Ys IX: Monstrum Nox (PlayStation 4) review "If Lacrimosa had been a bit lacking. "

Throughout the entire time I was going through Ys IX: Monstrum Nox a strong sense of deja vu permeated my experience simply because I’d previously played Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA. While there are differences between the two games, if you’ve played one, you’ll recognize the majority of the other’s mechanics and ways of handling things very quickly — with some stuff being handled a bit better and a lot of aspects feeling derivative or just not fitting neatly into the overall feel of things.

The overall vibe of VIII was the joy of exploring a remote, uncharted island. Sure, there was a plot that gradually became more prominent, but what I most remember about that game was how series protagonist Adol and sidekick Dogi were on a ship that wrecked on a tropical island. Adol would explore the place to find other survivors, as well as necessary materials to build a boat to get off the island; while Dogi found a reasonably safe spot to start up a makeshift town to consolidate those materials. As you explored, you gained abilities allowing you to access new places. As you found more and more people, they could help remove obstacles blocking paths to reach even more parts of the island. Playing the game was a really fun experience, as everything I did seemed to assist in revealing more of the land, while also unearthing its many secrets.

While you do your fair share of exploring in IX, the hook here is its mystery. When Adol and Dogi visit the city of Balduq, Adol is instantly arrested by the guards and thrown into prison. The game actually opens with him breaking free from his cell and traversing a blocked-off (and monster-infested) part of the structure, where he meets a mysterious woman who instills the powers of a Monstrum in him. This gives him the power to instantly teleport to ledges he couldn’t access by pure athletic ability, making it possible for him to return to the city. There’s a few less-than-desirable side effects to this new power, though. Adol and five other people with Monstrum powers have to regularly battle strange creatures born of negative emotions in a place called the Grimwald Nox and forcefields block them from leaving Balduq.

The plot soon thickens after Adol and Dogi find an abandoned building and get the idea to turn it into a hideout, hiring some locals to give it the legit business appearance of a new tavern. At this point, the game takes you back to the prison…where Adol still is in his cell. With the help of an apathetic guard more interesting in profiting off his job than doing it, he’s able to sneak out from time to time and explore large portions of the facility, but it’s obvious that Prisoner Adol and Monstrum Adol are two different people due to how the prisoner’s escapades coincide with a few of the Monstrum’s side-quests, so what’s up with that?

It’ll take a while to resolve any of this. IX is divided into nine chapters. The first one sets the stage, the next five have Monstrum Adol meet and work with each of the other Monstrums, turning them from a group of individuals forced to join forces in Grimwald Nox battles into an actual team and the vast majority of the main plot truly comes into play during the final three.

Meanwhile, you’ll find yourself doing many of the same things as in VIII — just presented in slightly different ways. Remember those siege battles in VIII where you could protect your little village from monster attacks in order to gain rewards? They’re now used as those Grimwald Nox battles. You’ll wind up with six party members, each having one of three forms of attack (pierce, slash or strike) with each being more useful against certain monsters than the others. You’ll also find and recruit a number of other characters to work for you, with each providing some sort of service at the tavern, as well as giving support during Grimwald Nox battles. A number of the same challenges, such as mapping the entire land, as well as finding landmarks and recipes also return.

The sense of exploration just isn’t the same, though. Instead of traveling around a remote island that’s never been mapped, you’ll be running in and around a large and well-populated city. While you gain new Monstrum abilities that allow you to reach new parts of each district of Balduq, to access new areas, you have to win Grimwald Nox fights. I get that plot elements bar you from leaving Balduq until you get the chance to earn a bit of additional freedom via those battles — that is spelled out to you when you get your Monstrum powers — but there is no logical reason why Adol needs to repeatedly enter the Grimwald Nox to access the majority of the city. I mean, each of the other Monstrums seem to have free reign to travel between districts, so this feels like one of those mechanics that prevents you from going anywhere before the plot dictates it.

In short, while VIII was an excellent 3-D “Metroidvania” where you’re regularly gaining new abilities and finding additional survivors and using them to gain access to new locations, IX simply walls off places until you’ve reached the game’s chapter in which you’re meant to reach them. This kind of takes the thrill of exploration away because gaining White Cat’s ability to scale walls or Raging Bull’s power to smash certain walls will only impact your dungeon exploration and your ability to reach places you’re not able to initially access in districts, but will not help you one bit in being able to actually get to new regions.

While I’m griping, I also have to say this is one of those games where the default difficulty feels pretty damn easy. I might have had to use a resurrection item or two in a couple boss fights, but the only times I actually saw a “Game Over” screen were during Prisoner Adol’s explorations. He doesn’t gain levels like his Monstrum alter ego does, nor does he get any of those special abilities or new equipment. Instead, you’ll control a very fragile man through short dungeons littered with very damaging traps where any misstep can lead to you suffering a lot of damage and forcing you to dig into your limited number of healing items. In the main portion of the game, you’ll typically feel overpowered and be able to cruise past most of the opposition where the “tough” part often involves figuring out how to get to a particularly well-hidden treasure.

I liked Ys IX: Monstrum Nox — it was too similar to the excellent VIII for me not to — but there were diminishing returns to that enjoyment. While I was into its story and intriigued by the Mystery of the Two Adols, it was hard to not notice that so many of this game’s elements were lifted from VIII, only to suffer a bit in the transition. After playing through VIII, I was looking forward to this one and I had fun with it, but at the same time, it was hard to not feel a bit disappointed. It wasn’t quite as enjoyable and didn’t capture my imagination to quite the same degree.

Staff review by Rob Hamilton (November 14, 2025) Rob Hamilton is the official drunken master of review writing for Honestgamers.