Review: Scarlet Nexus

Future. Humans are constantly attacked by the Inhumans, unusual mutant aliens (called as Others) who literally fall from the sky and devour human brains.

To fight the monsters Other Suppression Force (OSF), is created. It consists of psionic fighters, people with incredible psychic abilities. In fact, around some OSF fighters unfolds the basic plot of Scarlet Nexus.

Characters and Story

At the very beginning of the game, we are given to choose one of the protagonists: Yuito (Male) or Kasane (Female). This choice is really important, because both the gameplay and the story will depend on the character you’ll select.

For example, Yuito uses a sword and is suitable for melee combat. Kasane hits with blades from a long distance. In addition, each hero has his own partners and, therefore, his own set of abilities. At least up to a certain point.

Scarlet Nexus AI

Also, each character has a pretty distinctive storyline. The first and last hours are a bit similar, although the characters have different take on events there as well.

But most of the game takes place apart: different parties, quests, locations, cutscenes. As a result, to fully understand the whole Scarlet Nexus story, you’ll need to complete game twice. However, there is one big BUT…

Great ideas on paper – bad implementation in game

The world of Scarlet Nexus is a typical Brainpunk: almost all people have psychic abilities, just not as powerful as the OSF fighters.

So, all the technology is tied to psionics. But this is barely reflected in the game, except for a couple of background lines about all the advertising in the city simply being projected into a person’s brain. The same goes for the idea with the conflict between psionics and ordinary people.

In general, in words the setting is cool, but in practice it is difficult to distinguish it from a standard anime futurism.

The unfinished setting is reflected in the design of the locations as well. There are a lot of them, but most are very boring.

An abandoned hospital, a construction site, an abandoned museum, an abandoned subway line – all of them are the ruins of the familiar world.

Scarlet Nexus fighting

You can find the similar levels in any post-apocalyptic game, and this is not what you expect from the crazy Japanese RPG. The apogee of dullness is closer to the finale, when the action literally takes place in black, gray and white boxes.

As for the plot, the Scarlet Nexus story is pretty good. It has a couple of good twists and interesting characters – but it’s all outweighed by the overall dragginess.

Every now and then we are returned to the old locations, and it’s only stretches the walkthrough of the game over and over again. Side quests is a joke. They are more of an MMO standard like kill X enemies or bring Y items.

So, if you want to complete the game 100%, get ready to go back to the levels again and again to find the desired monster or item.

From this comes the negative background of the game: you are running around the same dull locations and killing waves of the same monsters, and the plot moves at a snail’s pace.

That said, at first both the story and the setting are really engaging, but you want to return to Scarlet Nexus less and less each time you make a break, even for the first playthrough.

And herein lies the funniest and paradox feature of the game: as hard as it is to get back into it, it’s just as hard to tear yourself away from it. It’s like playing exciting Australian online pokies 2021 – you won’t be able to resist the game for a long time, but it will be hard to comeback and play it again.

Gameplay and abilities

Scarlet Nexus’ gameplay works just fine – both the combat and the pumping of your character. The combat system is quite comprehensive. Moreover, during the walkthrough of the game it evolves, periodically throwing up new features.

So, at first you can access the usual punch, a strong blow and the standard telekinetic abilities. The last are that the hero can pick up some object at a distance and throw it at the monster. Then under your control is a party of heroes.

Scarlet Nexus close up battle

However, you can only control Yuito or Kasane, but the abilities of your companions will be available to you as well.

For example, you can activate the additional armor layer or use teleportation to quickly get close to the enemy, who is hiding in the steel shell, or find the enemies hidden in the fog.

You can combine the telekinesis of your main characters with the abilities of your allies, for example, to toss a barrel of oil at your enemy and then set him on fire with pyrokinesis, or to pour water on your enemy and then hit him with an electric shock.

There are also combo attacks that can be performed together with the other teammates. Also, you can set the behavioral pattern that suits your teammates’ style of play.

Heroes in the middle of the game open the brain acceleration scale. When you fill it up, you will amplify and speed up your attacks, and you can also transfer your enemy to a special reality and try out some very powerful telekinetic attacks on him.

Finally, closer to the last third of the game the two parties will merge, and you will be able to use not only the abilities of your allies, but also the abilities of the partners of the second protagonist.

Paired with complex combat comes no less complex character leveling. Character development in Scarlet Nexus resembles a mix of Tales of and Persona.

On the one hand, there is the classic leveling system. With each level all of the party’s fighters increase their health, and you can choose new skills and perks for Yuito and Kasane.

Scarlet Nexus screenshot

On the other hand, in order to gain access to certain tricks, you must pump up your social connections with your fellow party members by communicating with them, running their errands, and giving them gifts. The higher the level of connection, the more bonuses you get for an ally’s abilities.

In fact, it’s fighting monsters and communicating with partners in Scarlet Nexus that’s the most interesting. The characters are memorable, as well as the relationship between them, so pumping social connections does not strain at all.

The deep and addictive combat, various enemies and their combinations can keep you in Scarlet Nexus for a couple dozens of hours. The only other thing that can capture you for hours is here – https://toponlinecasinoaustralia.com/online-casinos.

Conclusion

If you switch off your brain and focus all your attention on the battles and characters, it will be hard to tear yourself away from Scarlet Nexus.

But if cool setting, interesting story and cool art design are important for you, then Scarlet Nexus probably won’t meet your expectations.

Calin Ciabai

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1 thought on “Review: Scarlet Nexus”

  1. I got this game day 1, and after a bug wouldn’t let me continue the story, I thought I had wasted my money, but after restarting the game and getting past the initial issue, I fell in love with this game. The story is excellent, the combat is very satisfying, and it all works really well together.

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