Welcome to our review of Ys: Monstrum Nox, the newest game of our beloved hero Adol!
Renowned adventurer Adol “the Red” Christin and his companion Dogi arrive at Balduq, a city annexed by the Romun Empire, only for Adol to be detained before setting foot inside. While imprisoned, he meets a mysterious woman named Aprilis who turns him into a Monstrum, a being with supernatural Gifts and the power to exorcise monsters. Now, Adol must ally with his fellow Monstrums to fend off the fearsome threats emerging from a shadowy dimension called the Grimwald Nox, as well as unravel the mysteries of the Monstrum curse, and the truth behind the unrest within Balduq.
Ys: Monstrum Nox is the next game in one of the better RPG game series and having personally enjoyed several of them in the past, Lacrimosa of Dana and Celceta to name a few, I was thrilled to see Monstrum Nox coming to modern consoles this year. I got lucky to receive the review code and start my next epos as Adol.
In Monstrum Nox, you start off by getting imprisoned…
Not joking, you are apprehended and thrown in jail. After a few cutscenes and your escape, you are thrown into the story as the Crimson King. This is also where the game sets itself apart from the previous games as it becomes clear there are two sides to the game. The normal world and the world behind the miasmas.
Basically, all over the place, you encounter these black pillars where you will enter the other world called Grimwald Nox and get into the action. Even in the middle of town, these pillars will appear everywhere and while you fight the enemies on the spot, the normal world is untouched by this. It is business as usual while you go around slashing the enemies that appear.
Every time you enter the Grimwald Nox, you earn the credits needed to free up new places in Balduq. At first, that is the main goal of the game. Find out where the Grimwald nox comes from and what is happening behind the scenes in Balduq prison. There are many storylines, quests, and overall basically just many things to do in this game. It does not get boring.
Next game mechanic, the typical RPG mechanics of skills, clothes, … While this is nothing special, it really does its part of making the game more complete, could use a function to automate the best possible load-outs, but hey, can’t ask for everything…
Quests are abundant as well, once you get your home base set up, there will be a quest board that is easy to use and after getting the map figured out, you can quickly get from one place to the other without the actual walking. Tagging your next location becomes possible, including finding the missing items on the map. Small spoiler, you will need that walking up walls skill for most of them, so do ignore any treasure chests you don’t see at first.
Ys: Monstrum Nox is a very busy game that can be rather overwhelming at first. I was more often than not losing concentration when I had yet another screen showing me more and more information on what to do and where to go into the menu for said option. I do feel like this was a little too much. A fun game with a good story that keeps your attention to the game.
When I think about the game, I also think about the weird stuff going on, like fighting while the normal people appear unfazed and even ignoring you. I also think about being able to jump down from the highest cathedral without taking any damage but apparently getting killed by falling in the water… Not everything makes sense!
