Ys X: Nordics is a 2023 action role-playing game developed by Nihon Falcom. The tenth numbered installment in the Ys series, it was released for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch in Japan in September 2023. NIS America released the game internationally for those platforms and Windows in October 2024.
Set shortly after the events of Ys II: Ancient Ys Vanished - The Final Chapter, the game follows a younger Adol Christin as he travels through the Obelia Gulf and becomes bound by a supernatural restraint to Karja Balta, a warrior from the seafaring Norman people. The pair investigate attacks by immortal creatures known as the Griegr while exploring the gulf aboard the sailing ship Sandras.
Ys X replaces the three-character party structure used from Ys Seven through Ys IX: Monstrum Nox with a two-character combat system. The player can control Adol or Karja independently in Solo Mode or command them together in Combination Mode. The game also introduces sailing, naval combat, island exploration, and Mana Actions used to traverse environments and solve puzzles.
An expanded version, Ys X: Proud Nordics, was first released for the Nintendo Switch 2 in Japan in July 2025. Versions for PlayStation 5 and Windows followed in 2026. The expanded release adds a new storyline and island, additional characters, the Muspelheim challenge dungeon, new Mana abilities, bosses, and other gameplay and technical improvements.
Gameplay Ys X: Nordics is an action role-playing game played from a third-person perspective. The player explores towns, islands, fields, and dungeons, completes quests, gathers materials, and fights enemies in real time. Unlike the three-character party system used in several preceding games, the active party consists of Adol Christin and Karja Balta.
The combat system, known as Cross Action, contains two control modes. In Solo Mode, the player directly controls either Adol or Karja while the other character attacks and provides support automatically. The controlled character can be changed during combat. Solo Mode emphasizes speed, evasion, and positioning.
In Combination Mode, the player controls both characters together. Their movement is slower, but they can guard against attacks, use combined skills, and accumulate power in the Revenge Gauge by blocking enemy attacks. The accumulated multiplier increases the power of the next Combination Skill. Certain powerful enemy attacks cannot be blocked normally and must instead be countered with a special attack after responding to an on-screen prompt.
Adol and Karja learn individual skills that consume skill points, or SP. Repeated use increases a skill's proficiency. The Release Line character-development system allows the player to place Mana Seeds into a branching grid to increase statistics, unlock passive abilities, and influence the characters' available strengths.
The characters acquire supernatural abilities called Mana Actions. The Mana String functions as a grappling line that can pull the party toward distant points or move objects. The Mana Ride creates a board that allows rapid travel over land, water, and certain airborne routes. Mana Burst releases elemental energy to affect objects and mechanisms, while Mana Sense reveals concealed objects, paths, and information.
Exploration also takes place aboard the Sandras, a sailing ship used to travel between islands in the Obelia Gulf. The player can consult sea charts, discover uncharted islands and landmarks, recover cargo, rescue other vessels, and engage hostile ships.
During naval battles, the player can fire conventional ammunition from the ship's sides, use Mana-powered weapons, evade attacks, and board damaged enemy vessels. The Sandras can be improved by obtaining plans and providing materials to its crew, increasing attributes such as speed, durability, handling, and weapon performance.
Liberation battles require the player to weaken enemy-controlled regions by completing objectives at sea before attacking a fortified island or base. Performance is graded according to factors including completion time and damage sustained, with higher grades providing additional rewards.
Development and release
Concept and setting Nihon Falcom announced Ys X: Nordics in December 2022 as a title commemorating the 35th anniversary of the Ys series. The company described the game as taking place in the Obelia Gulf shortly after Adol completed his adventure in the ancient kingdom of Ys, making the protagonist 17 years old during the story.
Falcom president and producer Toshihiro Kondo said that the development team wanted the tenth numbered game to reconsider systems that had become established over the preceding entries. The three-character party model introduced in Ys Seven required the company to create separate attacks, skills, animations, equipment, and balancing for several playable characters. The team instead centered Ys X on two protagonists whose relationship could be expressed through both the narrative and the combat system.
Kondo said the smaller playable cast allowed Falcom to devote more development resources to Adol and Karja's individual actions and their combined attacks. The team developed Solo Mode for the speed associated with the series and Combination Mode for guarding, counterattacking, and coordinated actions against stronger opponents.
The development team chose a northern maritime setting after revisiting an unused planning concept that Kondo had seen when he first joined Falcom. The older proposal referred to a "seafaring Ys" and imagined the Five Great Dragons of Altago as enormous warships. Falcom did not use that concept in Ys Seven, but Kondo said the idea of a maritime adventure remained with him and later influenced Ys X.
The Norman people were influenced by northern European seafaring cultures, although Falcom created a fictional culture rather than directly reproducing a particular historical society. The company situated the Obelia Gulf between Esteria and Celceta so that the story could depict a younger and less experienced Adol while remaining connected to locations established in earlier games.
Combat redesign Falcom described Cross Action as a substantial redesign of the series' combat. Solo Mode allows the player to alternate between Adol and Karja while retaining the rapid movement and direct attacks of previous entries. Combination Mode binds the two characters into a single defensive unit, enabling guards, Revenge Gauge accumulation, and paired skills.
The developers initially experimented with requiring more complex simultaneous control of both characters. They simplified the final system so that the second character would support the player automatically in Solo Mode and both characters could be commanded through a single set of controls in Combination Mode.
Kondo said the team wanted the characters' supernatural bond to affect gameplay rather than function only as a narrative device. The Mana Cuffs therefore explain why Adol and Karja must remain close to one another and provide the basis for their coordinated actions and Mana abilities.
The developers also reduced the emphasis on the slashing, striking, and piercing damage relationships used in the preceding party-based games. With only two permanent playable characters, Falcom instead differentiated Adol and Karja through their speed, attack patterns, skills, defensive functions, and roles within the two combat modes.
Sailing and exploration Ys X was the first mainline entry to allow the player to control a sailing ship and participate in naval battles. The Sandras functions as transportation, a combat vessel, and a mobile base whose crew and capabilities expand during the story.
Falcom connected sea exploration to the series' established emphasis on discovering unknown locations. Players use a sea chart to locate islands, settlements, shipwrecks, enemy bases, and other points of interest throughout the Obelia Gulf.
Kondo acknowledged that the relatively slow initial speed of the Sandras was intended to make later upgrades perceptible, although he also recognized that some players found the early sailing pace frustrating. The ship becomes faster and more maneuverable as the player obtains improvement plans, recruits crew members, and advances through the game.
The Mana Actions were designed to make traversal more active within both island environments and dungeons. Falcom used the Mana String, Mana Ride, Mana Burst, and Mana Sense to create routes and environmental interactions that could not be performed through ordinary jumping and running.
Characters and scenario Karja was created as both Adol's narrative counterpart and his permanent partner in battle. Falcom portrayed her as a young warrior shaped by Norman customs and by the expectations attached to her father, the jarl Grimson Balta.
Kondo said Falcom wanted the relationship between Adol and Karja to develop through shared experiences rather than begin as an immediately friendly partnership. Their physical connection through the Mana Cuffs forces the characters to cooperate before they fully trust one another.
The developers selected the period immediately after Ys II partly because it allowed Dogi to appear as Adol's companion while showing both characters early in their travels. Falcom also used the setting to depict Adol before he had developed the reputation and experience associated with chronologically later adventures.
The story's Griegr are immortal creatures whose existence is tied to the history of the Obelia Gulf and the Norman people. Their inability to die through conventional means supports the role of Mana in both the narrative and combat.
Technology and platforms Falcom developed the Japanese release simultaneously for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch. The company had previously developed the original Japanese versions of Ys VIII and Ys IX primarily for PlayStation hardware, with their Nintendo Switch versions produced later by external partners.
Kondo said that supporting Nintendo Switch from the beginning affected the design and technical targets of Ys X. Falcom sought to preserve responsive action across all three Japanese launch platforms rather than create the game for higher-powered hardware and reduce it later for Switch.
The game uses Falcom's internally developed engine, which the company had introduced with The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak. The engine supported platform-specific adjustments while allowing the team to share core assets and systems across the three versions.
Falcom released the game in Japan on September 28, 2023. The company sold a limited Adol Christin Edition containing the game, a miniature soundtrack, downloadable Cleria Armor equipment, a logo pin, visual cards, and a branded body bag.
Music The score was composed by Falcom Sound Team jdk members Hayato Sonoda, Shuntaro Koguchi, Takahiro Unisuga, Yukihiro Jindo, and Mitsuo Singa. Falcom released the three-disc Ys X: Nordics Original Soundtrack in Japan on January 18, 2024.
The album contains 60 tracks, including the title theme "Sono Yasashisa wa Dare no Tame", the field themes "To Be Free" and "Burn with You", the sailing theme "The Sea of Genesis", and the ending theme "And the Adventure Begins".
The limited Japanese Adol Christin Edition included a miniature selection from the soundtrack, while some retailers offered separate promotional music and merchandise bonuses.
Asian and international releases Clouded Leopard Entertainment released Traditional Chinese and Korean versions for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch in Asian markets on September 28, 2023, alongside the Japanese release. The company released a Windows version in Asian markets on March 14, 2024.