Each Monstrum has a unique ability to make traversal easier, and the city is designed in an almost Metroidvania-esque fashion to encourage you to keep exploring as new Monstrums join your party. The main new feature here is the inclusion of ‘Gifts’, which greatly expand on the opportunities for exploration. Gameplay takes the shape of a typical action RPG, with a healthy dosage of open-world exploration to keep things interesting. You likely won’t walk away from Ys IX: Monstrum Nox feeling particularly amazed at the storytelling, but there’s still plenty here to keep you invested for the thirty-or-so hours it takes to see this one through to the credits.

Not only do these chapters help to give some much-needed dimension to your initially shallow companions, but they gradually reveal more about the mysteries surrounding the enormous prison city of Balduq and its not-quite-right authoritarian leadership. The opening hour runs a little too heavy on the exposition and setup, but pacing quickly smooths out as the ensuing chapters develop each of the other Monstrums through brief subplots where Adol pairs off with them for some quest or mission. Though it can frequently stray into campy territory, Ys IX: Monstrum Nox manages to mostly stick the landing with its plot. Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked) Adol’s curse prevents him from leaving town, so he’s thus left with no choice but to learn more about the dark history of this prison city and the monsters within. Adol is soon introduced to a small group of other Monstrums who have all been turned in the same way, and they’re together pressed into service by Aprilis, who claims that she needs their help to fight off a looming threat of monsters from another dimension. As you’d expect, it’s not long before Adol slips out of his cell, but things quickly go awry when he comes across a strange woman named Aprilis who shoots him, turning him into a human/monster hybrid called a Monstrum.

Ys ix monstrum nox pc free download