Nihon Falcom’s Ys sequence of motion RPGs has been impressing avid gamers since 1987 and continues going robust to this present day. Essentially the most-recent mainline launch is 2023’s Ys X: Nordics, which got here out in North America a yr later. Nonetheless, simply two years after its launch, a definitive version known as Ys X: Proud Nordics is popping out, crammed with extra content material and a few quality-of-life adjustments.
Contemplating it’s simply been a yr and a half since its Western debut, the most important issue towards taking part in Ys X: Proud Nordics is whether or not you’ve only recently performed Ys X. If you happen to did, you would possibly wish to wait a bit since like Persona 5 Royal and different JRPG updates, you’ll should play by way of the sport in its entirety to benefit from the updates. That is nice information for these new to the sport, although, because it contains all beforehand launched DLC and definitely lives as much as its enhanced billing because it’s a greater total sport.
The largest addition to Proud Nordics is the brand new Öland Island questline, which provides you a brand new island to discover that includes a mysterious witch. There’s additionally a brand new timed dungeon known as Muspelheim, a sequence of coliseum fights, new mana trip races, and a brand new mana means that lets you transfer environmental objects. Throw in a efficiency mode that may run at 120hz and also you’ve received a content-filled sport that performs higher than ever earlier than.
Significantly distinctive for such a long-running RPG franchise is its give attention to a core protagonist, because the younger adventurer Adol Christin is the lead in almost each sport within the franchise. Whereas he’s been joined by a celebration in latest releases, Ys X scales issues again to specializing in simply two characters, which provides extra time for character growth. Becoming a member of him is the Pirate Princess, Karja Balta, who will get loads of time to develop and is a extremely enjoyable character to play as effectively, together with her axe-based assaults.
New to the sequence is the sport’s ship fight and the flexibility to sail round to close by islands. Whereas I most well-liked the sport’s core fight, because the on-foot fights are sometimes thrilling, the ship battles wind up including a pleasant quantity of selection, and the raids are notably enjoyable. With loads of upgrades to unlock, you get an important sense of progress as the sport continues and the Sandras goes from a run-down ship to a beautiful one.
Ys X: Proud Nordics Assessment: Ultimate Verdict
There’s little question that Ys X: Proud Nordics is a good motion RPG. That includes a stellar story and enjoyable fight, the motion by no means will get boring. The brand new story content material and gameplay additions are nice, though veteran followers must determine in the event that they wish to replay the sport this quickly once more. Nonetheless, whether or not they dive proper in or wait some time, the excellent news is that Proud Nordics can be delivering a implausible expertise as soon as they choose it up, because it’s the definitive model of Nihon Falcom’s newest RPG.
Nice fight, whether or not on-foot or at sea.
10 hours of recent content material and different enhancements
Thrilling base story, plus a brand new island questline.
It feels a bit too quickly for one more playthrough
Disclosure: The writer supplied a digital copy for our Ys X: Proud Nordics PS5 evaluate. Reviewed on model 1.002.000.
