Ys meets The Wind Waker in Falcom's newly-announced Ys X
Nihon Falcom lifted the lid on Ys X during its annual shareholders’ meeting after previously teasing the upcoming anime game in a few cryptic images earlier in 2022, and in typical Ys fashion, there’s more than one fresh twist awaiting in Adol’s new adventure (thanks to Gematsu for translating the announcement). For starters, the red-haired adventurer has a boat this time.
Ys X takes place chronologically after Ys I & II and geographically in the RPG world’s Obelia Bay region, a set of islands dotted about the northern seas where the Normans live – or try to. The mysterious Greigers, a race of undead immortals, are doing their utmost to make sure the Normans don’t live, though how this story ties in with the series’ later, pseudo-historical Romun saga remains to be seen.
What Falcom did reveal is that Adol, as captain of his own ship, can freely sail around the Obelia Bay region, visiting all the islands there on his journey and getting into battles with other ships. Adol doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to boats – or anything else – but setting him loose in the seas, reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, gives him and us a new level of freedom not seen in previous Ys games.
Ys X also has something new in store in land battles with the Cross-Action combat system. In Speedy Mode, players control one character who uses skills and auto attacks in fast, fluid battles. Combination Mode puts you in control of Adol and a party member, issuing commands to both simultaneously to help tackle bigger, stronger foes.
Ys X is set to release sometime in 2023 for PS5, PS4, and Nintendo Switch, but only in Japan for now. The action game currently has no international release frame.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF