Ys Origin

RETRO JRPG SERIES MAKES XBOX DEBUT 

- Daniella Lucas

There has been a distinct lack of Japanese RPGs on Xbox One lately, but with the arrival of the old-school but well-loved Ys series that’s starting to be rectified. Ys Origin charts the origin story of the Ys series and is the first time an entry has come out on an Xbox console. While the original version released back in 2006, this is a welcome hit of nostalgia and hopefully the starting place for the rest of the series to follow.

Set 700 years before the first game in the series, Ys Origin tells the story of a world overrun with demons to the point only one last city – the Palace of Solomon – remains, thanks to the power of the Black Pearl helping it float up into the sky. When the two goddesses protecting the city go missing, a search party is formed to travel to the surface and find them. You’ll have to investigate and navigate a curious demonic tower full of monsters that’s rising to destroy the last city and uncover just why all of this is happening.

At the start you can play as one of two characters – either the axe wielding Yunica who is great at close range, or the magic user Hugo who’s better at a longer range. There is a third character you can unlock later on called The Claw, who rewards more technical play. All three have completely different stories so it’s worth playing through with each one to get different perspectives on what goes on in the tower.