Republished on Wednesday, fifteenth February, 2023: We’re bringing this assessment again from the archives following the announcement of February 2023’s PS Plus Additional and Premium lineup. The unique textual content follows.
Scarlet Nexus is sort of a novel motion RPG set in a world the place the human mind has advanced. Most individuals are hooked as much as a form of mind community — like if you happen to may entry the web inside your personal head. What’s extra, some particularly gifted people are in a position to make use of ‘powers’ — utilising their psychological power to manage the weather, or transfer objects with their thoughts. Mainly, they’re brain-powered X-Males, and the story revolves round a small variety of these psychic troopers.
It is dystopian sci-fi from a really anime viewpoint, and whereas Scarlet Nexus does provide up an intriguing setting and a spread of cool ideas, the storytelling itself falls a bit flat. The sport is break up between two protagonists: Yuito, a form hearted cadet who hails from a prestigious household, and Kasane, a psionic prodigy with a chilly character. You select to play as one or the opposite proper initially of the sport, with the general plot enjoying out from a unique perspective relying in your resolution.
Which means that with a purpose to get the complete image, two playthroughs are wanted; one from Yuito’s perspective, and one from Kasane’s, every taking round 20 hours or so. It is an intriguing premise on paper, however in apply, each the storytelling and gameplay of Scarlet Nexus put on skinny by the tip of 1 playthrough — by no means thoughts two.
That is to not say these points of Scarlet Nexus are unhealthy. In actual fact, this can be a nicely made RPG, and arguably essentially the most polished title that Bandai Namco Studios has developed in a very long time. It is simply that, when you’re about ten hours into this “mind punk” journey, its flaws begin to turn out to be increasingly more obvious.
The storytelling, for instance, suffers from some erratic pacing points a bit of in a while. Key moments within the narrative are glazed over, and really feel like they’re forgotten far too rapidly, whereas sure members of the solid appear to vary their tune within the blink of a watch, with none actual character improvement to again it up. By the tip, the plot has carried out so many leaps in logic that it begins to come back throughout as convoluted.
It is actually the supporting solid that carry Scarlet Nexus’ story — even when they don’t seem to be essentially the most memorable bunch. Yuito and Kasane get their very own allies over the course of the sport, they usually’re largely likeable. As is the case with quite a lot of trendy Japanese RPGs, these characters can initially appear stereotypical or one-dimensional, however they develop on you as you get to know them higher.
The sport’s bond system, which helps you to spend time together with your squadmates in between foremost story missions, provides perception into what makes every occasion member tick. Some reveal enjoyable character quirks, whereas others offer you an alternate outlook on how the world of Scarlet Nexus works. There’s sufficient intrigue right here to maintain you invested, even when it would really feel just like the overarching story is shedding its approach.
We would say cutscenes and dialogue account for round a 3rd of Scarlet Nexus’ runtime. The remaining is spent traversing dilapidated environments and entering into fights with summary monsters referred to as ‘Others’. Standard weaponry is ineffective towards these nightmarish creatures, and so it falls to the psychic powers of the OSF — your taskforce — to maintain the beasts in test.
The aforementioned environments are fairly commonplace stuff when it comes to design — largely linear places that supply minimal alternative for exploration. They give the impression of being good sufficient — Scarlet Nexus is a really neat and trendy title total — however there’s not quite a lot of variation; the vast majority of your excursions ship you to previous metropolis ruins and different deserted city areas. All of it will get a bit samey.
Sadly, the identical is true of the enemies that you’re going to face. The Others have clearly had some creativeness poured into them — they seem to be a mishmash of natural elements and inanimate objects — however it is not lengthy in any respect earlier than you are going up towards barely reskinned opponents which have barely completely different assault patterns. Even bosses are reused as regular foes in a while.
And this concern bleeds into the sport’s fight system. On a floor degree and simply past, fight in Scarlet Nexus is exclusive and satisfying. Its gimmick is that you should use Yuito or Kasane’s telekinesis to hurl hefty objects, like automobiles, development supplies, and rubble at your enemies to deal harm. Used along with primary weapon combos, it provides fights an fulfilling rhythm — particularly while you begin to chain projectiles along with well-timed melee assaults.
The issue is that fight by no means actually evolves. Cooldown-based buffs and flashy particular strikes are offered by teammates as you develop your bonds with them, however the crux of fight is all the time melee assault, throw object, melee assault, throw object on repeat. It simply will get moderately stale, and essentially the most attention-grabbing squad-sprung talents are all locked till close to the tip of the sport.
Nonetheless, fight is enjoyable sufficient for essentially the most half. And to be honest to Scarlet Nexus, smacking bizarre monsters with big slabs of concrete does really feel good. On PlayStation 5, the sport utilises the DualSense controller’s haptic suggestions to ship rumbling impacts, and it even provides pressure to the L2 and R2 triggers while you’re lifting particles together with your thoughts. It is all properly executed, and offers encounters a really tactile really feel.
Conclusion
Scarlet Nexus is an fulfilling, polished motion RPG, however regardless of its attention-grabbing ideas and setting, all of it feels a bit stunted. An intriguing plot is hampered by sloppy storytelling, and the fight system is nice enjoyable, however it loses its edge lengthy earlier than the credit roll. For those who can play previous the sport’s flaws, there’s rather a lot to love concerning the mind punk world of Scarlet Nexus — simply do not anticipate it to rewire your personal gray matter.