

Used in conjunction with basic weapon combos, it gives fights an enjoyable rhythm - especially when you start to chain projectiles together with well-timed melee attacks. Its gimmick is that you can use Yuito or Kasane’s telekinesis to hurl hefty objects, like cars, construction materials, and rubble at your enemies to deal damage. On a surface level and just beyond, combat in Scarlet Nexus is unique and satisfying. Even bosses are reused as normal foes later on.Īnd this issue bleeds into the game’s combat system. The Others have clearly had some imagination poured into them - they’re a mishmash of organic parts and inanimate objects - but it isn’t long at all before you’re going up against barely reskinned opponents that have slightly different attack patterns. Sadly, the same is true of the enemies that you’ll face. They look nice enough - Scarlet Nexus is a very neat and stylish title overall - but there’s not a lot of variation the majority of your excursions send you to old city ruins and other abandoned urban areas. The aforementioned environments are pretty standard stuff in terms of design - mostly linear locations that offer minimal opportunity for exploration. Conventional weaponry is ineffective against these nightmarish creatures, and so it falls to the psychic powers of the OSF - your taskforce - to keep the beasts in check. The rest is spent traversing dilapidated environments and getting into fights with abstract monsters known as ‘Others’. We’d say cutscenes and dialogue account for around a third of Scarlet Nexus’ runtime. There’s enough intrigue here to keep you invested, even when it might feel like the overarching story is losing its way. Some reveal fun personality quirks, while others provide you with an alternate outlook on how the world of Scarlet Nexus works. The game’s bond system, which lets you spend time with your squadmates in between main story missions, gives insight into what makes each party member tick. As is the case with a lot of modern Japanese RPGs, these characters can initially seem stereotypical or one-dimensional, but they grow on you as you get to know them better. Yuito and Kasane get their own allies over the course of the game, and they’re largely likeable. It’s really the supporting cast that carry Scarlet Nexus’ story - even if they’re not the most memorable bunch. By the end, the plot has performed so many leaps in logic that it starts to come across as convoluted. Key moments in the narrative are glazed over, and feel like they’re forgotten far too quickly, while certain members of the cast seem to change their tune in the blink of an eye, without any real character development to back it up. The storytelling, for example, suffers from some erratic pacing issues a little later on. It’s just that, once you’re about ten hours into this “brain punk” adventure, its flaws start to become more and more apparent. In fact, this is a well made RPG, and arguably the most polished title that Bandai Namco Studios has developed in a long time.

That’s not to say these aspects of Scarlet Nexus are bad. It’s an intriguing premise on paper, but in practice, both the storytelling and gameplay of Scarlet Nexus wear thin by the end of one playthrough - never mind two.
#Scarlet nexus gimmick full
This means that in order to get the full picture, two playthroughs are needed one from Yuito’s perspective, and one from Kasane’s, each taking around 20 hours or so. You choose to play as one or the other right at the start of the game, with the overall plot playing out from a different perspective depending on your decision. The game is split between two protagonists: Yuito, a kind hearted cadet who hails from a prestigious family, and Kasane, a psionic prodigy with a cold personality. It’s dystopian sci-fi from a very anime viewpoint, and while Scarlet Nexus does offer up an intriguing setting and a range of cool concepts, the storytelling itself falls a bit flat. Basically, they’re brain-powered X-Men, and the story revolves around a small number of these psychic soldiers. What’s more, some especially talented individuals are able to use ‘powers’ - utilising their mental strength to control the elements, or move objects with their mind. Most people are hooked up to a kind of brain network - like if you could access the internet inside of your own head. Scarlet Nexus is quite a unique action RPG set in a world where the human brain has evolved.
