Ys: Memories of Celceta by Nihon Falcom is the latest remaster to reach the PS4 and is due to hit the UK on June 19th. My first experience of the Ys series was Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana and it got me hooked.

The game centres around beloved adventurer Adol Christin who returns from a trip into the great forest having lost all his memories (he can’t even remember his own name!) so decides to go on an adventure to regain his memories whilst mapping out the surrounding forests that dominate the region of Celceta, meeting a colourful cast of characters along the way.

The voice acting in this title is minimal which can make the long conversations tedious, disrupting the flow of the main story and the graphics are limited considering it is on a PS4. This can be forgiven however as the soundtrack is excellent and really sets the tone.

One of the most enjoyable aspects in this game is exploration, the game actively encourages you to explore every corner of the world with rewards for unlocking a certain percentage. Monsters found in the overworld can be fought in real time, battle can be fast paced but requires strategy when choosing when best to dodge, guard or pause for a split second to recharge your SP gauge which allows you to unleash some skills. Timing for dodging and guarding is another important component to battle as correct timing triggers flash move or guard, giving the party a chance to counterattack and deal extra damage.

Your battle party is maxed out at 3 but can swapped on the fly mid battle. Battles work with each party member having their own set of skills and a type of damage which some enemies are weak against, each party member also has a field skill allowing them to interact with the world to solve puzzles and further that all important map exploration.

One thing I struggled to adjust to is that you cannot change the camera angle, only zoom in and out. It didn’t affect the gameplay too much, except for when I’d forget and try to turn the camera to look around the corner of something only for the camera to instead zoom in on my party.

Overall, I really enjoyed my revisit to the Ys series and it was refreshing to see how much it has progressed, it’s reaffirmed why I got addicted to this series in the first place and I can't wait for the next title.

Ys: Memories of Celceta for the Playstation 4 launched 9th of June in the US, and 19th of June in Europe ,Australia and New Zealand.

Ys: Memories of Celceta (PS4)

Ys: Memories of Celceta - Timeless Adventurer Edition

Ys: Memories of Celceta is being developed by Nihon Falcom and published by Marvelous Europe Limited for the PlayStation 4 within Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Ys: Memories of Celceta is also being published in North America by XSEED Games. This game has been rated PEGI 12, USK 12 and ACB PG.

Ys: Memories of Celceta was supplied by Marvelous Games for an unbiased review.