the other two are not an option.

Until next time, Mgs2master2 out!