Ys vs. Trails in the Sky: Alternative Saga Digital Limited Edition and new remaster features detailed

refint/games has revealed details about the digital release of *Ys vs. Trails in the Sky: Alternative Saga*, including new features for online and multiplayer gameplay. The game launches on October 10th for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC (via Steam, GOG, and Epic Games Store) in Western regions.

A Digital Limited Edition of *Ys vs. Trails in the Sky* will be available on Steam until October 17th, including the game’s music files and a digital art book. For those unfamiliar, *Ys vs. Trails in the Sky: Alternative Saga* is a fighting game that first launched in Japan for the PlayStation Portable in 2010. Now, it’s coming to consoles and PC digitally this Friday! A physical version for consoles is also planned through Limited Run Games.

You can find the details for this Digital Limited Edition via refint/games below:

Hi everyone,

We’re excited to share what’s included in our Digital Limited Edition, which will be available for a short time starting in just a few days!

Ys vs. Trails in the Sky Collective Music Files

This is a 2-in-1 set featuring the following 2 albums:

The ‘Ys vs. Trails in the Sky: Alternative Saga Original Soundtrack’ features the game’s music, including brand new tracks and unique arrangements of existing themes.

Falcom Best Sound Collection – All in All – is a carefully selected compilation of music, featuring both popular tracks and lesser-known gems from Falcom’s extensive catalog.

With the Limited Edition, you’ll get the game’s music added to your Steam Soundtrack library, so you can listen to it anytime, even when you’re not playing the game!

Ys vs. Trails in the Sky: Alternative Saga – Digital Art Book

This art book offers a fresh look at the game with stunning key art, detailed character designs – including both the heroes you play as and those who assist them – and exclusive behind-the-scenes glimpses into the main characters’ development!

This digital art book is the ideal addition to the game, offering everything from initial concept art to detailed character designs and promotional illustrations. It’s perfect whether you’re a fan of the opening scenes, want to examine the artwork more closely, or just enjoy seeing all the character art.

Available: Oct 10, 2025

You’ll have all of launch week to buy the Limited Edition, but the offer ends on Friday, October 17th, 2025.

Refint/games recently shared details on Steam about the online and multiplayer aspects of the remaster, including rollback netcode and local multiplayer options. You can read the complete announcement here:

Hi everyone!

The game is launching in just a few days, so we’re continuing our series about the remastered features. If you haven’t read the first part – which detailed all the visual improvements – we recommend checking it out! As we mentioned before, now that we’ve covered how the game *looks*, we’ll focus on how it *plays*. Let’s start with a bit of background on the original release.

The game’s original release on PSP featured 2 modes that are going to be relevant for this topic:

Network Mode, which used the PSP’s Ad-Hoc functionality to play with other systems in the vicinity.

Free Mode lets you pick any character and play against up to three computer-controlled opponents. You can customize the game with options like handicaps and team setups for both you and the computer players.

The original game modes worked well when the game first came out on handheld devices fifteen years ago. However, how people play games has changed, especially now that they’re playing on home consoles, PCs, and even handhelds again. We want the remastered version to not only meet those new expectations, but exceed them – and we think that’s what will really attract players.

Expanded Network Mode options

Let’s discuss the original way to play with friends – Network Mode. It’s been updated to include several different connection options, allowing you to play with others in various ways.

As a fan, I was so glad to see they included a LAN mode! It’s a really basic feature, but super important, especially for those of us who prefer games without DRM. Basically, it lets you connect and play with friends on the same local network – no internet needed, just a direct connection. It’s awesome!

Local Mode (available only on Nintendo Switch) lets you play with others directly, similar to how it worked in the original PSP version. It finds nearby Nintendo Switch systems without needing a LAN connection, making it easy to play together. This feature is exclusive to the Switch because it’s the only platform that currently supports direct connections like this.

The highly anticipated online mode is now available! You can now play with people around the world, regardless of distance. It’s easy to set up – just launch the game through the store where you purchased it. No extra accounts are needed! You can also control who joins your game by making your lobby private, sharing lobby codes with friends, or setting a password.

Okay, so here’s the big news: we’ve finally broken down the platform barriers! You can play LAN and online with *anyone*, regardless of what system they’re on. That’s right, I can team up with my friends who are on different consoles or PCs! And don’t worry, it’s not mandatory – if you prefer to stick to playing with people on the same platform, you can totally disable cross-play.

(you can’t see it, but these are a PC, a Nintendo Switch, and a PS5 playing together!)

Both LAN and Local modes are great additions, offering a similar experience to the first release. The biggest new feature is Online Mode, which presented some challenges. The game was originally designed for fast, local connections, and adapting it for the internet’s variable and sometimes slow connections required some work. Luckily, we found a solution that fighting game fans will likely recognize:

Rollback Netcode support

To make online play smoother, we’ve upgraded the game’s networking code. We replaced the old system with GGPO rollback netcode, which is widely considered the best in the fighting game community. This makes the game feel just as responsive as if you were playing against someone right next to you. It wasn’t easy to implement – the game wasn’t originally designed for this type of networking – but we worked hard to make it happen.

It’s a simplification, but instead of waiting for your opponent’s button presses, the game processes your actions immediately for a responsive feel. It *predicts* what your opponent will do to keep things moving. If the prediction is wrong, the game briefly goes back a few frames to when it made the wrong guess, then replays those frames using the correct input from your opponent.

The game primarily works by predicting what will happen, and usually you don’t notice it. However, if you experience lag, you might see other players briefly teleport or jitter. To minimize this, the game adds a small amount of delay. Even with this, the delay is less noticeable than in the original PSP version. You can adjust the amount of delay to suit your connection – choose instant response if you prefer, or add more delay for a more stable experience. We recommend sticking with the default setting of 3 frames if you’re unsure. Keep in mind that with very high lag (200-300ms or more), some visual jitter is unavoidable due to how this system works.

We also recently shared a match played online using Network Mode – be sure to check it out!

Offline Multiplayer

We’ve added some great new network options, and we’re also excited to bring this release to home consoles and PCs. We know many of you enjoy playing locally with friends and family, so we made sure to prioritize support for multiple controllers on a single console. We want you to easily play with fellow Falcom fans right in your living room!

To make the game more fun with friends, we’ve increased the number of players in Free Mode to up to four locally. Everyone can play on the same screen, and the camera will automatically zoom in and out to keep all players visible. We previously adjusted some of the game’s visuals for ultrawide screens, and these improvements also help when the camera zooms out for larger groups. We hope this makes *Ys vs. Trails* a great choice for gatherings with other Falcom fans!

(Adol, those flames aren’t gonna reach Estelle from all across the map…)

We have one last point to discuss, building on the Network Mode and Offline Multiplayer features we just explained. While those additions are fantastic, what if you want to play with a friend who’s with you *and* two more friends who live far away? Or maybe you have two large screens and want to give each pair of players their own dedicated display? How can you make that happen?

Mixed Local/Network Multiplayer

Network Mode lets you play any of the three game modes with up to three players on a single console. We included this feature because we believe some players would enjoy it – based on our own experience, it seemed like a worthwhile addition.

Just to be clear, the limit is three local players. Any more than that, and it would automatically switch to Free Mode, since that’s the maximum number of players allowed.

We designed this release to be as flexible as possible, considering its initial platform and Network Mode. We want you to be able to play with your friends easily, no matter where you are or how you prefer to play. Now, let’s talk about controls:

Input Options + Remapping

The first version of the game had some input customization, but it wasn’t very flexible. More recently, Nihon Falcom games have included much more detailed input remapping features. We’re happy to continue that trend by letting players fully customize their controls, whether they’re using a controller or a mouse and keyboard.

The software usually recognizes your controller type automatically, displaying the correct button icons. Here are some other improvements and features as well:

Vibration support as feedback for certain gameplay elements.

Configurable stick deadzone to accommodate controllers that need it, just in case.

You can easily assign skills to specific keys or buttons, which is essential for mouse and keyboard users. This feature also benefits modern controllers that have extra buttons, giving players more customization options.

As a player, I’ve found a really useful feature on PC! You can actually disable a controller for one player, and it instantly becomes available for the next one. It’s perfect when I want to switch to using my mouse and keyboard, but still have a friend play with a controller. For example, I can disable the controller assigned to Player 1, and then my friend, as Player 2, can immediately pick it up and start playing!

On PC, you can also assign keyboard keys to players 2 through 4. These players don’t have any default key assignments to keep things simple, but you can easily add them if you need to by assigning keys in the game’s settings.

You can choose a different icon for each player’s button display. Although you’ll usually see Player 1’s icons, this feature is helpful for players 2 through 4 who are still setting up their controls. It lets them quickly see which buttons or keys are assigned to their actions without going back to the main options menu.

Conclusion

This game is built around playing with others, so we’ve designed it to support a wide variety of play styles. We want you to be able to easily play with your friends – all you need is a copy of the game on a compatible platform, or simply be in the same room with an extra controller or even a shared keyboard!

I’m so hyped – the game is almost here! Our last preview before launch will drop right on release day, and it’s going to cover all the little things that make the experience amazing, like quality-of-life improvements and special features for each platform. They’re even bringing back some of the things fans loved from the original, plus some new surprises tailored to this version!

I hope to see you on the release date!

Best regards,
Adrian Graber – Producer & Lead Developer @ refint/games