Ys X: Proud Nordics review

In the northern ocean of Obelia Gulf lies a massive, mountainous island by the name of Öland. With seemingly no place to dock, the Normans have left this place unexplored for centuries. Never one to leave uncharted lands uncharted for long, Adol Christen and his Shield Sister, Karja Balta, discover a hidden path into the mountains only accessible to Mana users. Centuries ago, this place was a Norman training ground, where warriors honed their martial and magical prowess using various antiques. But why was it abandoned? Adol and Karja will explore the island alongside the lagger’s cousin to find out.

Ys X: Nordics was a great game (you can check out our original review here), but it’s English release was overshadowed by the announcement of an enhanced re-release shortly after. Proud Nordics was Japanese only and Switch 2 exclusive when it released last year, but it was only a matter of time before it came to the rest of the world. Now that it’s here, and on most major platforms, we’ve been sailing around Obelia Gulf from two perspectives: one who played the original release on PC, and one who waited for this version. Is Proud Nordics worth double dipping, or is this best left to first timers?

I adored Nordics, and it quickly became my second favorite Ys game, right behind VIII. It’s a refreshing step forward for the series, taking the fast paced and somewhat spammy combat and asking you to put a bit more thought and planning into it while still keeping things lightning fast. The story, characters, and music are all top notch, with Adol’s partner Karja being a highlight.

Which is good consideringthe new content focuses a lot on her and her past. You can first visit Öland Island at the start of chapter 5, a decent ways into the adventure, and can return to it periodically as you acquire new antiques which give you new mana powers to open up new areas of the island. Öland feels very different from the rest of the game, with each area being absolutely massive; a bit more like Ys IX rather than smaller, segmented locations. I prefer the smaller zones as when they get this big, there's always too many enemies to fill the space. I always feel like I should kill them all, but it's an interesting change of pace.

Each area of the island has a totally different feel. One visit you might be climbing a tower in the grasslands, and the next exploring a puzzling mansion deep in the forest. The puzzles are a lot of fun, though the brand new mana power, Mana Hold, leaves a little to be desired. It works well enough when you use it exactly as intended, picking up special blocks and throwing them to be used as platforms. When you try and think outside the box, though, things get weird. For example, there's a chest on top of a ledge just out of reach when jumping from the nearby block. I thought to bring another one over, stack them on top of each other, and reach it that way, but I somehow ended up with one block spinning stuck in the wall and the other having fallen through the floor.

It's very janky and can feel tacked on, not really meshing with your other mana powers the way the grapple and board do. Öland Island as a whole feels somewhat similar, cordoned off from the rest of the game as it is. That's the thing that struck me most about Proud Nordics: while there are some tweaks, changes, and quality of life additions, should this have just been DLC? I personally am happy to go back through the game again, I loved it that much. However, if you're just interested in the new content, it feels separated enough that you could just come at it with endgame characters and have a fun time. It's not like it connects to the main story in any way other than giving you some more backstory for Karja, it being segmented based on story progress is purely mechanical and for balance.

Outside of the new island, there are a few changes to the rest of the game. There's a new type of gem for Adol and Karja's release lines that only give stat bonuses instead of red, yellow, blue, or black skills bonuses. They aren't massive buffs, but are significantly bigger than what you get with other gems, and you won't regret slotting a few in here and there. The Gullinboard has a boost now so you need to rely less on momentum (the movement puzzles thankfully remain unchanged). There are multiple levels of mastery for each of your skills, along with new crystals you can spend to increase said mastery. You can also enhance your antiques with Sparkling Whitesand... which is almost exclusively found on Öland Island. You see what I mean by tacked on? I appreciate these additions, but it can feel like to really take advantage of them you need to go to DLC land, which would be perfectly fine if this was a DLC and not an enhanced re-release.

On a more positive note, the biggest reason to double dip is to play the game on a new platform, the Switch 2 in our case. Having played the demo for the Switch 1 version, this is a massive step up, targeting 60 or 120 frames per second instead of 30. It may not look as pretty as the PC version at max settings and 170 fps, but Proud Nordics is no slouch in either quality or performance modes. Quality will give you 60 fps at 4K docked 1080p portable, while Performance goes for 120 fps at 1080p/720p. I played mostly in portable and performance modes, and it feels smooth as butter while still looking sharp. It seems like a lot of work has been done on the game since it's Japanese release, as I remember hearing that performance mode couldn't hit 120, while here it certainly feels like it does. I can't exactly measure that metric; it's based purely on feel and sight, but it makes the combat a lot more responsive and tight. I also didn't think it was 720p, as the resolution still feels crisp - I actually can't tell the difference between screenshots taken in portable mode on performance or quality.

The biggest drawback of performance mode is the draw distance. Playing in this mode, you'll constantly see detailed terrain pop in pretty close to you, and enemies at a distance on Öland Island will noticeably animate at lower frame rates.  There are some pretty crusty textures in a couple places too, mostly in menus or on the Sandras when sailing the seas. Those are all sacrifices I'm willing to make for more frames, but you can mitigate them quite a bit by going with quality mode.  

The green deckhand - Joe Morgan

As a longtime Ys fan, I've had a bizarre relationship with Nordics. I bought it when it was released, but life events prevented me from tackling it immediately. Before I had a chance to dive into it, Proud Nordics had already been announced, so I stubbornly put Nordics back on the shelf. Now that Proud Nordics is in my hands, I've been having a great time with the game. The combat is fast and smooth, the story is well told and I like the characters. The world is fun to explore, and the ship combat is a blast.

The game runs beautifully on the Switch 2 with one caveat - there are times the land and buildings can look pretty bland (bordering on low-poly retro looking) when you're sailing around. Other than that, I've not run into any technical hiccups or concerns. If you have a Switch 2, it'll be a fantastic platform to enjoy the game on.

With all that said, this was my first time experiencing Ys X, and I can't help but reiterate David's sentiment: the Proud Nordics content feels like it should've been sold as a DLC add-on, not an entirely new release. For folks like me who bought the original version but didn't want to play a hamstrung version of the game, it feels like an unfortunate bid for more money. Despite that, if you haven't played Ys X or you're still happy to play it again, Proud Nordics is definitely the version I'd recommend, if you have access.