New Ys Game in Development, Won’t Release in 2022

Falcom is fairly busy with The Legend of Heroes series, releasing a sequel to Kuro no Kiseki this Fall in Japan while NIS America and The Geofront localize The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero for a worldwide release. However, it also released Ys 9: Monstrum Nox last year worldwide which garnered a strong amount of critical acclaim. Are there plans for a sequel any time soon?

According to Falcom president Toshihiro Kondo in an interview with Weibo (translation courtesy of Zero field Project on Twitter), the team is “already working on a new Ys game.” However, Kondo notes that there’s “no way that it can be released in 2022.” As for what fans can expect, “There will be new ideas in the new ‘Ys‘. In fact, from Ys 7 to Ys 9, these titles have maintained a similar system, but the new work will be completely different.”

While this could mean just about anything, it’s highly likely that the next Ys title is developed on Falcom’s new engine (used in Kuro no Kiseki). It’s been shown to handle action-based gameplay quite well, making it a good fit for Ys. But in the meantime, we’ll have to wait for more details.

Ys 9: Monstrum Nox is currently available for PS4, PS5, PC and Nintendo Switch. Check out our review here for more details. It recently received an experimental co-op mode on PC which you can read more about here.

New Toshihiro Kondo interview regarding the following – More background story of Elaine in Kuro II, Chinese/Japanese Localization of Kuro II(Falcom/CLE), and mentions of the new Ys title being developed currently with new ideas and big changes.

Source: https://t.co/YgerUUABaf pic.twitter.com/raQqP16BIf

— ハオ(ハンスケ) (@Hansuke21) January 27, 2022

New Ys title Development:

Q: Are there any plans for the 35th anniversary of the Ys series and what is the current status of its development of new work?

— ハオ(ハンスケ) (@Hansuke21) January 27, 2022

Kondo: We can say that we are already working on a new Ys game, but no way that it can be released in 2022. There will be new ideas in the new "Ys". In fact, from Ys 7 to Ys 9, these titles have maintained a similar system, but the new work will be completely different.

— ハオ(ハンスケ) (@Hansuke21) January 27, 2022