You'll see a lot of people call this came a "roguelike" or "Soulslike." It is absolutely not, and if you go in with that expectation, you'll be disappointed. There are no randomly generated maps and you do not lose any progress on death (other than being sent back to the start of the map). With that out of the way, as somebody who's been playing metroidvanias since the original Metroid, I love this game. It's got a huge map filled with secrets, lots of power-ups, multiple unique characters to play as, an interesting setting & story that gives you just enough details to figure things out on your own but doesn't beat you over the head, a surprising amount of non-linearity in how you can explore the tower, and a great soundtrack. The way death works in this game ties into the story; one of the characters has a pact with a supernatural creature that revives you and sends you back to the beginning of the tower when you die. Between deaths, you also get the opportunity to buy power-ups using currency you've collected. This does mean that every time you die, you've got a bit of backtracking to do to get back to where you died, but it's not as bad as you'd think; you'll unlock lots of elevators, teleporters, and shortcuts that make getting around the tower pretty quick. On top of that, in true Metroidvania style, it makes sense to regularly backtrack through areas anyway after you get new power-ups so that you can find secrets you previously missed. The beginning of the game is the hardest part; your characters start fairly weak and slow, but a few deaths later after you've managed to accumulate some enhancements, you'll find yourself making longer trips through the tower and dying much less often. It's a challenging game, but fair, and you can really make it as easy as you want by buying enough upgrades. It took me about 15 hours to do a blind 100% play through, and I'm looking forward to doing it again.
This game perfectly captures the feeling I had playing classic adventure games as a child. If you had ever played a game before you were old enough to read, or if you've played a game in a foreign language you couldn't understand, you'll feel right at home here, and that's a good thing; the game is filled with "aha!" moments as you make clever realizations and discover something that was in plain sight all along. This is a great game, and if you're at all intrigued by it, stop reading and go play it now. This is one of those games where the less you know going in, the better. With that said, I've got a few criticisms. People often label this as a "Soulslike" game, and while I don't think that's entirely fair, I can see where they're coming from. Combat can be difficult and requires patience, planning, and studying enemies. If it's too hard for for you, there is a "no fail" mode that makes you invincible, but that honestly feels a lot less satisfying than proper difficulty modes or dynamically scaling difficulty would be. Dying causes you to lose a small amount of resources, although honestly not much; I never felt as punished as I did when dying in an actual Souls game. My other complaint is that, after spending around 8 hours progressing through the game, refining your combat skills, discovering hidden passages, gathering resources, and deciphering the manual, you beat the game and get the bad ending. If you want to get the good ending, now you're effectively playing a completely different game -- one that requires solving several complex, obscure puzzles that require quite a bit of intuition and work. None of the skills or resources you've acquired so far are useful, and there's no accessibility mode that makes the puzzles easier; either you're suddenly a great puzzle solver or you can't get the good ending (unless you look up a guide). It's honestly not a huge complaint, but it does put a blemish on what is otherwise a spotless experience.
I've been a fan of the developer, Nihon Falcom, since the SNES days. I've played every game in the Ys series, including the ones that've never gotten English translations. I'm on my third playthrough of the game now, after previously having played through the Japanese and English PS4 releases. With that in mind, let me say: this is my favorite Ys game, and one of my favorite games of all time. I could gush at length, but I'll try to summarize. Ys IX has a great cast of characters, a creative story, an amazing soundtrack, and some of the best gameplay in the series. Compared to VIII, IX introduces a huge city that's filled with secrets and is a lot of fun to explore, and over the course of the game you get new abilities that change how you explore the city. All of the playable characters are very different from each other and fun to play as, and there's always something new to find or discover. This is the kind of game where you'll find yourself constantly saying "just a few more minutes" as you explore another cranny in the map. You don't need to have played prior Ys games to enjoy this one, but there are a lot of callbacks for long-time fans. If I was to have any complaints: this is a much more story-heavy game than the previous games in the series. Unlike some of the other games, this one doesn't just drop you right into the action; it can feel confining and restrictive at first, and it'll take a while before you really start to unlock the city. It's worth your patience. Also, the PC port is also smooth as butter. Durante did a great job on this port; my GTX 1080 can run it at 60 FPS @ 4k or 120 FPS @ 1440p. The game has a wide variety of supported graphics options, including ultra widescreen and up to 144 Hz, as well as a variety of other options for tweaking the settings. This is definitely the best version of the game to play. I absolutely recommend Ys IX to anybody who likes fast, story-driven action RPGs. This is Falcom at their best.
In 30 years of gaming, I have very rarely experienced a story as emotionally moving as this one. The House in Fata Morgana takes a serious, mature look at some very dark subjects. It will make you squeamish, sad, angry, upset, and despite all that, in the very end it has an uplifting message and might make you look at some things in life differently. I know I'm being vague, but it's impossible to talk about this game's story without mentioning spoilers. Whatever you think the story is about based on the product description, you're wrong. The writers intentionally set out to create specific expectations and then smash them, and there are several times that you will think you've got the mystery figured out but then be proven completely wrong. The story takes a little time to build up your expectations, but after it starts tearing them apart, the twists and turns don't stop coming until the very end. If I can sell you on the game's story, I hope I've already done so. That aside, it has a unique and detailed art style and a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack. The gameplay is pure visual novel all the way through; occasionally there are choices you can make that will lead to bad endings, but there's only one true ending. If you've ever played a VN, you need to play this one; if you don't have any experience with VNs but are interested, this might be the one to get you hooked.
Ys Seven was the first entry in the "modern" era of Ys games with fully 3D graphics and a party system, and it also makes a great entry point for anybody who's new to Ys. For the unfamiliar, Ys is an Action RPG series with a long history; you play Adol Christin, an adventuring swordsman who is good at exploring new areas, meeting new people, and getting into trouble. Then you rock out to great music while you smash enemies like pinatas. Ys Seven is no exception to that, although this game introduces a party system; you can have three active characters at a time, and they all have their own unique properties and special attacks. The AI is actually pretty good; they attack when you attack and dodge when you dodge, and you can (and will) seamlessly switch between them with the push of a button. The plot is pretty good -- as far as Ys games, go, at least; they always focus more on action than story. Like most other Ys games, it stands on its own, so you don't need to have played any of the others. The intro sequence before you get to the action is a little longer than usual, but it's smooth sailing after that. The music is as great as always, though, and Ys Seven has some of the best boss themes in the whole series. This was originally released for the PSP, and it shows; the models are pretty blocky and a lot of the environment textures are pretty muddy. Still, the graphical style is great, 2D artwork stills are nice and crisp, and you won't care about muddy textures when you're speeding through areas and smashing up enemies. The quality of the port is pretty good, though; as of this writing, there are resolution options up to 1080p, it runs at a constantly smooth 60 FPS, and you can remap your control options however you like. Overall I recommend it to anybody who likes Action RPGs, whether you're an Ys fan or not.
