This review contains spoilers
Adol and Dogi are back in an adventure that's, thankfully, not quite as long as the last couple of Ys games. Video Games' Favourite Power Couple visit the Prison City of Balduq where Adol runs afoul of the Romun Empire once again. Our hapless adventurer is thrown into jail, quickly escapes from jail, and finds himself inducted into the Monstrum: a group of furry superheroes battling the Nox: a demonic invasion that strikes every full moon.
Monstrum Nox is, for better or worse, built upon the framework of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana. Tower Defense is back; landmark discovery is back too. While these made sense when exploring a desert island, they feel shoehorned-into Balduq's bustling metropolis. The Tower Defense segments in particular are just as annoying as they were in Lacrimosa; interrupting story progression to call Adol and the Gang back to fight waves of generic monsters.
What begins as a localized mystery eventually becomes, yet again, a battle against an existential threat with close ties to Adol's past. Seeing some classic boss monsters again is fun but naturally this isn't remotely compelling because, as iconic as Adol is, he's not a character so much as a cypher for grand adventure. Big revelations for a character who's never had a personality can only fall flat.
Each of the Monstrum have their own chapter where they learn the true meaning of friendship or whatever. One of these chapters is a really weird parable in which the gang's Robin Hood figure learns that feeding the poor enables their laziness, so she opens a flower shop in the ghetto instead(?).
Ill-advised mechanics and bad politics aside, Monstrum Nox is still an Ys game, which makes for a very enjoyable action RPG. Each of the Monstrum bring their own unique traversal mechanic to the party which allows the player to explore Balduq from top to bottom in a number of exciting ways. Wall-running up a church steeple to then glide off the top like a bird is Ys at its most playful, with a freedom of movement not often seen in the genre.
Set to celebrate its 35th anniversary in 2022, Ys is perhaps getting a little long in the tooth. Perhaps this is the curse of being a groundbreaking series: where it once solidified a new genre, current entries don't quite stand out from other entries in the genre it spawned. That said, I'd happily play another Ys featuring the traversal of Monstrum Nox. Maybe they could make Dogi playable again, too, since he's been unfairly sidelined for the past decade.
Monstrum Nox is, for better or worse, built upon the framework of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana. Tower Defense is back; landmark discovery is back too. While these made sense when exploring a desert island, they feel shoehorned-into Balduq's bustling metropolis. The Tower Defense segments in particular are just as annoying as they were in Lacrimosa; interrupting story progression to call Adol and the Gang back to fight waves of generic monsters.
What begins as a localized mystery eventually becomes, yet again, a battle against an existential threat with close ties to Adol's past. Seeing some classic boss monsters again is fun but naturally this isn't remotely compelling because, as iconic as Adol is, he's not a character so much as a cypher for grand adventure. Big revelations for a character who's never had a personality can only fall flat.
Each of the Monstrum have their own chapter where they learn the true meaning of friendship or whatever. One of these chapters is a really weird parable in which the gang's Robin Hood figure learns that feeding the poor enables their laziness, so she opens a flower shop in the ghetto instead(?).
Ill-advised mechanics and bad politics aside, Monstrum Nox is still an Ys game, which makes for a very enjoyable action RPG. Each of the Monstrum bring their own unique traversal mechanic to the party which allows the player to explore Balduq from top to bottom in a number of exciting ways. Wall-running up a church steeple to then glide off the top like a bird is Ys at its most playful, with a freedom of movement not often seen in the genre.
Set to celebrate its 35th anniversary in 2022, Ys is perhaps getting a little long in the tooth. Perhaps this is the curse of being a groundbreaking series: where it once solidified a new genre, current entries don't quite stand out from other entries in the genre it spawned. That said, I'd happily play another Ys featuring the traversal of Monstrum Nox. Maybe they could make Dogi playable again, too, since he's been unfairly sidelined for the past decade.