Ys Memoire: Revelations in Celceta brings Falcom’s 2012 action RPG to the Switch with a polished remaster that preserves the series’ trademark speed, party‑based combat, and sense of adventure.
As a reimagining of Ys IV, this entry follows Adol Christin—once again amnesiac—on a journey through the Great Forest of Celceta. While the narrative doesn’t reach the emotional highs of Ys VIII or Ys Seven, the gameplay loop, character variety, and exploration systems remain compelling.
Ys Memoire: Revelations Is Worth Visiting
The game opens with Adol stumbling into the town of Casnan with no memory of who he is or how he escaped the deadly Forest of Celceta. Duren, an information dealer, recognizes him and reveals that Adol had recently returned from the forest—something no one survives.
The governor gives Adol the job of mapping the Great Forest, which makes exploration both a story and a gameplay mechanic. Memory orbs scattered around the world allow Adol to remember parts of his past, helping him understand his relationships, motivations, and past encounters. These memories also give him stat boosts, which means that progression is directly linked to exploration.
With your task at hand, Adol must head into the forest to explore it. It will also allow you to work on restoring your lost memories while making some quick coin.
As you head into the forest of Celceta, the game leans heavily into exploring the nooks and crannies. There are several maps within the main area, providing various routes to explore, sometimes leading to secrets, while others give way to camps. It’s here you’ll see Adol slowly piece together his lost memories, which add stat increases as you recover them.
Combat in Ys Memoire: Revelations in Celceta is still the best part of the game, with a fast, aggressive, and very responsive action system that still feels great more than ten years after it came out. Battles happen in real time with three active party members, and the player can switch between them at any time. This flexibility is important because every enemy in Celceta has one of three damage types: Slash, Strike, or Pierce. If you take advantage of these weaknesses, you can do a lot more damage.
Each character has their own fighting style, and the system encourages players to try new things by using skills-based design. Characters learn special moves that can be mapped to the face buttons, which lets players chain together quick combos, strikes that close gaps, or attacks that hit a wide area, depending on the situation. These skills level up with repeated use, lowering their SP cost and making them stronger. This creates a natural sense of progression in which your favourite moves improve as you get better at them, reinforcing the game’s focus on repetition, timing, and mechanical familiarity.
You can only control one character at a time, but the other party members can be changed out on the fly. You can switch between offensive and evasive behaviour depending on the situation, giving you just enough tactical control without slowing down the pace. This keeps combat fast and fluid, and your AI companions can help you do more damage or stay alive depending on your strategy.
You can customize your equipment and refine weapons and armour using materials gathered while fighting and exploring the forest. You can adjust critical rates, add elemental damage, and use skills like Absorb, giving you health back while striking enemies. There’s a decent sense of flexibility in how you approach combat in Ys Memoire: Revelations in Celceta.
Boss battles are the standout of the entire combat system. Fighting bosses in Ys games centres on learning to memorize patterns, precision strikes, and swapping party members to maximize damage. Bosses can frequently shift weak points and change their attack patterns, and it forces you to adapt quickly to survive. Adol can also freely use Flash Guard and Flash Dodge, two essential skills.
While combat shines in Ys Memoire: Revelations in Celceta, there are some growing pains that stretch back to the original launch. The camera is locked in place in many areas, and you can’t move it around to get a better sense of the environment.
I realize this is a port of a decade-plus-old game, but even character portraits lack a lot of love. They’ve clearly been given a once-over to make them look fine on the Switch, but they lack the life of newer games. Again, this is a port of an older game, but it doesn’t get the love it deserves to stand apart.
Verdict
Ys Memoire: Revelations in Celceta is a great way to get newcomers into the series. It’s fast-paced, fun, and often satisfying to play as Adol and his friends, but the story falters sometimes, making it a weak aspect of this adventure. Returning fans will experience a polished remaster that doesn’t stray far from what was already great. Even with its flaws, Revelations in Celceta is lively, and it’s a blast to play.
[The publisher provided a copy of the game for review purposes.]
Reviewed on: Switch 2
