Ys IX: Monstrum Nox on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
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While imprisoned in Balduq, Adol is cursed and becomes a Monstrum. With his newfound powers, he must stop the Grimwald Nox from consuming the city.
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox is a jrpg, action and action rpg game
developed by Nihon Falcom, PH3 GmbH and Engine Software BV
and published by NIS America and Inc..
Released on July 06th 2021 is available only on Windows
in 3 languages: English, French and Japanese.
It has received 1,706 reviews of which 1,613 were positive and 93 were negative resulting in a rating of 9.0 out of 10. 😎
The game is currently priced at 59.99€ on Steam.
The Steam community has classified Ys IX: Monstrum Nox into these genres:
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System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS *: Windows 10/8.1 64-bit
- Processor: Core i3-2100 3.10 GHz
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: Geforce GTX 650 Ti
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 10 GB available space
- Sound Card: Onboard
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
Ys IX is a decent ARPG. All aspects range from "average" to "slightly above average." Story, combat, and music are all decent. It is not a miserable time, but it is not a stellar time either. If you have played Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, this will feel exceedingly familiar; they are cut from the same cloth. Ys IX inherits almost all the problems from Ys VIII, with some notable improvements and additional drawbacks. Ys IX effectively feels like they took Ys VIII and made a new game from its component parts. Don't go in expecting something fresh. In this review, I'll mainly compare it to Ys VIII, as this is the only other Ys game I have played and they are so similar the comparison just feels inevitable. I'll note the key ways it differs in this review. Story The story is interesting but ends up being quite shallow. Adol is arrested in the city of Balduq. You find out there are many seemingly random arrests, and the mystery is all around this prison and the spooky "Grimwald Nox" world that occurs when the plot demands you do some wave-based enemy combat sections. There are some other hooks here (like there being two Adols) ; largely, however, you're stuck with these "hooks" for the entire duration of the story. All the pay off, explanation, and any plot progression is basically entirely back loaded in the story. You only learn what is going on in the final 25% of the game, leading to it feeling very shallow plot-wise. The other 75% of the time, you're running in a very predictable loop. You do side-quests, fight a horde of enemies from Grimwald Nox (literally copy and pasted wave-based defence from Ys VIII), then you enter some dungeon that ends up always leading to prison, without fail. You even always have an extra side-quest to rescue some random person from the prison. All of it is exceedingly repetitive and predictable. Most of the story that goes on here describes political history and tension between Romn and Gllia (two countries). However, in contrast to Ys VIII, the Scooby gang this time around actually has plot significance, and it feels a lot more cohesive why these characters are in the plot to begin with. Each character plays some role, minor or major, in the overall mystery you are presented with. Sadly, you only learn and see all these things at the end of the game. They could have done a far better job drip-feeding these details over the course of the story rather than dumping it at the end. This compounds yet again in it feeling too shallow, on top of the fact Adol is a silent protagonist. The story is held back from realising its potential for expanding on the plot points it has. Party members also lack many moments that show chemistry between them, but when there are moments, they are quite enjoyable. Overall, however, from a character perspective, it is a large improvement from Ys VIII, which had Dana as basically the only character and all the ship crew, which were literally just bodies to fill 50% of the game so they could tell Dana's story. Here, all the characters you "recruit" into the larger Scooby gang add quite nicely to world-building and contextualising all the political tension and history between Romn and Gllia. There are shallow, yet nice sub-stories here of people who are connected and side-quests related to these characters. I think the only character that doesn't add anything is literally a random dude you find at a lake, who decides he's just going to live in a pot in your basement now. Wrapping it all up, the story is decent. It won't keep you hooked, it won't surprise you, it won't feel crazily satisfying or shocking at the end, but it's okay. Gameplay If you played Ys VIII, you pretty much know how the gameplay is. It has most of the same pros and cons, with some exceptions. Cons being, chest rewards are still boring (open chest, get two twigs, YAY), no i-frames, unintuitive hit boxes, etc. Pros being, combat is generally fun and feels satisfying, mildly interesting accessories, and mastery (when you get past the jank) feels good. Ys IX has the same set-up as Ys VIII for combat. You have 4 attack abilities you can use that require SP, which recharges over time or with a charged attack, some ultimate move you can activate when a bar fills up, and you can equip 2 accessories, plus armor and a weapon, etc. Ys IX does improve on general exploration in comparison to Ys VIII. You get "Monstrum" abilities here, highlights of which are wall climbing and gliding. Wall climbing feels very nice and fast (though glitchy if you bump your head into a ceiling). For exploration, this means that horizontal maps are much more prevalent than in Ys VIII. Ys VIII is just filled with flat planes and the occasional hill; in Ys IX, you can explore roof tops, towers, all sorts. The drawback is a lot less map variety; you're stuck in Balduq and some generic grassy plains the entire game. Many collectibles are scattered around to encourage exploration; they end up being busywork but don't overstay their welcome *too much*. Weapons and armour are the same as in Ys VIII, that is, boring and linear. You have one line of weapons that get better linearly. Two sets of armor, one focused on evasion %, one on defence and HP, they linearly get better. Almost zero choices to make here. Hit boxes seem tighter than in Ys VIII. They still have some issues with appearing delayed or unintuitive after an animation, but I didn't find the hitbox of an ant in Australia wiping out my entire team. This problem is replaced with another one, in that often there are just *too many* enemies simultaneously attacking at once; it is almost impossible to see what's coming. Some sort of arrow or mechanism is needed to show enemies off-screen readying to attack you. Ys IX has flash guard and flash dodge; it works the same as in Ys VIII. I like this system, but it is critically flawed. Whenever you do certain special attacks, all enemies freeze on the screen for a time. This makes it almost impossible at times to actually time guards and dodges with enemy attacks. You have no idea if the enemy is going to randomly freeze, so you mistime the parry, then there's a cooldown window so you can't parry again, and thus, you get hit. There is also no feedback that your parry is on cooldown, so it ends up feeling like you missed the timing, even when you might not have; your parry is just on cooldown. Ys VIII had this problem to some extent, but it didn't feel nearly as bad there. Ys IX feels like it has far less enemy variety than in Ys VIII. Mostly, this is because a lot of enemies are of a samey design due to being Lemures (enemies in Grimwald Nox), so they end up feeling less distinct. There are some unique enemies in dungeons and outside Grimwald Nox, but it is a striking downgrade in variety from Ys VIII. Bosses are okay; it is the same as Ys VIII, entirely non-contextual. You walk into a sewer, find Lord of the Lizards: God of Destruction, you walked into his crib, he doesn't like it, so now you do battle. I found bosses in Ys VIII generally more enjoyable, though. Ys IX rehashes the defence and elimination missions from Ys VIII, only this time there's no parrot (a pro or a con, depending on your affinity for parrots or hearing "Adol, Adol, Squawk" every few seconds) . As stated in the story section, you do these consistently each chapter, usually one required defence mission per the story and one optional elimination. They're mundane, not very interesting. In summary, combat is better and worse than Ys VIII in nuanced ways, but it is still generally fun. Conclusion You can't go too wrong with Ys IX. It's a solid mix of flaws and middle-of-the-road gameplay and story. It is the more well-rounded version of Ys VIII, though I'd prefer Ys VIII over this. If you liked Ys VIII and don't expect anything wildly different, you can't go wrong with this.
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If you play Ys IX right after VIII, you go from exploring a huge island to feeling like you are stuck in a confined area at first. I admit, it took the the game longer for me to get in the motion of the game. Once I did, everything picked up, the story, exploring, and it felt more like a Ys game. I enjoyed it overall. Great music as always!
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Pro + Combat is awesome, better than Ys 8 in my opinion. + The characters are interesting, I care about them a lot more than the cast in Ys 8. + Exploration is fun, you can climb, teleport and fly around the city. + The game takes place in one big city, so it is smaller than Ys 8, but it is also more lively. + Many characters from the past appear in some form in this game. : ) Con - Story is weaker than Ys 8. - Because it take place in a city, color palette of the game is not colorful. Conclusion = Overall, I enjoyed this equally as Ys 8, game progression and structures are the same.
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Going in to this straight after 8 I wasn't sure what to make of it - Going from the massive, open Seiren Island to the whole game being in a sectioned off city was real whiplash. But after playing it through I think I might like it even more than 8 (though I think I'd still recommend it over 9 as an entry point to the series. The already great combat is even tighter, Balduq is dense and there's a lot to explore, and the traversal feels awesome. I like the tighter focus on story from the jump where sometimes 8 felt very open-ended with a lot of the story being in the back third of the game. Both great, 8 is probably objectively better but I think I might like 9 more. Either way highly recommended
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Coming after Lacrimosa of Dana, it's a bit underwhelming, but it ain't bad and I quite like it. The tone is gray, a bit faded out and more serious. Depending on how you see it, Adol becomes emo spiderman,gets recruited by bleach vizards and then plays Assassin's creed around town. Or you know, since the game is set in Gllia I guess he's supposed to be the hunchback of notre dame mixed with the count of monte christo. While we are at it, why is the clinic called "ear" ? Anyway I digress. His newfound powers give 3 dimensionality to the labyrinths and dungeons which was practically non existant in lacrimosa of dana, or not until you had upgrades/later in the game. As far as combat goes, it's the same as lacrimosa of dana with one major addition : you can't accidentally hit your extra skill while trying to do flash dodges and flash guards, got to press both buttons twice. YAY! The raids are back in the form of pushing back the Grimwald Nox, or as the conversation with Dogi goes : Adol : It's a bit like the Isle of Seiren Dogi : Yeah, it's like the raids. You don't say Dogi, I love that. So all in all : Other JRPGs : Can't wait to kick the protagonist out of my party....oh I can't. Ys series : I really, genuinely, want to play as Adol, but Nihon Falcom keeps shooting me these kickass characters :/
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Frequently Asked Questions
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox is currently priced at 59.99€ on Steam.
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 59.99€ on Steam.
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox received 1,613 positive votes out of a total of 1,706 achieving a rating of 8.98.
😎
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox was developed by Nihon Falcom, PH3 GmbH and Engine Software BV and published by NIS America and Inc..
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox is playable and fully supported on Windows.
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox is not playable on MacOS.
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox is not playable on Linux.
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox offers both single-player and multi-player modes.
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox includes Co-op mode where you can team up with friends.
There are 4 DLCs available for Ys IX: Monstrum Nox. Explore additional content available for Ys IX: Monstrum Nox on Steam.
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox supports Remote Play Together. Discover more about Steam Remote Play.
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Ys IX: Monstrum Nox.
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Last Updates| Steam data | 17 January 2026 15:14 |
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| SteamSpy data | 22 January 2026 15:21 |
| Steam price | 28 January 2026 20:37 |
| Steam reviews | 27 January 2026 00:05 |
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Game modes
Multiplayer
Features
Online players
14
Developer
Nihon Falcom,
PH3 GmbH,
Engine Software BV
Publisher
NIS America, Inc.
Release
06 Jul 2021
Platforms
Remote Play