It’d be a lie to say I wasn’t anticipating Scarlet Nexus. It has all the trappings of something that would grab my interest. With a big backing by Bandai Namco, higher-up involvement by two key members of the Tales of team, and absolutely bangin’ art style, Scarlet Nexus was shaping up to be the biggest non-remaster JRPG this summer. More importantly, it was an original IP that had nothing to anchor it down or prevent the creative minds in charge from designing exactly what they wanted. Which is why I’m so surprised at how Scarlet Nexus turned out.
Scarlet Nexus
Developer: Bandai Namco Studios
Price: $60
Platforms: Playstation 4, Playstation 5(Reviewed), Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series X, PC
MonsterVine was provided with a PS5 code for review
Scarlet Nexus puts you in control of either a male or female protagonist set in a fictional timeline where some people are born with extra-sensory powers due to a special hormone in their brain. Both protagonists have psychokinetic powers but I started out playing as Kasane Randall, the female character. Regardless of who you choose, you start out as a new recruit for the OSF, a special military specifically for people with extra-sensory powers created to combat creatures created by human’s use of said powers known as ‘The Others.’ The Others are shown terrorizing the city but as the media shows up, along with OSF soldiers, it’s treated as more of a game as soldiers make quick work of their foes and people idolize their OSF heroes.
I’ve seen some criticism about the design of The Others. Quite frankly, I find the design to be refreshing. Many of The Others show up as various objects mixed with nature or distorted designs of creatures you might find in other JRPGs. They’re unusual looking and that’s one of the things I found most interesting about them. Juxtaposed against the characters that are very clean-looking anime characters and the art design gets high marks from me. Scarlet Nexus even has a bestiary in the menu that tells you more about each other and shows off the design. My only real issue with them as an enemy type is that they have incredibly bizarre names. One enemy that depicts what looks like two mannequins on stilts is simply titled ‘Scummy Rummy’ and is part of the “Rummy” family as there is ‘Buddy Rummy,’ ‘Kitchen Rummy,’ and ‘Rainy Rummy.’ My favorite enemy name was ‘Barrista Santa.’
Bizarre enemy names aside, things take a turn after a few missions and the team splits up. Kasane becomes the de facto leader of a small group, even though her commanding officer in the OSF is in that group, as they work towards reunion with the rest of the OSF. I’m afraid going too deep into the story, as I understood it at least, would be very spoilery. I’d rather not spoil the game if you’re interested in Scarlet Nexus so I’ll omit the details. The protagonist gets a taste of what’s going to happen in the future and begins working towards stopping that. I enjoyed the story for the most part and despite the lack of actual world-building, I enjoyed that as well. My biggest issue was the character interactions.
I know at this point those of us that don’t lean into enjoying anime tropes are just beating a dead horse at this point but it was almost the least enjoyable part of Scarlet Nexus for me. Your team consists of the rival kid who is supposed to be the best but isn’t quite as good as the protagonist, the loli cutesy girl who is good at computers and powerful despite her stature, the motherly type with the large chest, it was exhausting. If this is the kind of thing you’re into, I get the feeling you’re going to LOVE Scarlet Nexus. I couldn’t stand it.
Then we get to the combat and for the first few hours it’s a damn treat. You’re running around throwing daggers at enemies to power up your psychokinetic abilities so you can pick up cars and trash bins and all manner of stuff laying around to chuck at enemies. It rules! But as you settle into Scarlet Nexus you realize the game is introducing tons of new systems but not really building upon any of the ones it’s already introduced. And that is actually my least favorite thing about Scarlet Nexus.
The developers of Scarlet Nexus were so excited to show you the new thing they worked on they forgot to finish the last thing they created. Psychokinetic powers exist and that’s about it. Occasionally you’ll find a train you can throw down the rails to take out a pack of enemies all at once or a bus you can hop on top of to ride like a sandworm, but for the most part you’re just throwing cars and concrete. Meanwhile every chapter you’re being introduced to Brain Crush, SAS abilities, Brain Drive, it’s all cool stuff but why isn’t the primary method by which I deal damage and perform basic combat functions getting any stronger?
As you level up you’re given BP or Brain Points and use that to spend on upgrades on the Brain Map. Oh yeah, that’s a lotta brain! The upgrades are extremely helpful and do some fun stuff to make combat more fluid. SAS abilities allow you to team up with another member of your team to mix your abilities together. As other members of your team have different abilities than you. Some allow you to go invisible, another allows you to increase your speed, another gives you electric attacks, and the Brain Map has several upgrades allowing you to chain more SAS skills together. What I enjoyed about SAS skills is that it mixes things up and allows the combat to be a bit different but unfortunately, that’s as deep as it goes.
In-between episodes, which is how the story is presented, you’re able to kind of free roam depending on where the story is at. You’re also able to give your teammates gifts and have bonding sessions with them which increase their bond level with you and the overall team bond level. More systems, less refinement. With increased bond you can perform either a Combo Vision or an Assault Vision. A Combo Vision allows you to perform a combo using the teammate’s power. Assault vision has the character appear as a vision and perform a special attack. They’re both really cool abilities but, again, we’re simply being given new systems and not building on any existing systems. In fact, one of the worst things about this is how blatantly flat these new systems are. Combo Vision goes NOWHERE. You’re not given new levels or even able to upgrade Combo Vision.
I was so excited to get a game that reminded me of something like Tokyo Xanadu eX+ but with a modern art style and some quality of life functionality. Instead, I received a really messy game that left me incredibly bored throughout most of it. Scarlet Nexus is a mess.
The Final Word
Scarlet Nexus has the foundation of a great idea that’s executed poorly and spends more time introducing new systems than exploring the ones already provided. This cake needs more time to bake.
MonsterVine Rating: 2.5 out of 5 – Mediocre
