Scarlet Nexus developed Bandai Namco Studios, responsible for Code Vein, and the project leaders were Keita Iizuka (Keita Iizuka) and Kenji Anabuki (Kenji Anabuki), who previously worked on the series Tales of and, in particular, over the beloved Tales of Vesperia . It is clear that expectations from the game were high. And in general they were justified.
Interesting universe
IN Scarlet Nexus we see a picture familiar to many games. People are attacked by strange alien mutants (they are called Others here), who love to devour brains, and the only defenders from them are psionic fighters from the Other Suppression Squad (OSI). Only they, with the help of their extrasensory abilities, can cope with aggressors, so they constantly recruit talented psionics from all over the world. They all look like teenagers because they take anti-aging pills that help them retain their skills longer.
They learned to develop such abilities by influencing a special psionic hormone in the human brain. Therefore, almost the majority of people have more or less pronounced psychic skills. And those who do not have are called dummies. The authors also added elements of cyberpunk and dystopia – and as a result, the seemingly formulaic sci-fi turned into a really interesting setting, which the authors themselves call breakpunk.
Two exciting and different story campaigns
At the start, we choose who to play for – for Yuito Sumeragi, a recruit of the OPI, who is also the son of the head of government and the brother of the commander-in-chief, or for the already experienced cadet of the Squad Kasane Randall. These are two different story campaigns. At first, of course, a lot is repeated, but even general scenes (for example, the first attack of the Others that happened on the streets of the city) we see from different points of view. And in the future, in approximately similar situations, we hear other dialogues and get acquainted with other characters – Yuito and Kasane end up in different OPI detachments under different commanders. Soon the main characters begin to intersect quite closely in the plot – writing letters to each other and going on missions together.
And, naturally, we also see this differently. The authors generally emphasize in every possible way that Yuito and Kasane are different from each other. He, despite the hype that immediately swirls around the new recruit (of course, he is related to such influential politicians!), tries to remain modest, kind and considerate. She is generally distinctly cold, can be straightforward to the point of being rude, and only seems to care about her half-sister Naomi.
As a result, the storylines of Yuito and Kasane at some point radically diverge – they find themselves on opposite sides of the barricades, to say the least. But at the same time there is still a feeling that everything should end differently. It’s not for nothing that intrigue is set at the very beginning of the game – Yuito recognizes in Kasane the girl who saved his life many years ago, when he was little. But they are the same age – how can this be??
In general, in history Scarlet Nexus everything is so wildly twisted into a tangle of intrigue, unexpected events and questions that you stop paying attention to the stereotyped nature of some moves and characters. I just want to know how it all ends.
For the same reason, you understand and accept that this is not an open-world game, but first and foremost a bright, twisted plot anime. Everything here is subordinated to the story, so there aren’t that many side quests (although there are always additional activities), and we’re rarely allowed to run through the city streets.
Lots of different characters to chat with
Besides Yuito and Kasane in Scarlet Nexus full of other characters. Among them are many comrades of the main characters, with whom we interact quite closely (including on the Internet), building relationships. There is a flirtation with giving gifts, and a purely practical benefit – the higher the level of connection with a particular character, the more cool his psychic abilities can be used in battle.
Yes, as I already said, among the characters there are many stereotyped images for anime (and not only). Immediately a merry joker appears; a disgruntled mischief-maker who has a grudge against the heroes; a wild girl with pigtails; a childhood friend whose friendship, it seems, is about to degenerate into something more (she clearly wants this); secretly in love with Yuito, a quiet woman who speaks with such an anime breath (I played with Japanese voice acting, which I advise you too!) that you start expecting some hentai scene.
And there is a lot of banal pathos in the dialogues. There are also stupid things. For example, in the story, Yuito experiences a personal tragedy, but at the same time, in scenes and dialogues designed to improve communication with his partners, he can easily discuss fortune keychains, restaurants and fashion magazines. And even as if nothing had happened, he meets a girl who seems to be in the camp of enemies, drinks tea with her and talks about how good it is that she takes care of him.
This is not entirely the fault of the writers – in theory, such scenes need not be launched during this difficult period for Yuito. But still, some people stand out from the general rhythm and mood. From this point of view Scarlet Nexus inferior to Tales of Vesperia and some other JRPGs – there are non-trivial characters and better written dialogues. But fresh game Bandai Namco Studios still takes its toll on the number of partners, how often we interact with them, how different they all are, how many events are connected with them. It’s still interesting to follow the relationships between the characters, especially if you like anime. Another thing is that it could be even better..
Challenging and exciting battles
But what Scarlet Nexus definitely succeeded in is the combat system. Fights take place in real time in the style of slashers, but we don’t just kill enemies with melee weapons (Yuito uses a large sword in close combat, and Kasane attacks from a distance with throwing daggers), but we actively alternate the psionic abilities of the heroes. Sometimes allies are given out according to the plot, but, as a rule, we ourselves choose the composition of the team and whose talents we will use in battle.
So, you can use the telepathy of little Colonel Luka to instantly teleport across the battlefield. This will help in situations where the monster covers its body with a metal barrier, as soon as we run up to it – it will not have time to react, and we will knock it down with blows to vulnerable places. Other monsters know how to go into the shadows, hiding from sight – then it’s better to borrow from that same quiet woman in love her talent of premonition that will reveal all the hidden enemies. And if Others are vulnerable to fire, then we take pyrokinesis from a childhood friend.
There are many characters with talents – for all occasions. And our task is to alternate these abilities in a timely manner, given that they all work only for a limited time and then are recharged. Therefore, it is important to interact with partners, strengthen communication in order to increase the effectiveness of their skills.
Yuito and Kasane use telekinesis, which allows them to throw objects from boxes and bicycles to cars and buses at Others. Sometimes you can even saddle the latter in order to drive the battlefield and crush the evil ones.
There are also special objects that cause increased damage – you can blow up a fuel tanker, bring down a ceiling on monsters or hit them with a construction hook, tear out and throw a pillar or part of a wall. QTEs are often involved.
There is also an analogue of the rage mode (“brain acceleration”), when all psionic talents work more efficiently and recharge faster. Moreover, you can go into the so-called “thought field” to inflict especially powerful damage. Essentially, the psionicist in this case is fighting in his own head.
We increase the effectiveness of telekinesis, normal attacks and other actions that help in battle by learning and pumping up skills on the so-called brain map – as we gain new levels, brain points are allocated for this, respectively.
Plus, of course, no one has canceled equipment that gives bonuses to strength, health, defense, and so on. Additional cells need to be opened for them – the main characters do this by leveling up the corresponding skills, and their partners need to be given special devices. By the way, gifts, consumables, and equipment can not only be purchased, but also exchanged for collected resources.
As a result, battles are dynamic and challenging even on normal difficulty. And bosses generally use unique tactics and change behavior – to win you have to use almost all talents, mechanics and capabilities, which is rare in JRPGs. Just like the fact that grinding is possible, but not necessary – the player’s “skill” decides more here.
The game looks like a cool drawn anime
Yes, in Scarlet Nexus budget feeling is felt. There are no super-sophisticated graphics here, and instead of cinematic videos, pictures are used. But they are well drawn – at the level of high-quality anime. It is no coincidence that a series of the same name has already begun to appear based on the game.
The design of the Others was especially successful. It’s not easy to describe these bouquets of flowers with women’s legs and other monsters in clear words. The authors themselves say that they deliberately mixed organics and mechanics when creating the Others. But they obviously didn’t stop there—the imagination of local artists would have been the envy of the authors Silent Hill.
It is clear that Scarlet Nexus not the best JRPG in the world and it has its problems. But the game also has enough arguments that I would without a doubt recommend it to all fans of the genre and anime in general. And the main one of these arguments is that in Scarlet Nexus interesting to follow the story. Not to mention the fact that it is represented by two story campaigns – this is generally rare in the role-playing genre.
Pros: a fascinating plot, divided into two campaigns for different heroes; many characters with whom you can communicate and interact; interesting setting; a largely unique combat system; extremely colorful monsters; gorgeous art; expressive voice acting, especially in Japanese; the game has been translated into Russian.
Cons: there are quite a lot of clichés and banal pathos in the plot, characters and dialogues; The camera does not behave quite adequately when moving and in battles.
Scarlet Nexus
Best comments
Chip? Oh no! Frequent attribute? Oh yeah! And this is bad, because the “feature” of FIFA is minimal changes or the “feature” of a Korean MMORPG is pay2win, this does not make these things good, common yes, but not good. Therefore, every time they will and must poke at this, pointing out these clichés as a minus. It would be strange to indicate the style of the anime in the minuses, but here the complaints are more than appropriate.
And it looked like a complaint about the absence of a Russian.
Well, sorry then 🙂
It’s strange, in my https://pesobetcasino.co.uk/games/ opinion, to write down the disadvantages of corridor locations. This is more Hack and Slash in the spirit of DMC, MGR, etc.d., not a big jRPG.
By the way, I would also note a very interestingly designed hub. When you give gifts to other party members, they appear in the hub, and the characters do not hesitate to interact with them (for example, if you give one character a game console, then sometimes you can find her playing against another character). Due to this, at the end of the game the hub becomes very “alive”.
Correction: this is Brainpunk, according to the studio. And I’m inclined to agree with them. Great setting with great lore.
In general, in the history of Scarlet Nexus, everything is so famously twisted into a tangle of intrigue, unexpected events and questions that you stop paying attention to the stereotyped nature of some moves and characters. I just want to know how it all ends.
One of the strongest aspects of the game is the plot, it is really so well twisted and knows how to give a beautiful bream of the class “what a twist, everything was wrong”!». And not once, not three times.
Those who have already experienced this in Xenoblade, Xenogears, YS, Atelier, Astral Chain, Nier will immediately understand what I mean.
If you like this – welcome
They all look like teenagers because they take anti-aging pills that help them retain their skills longer.
A very elegant explanation indeed. Many of them are over 40-50 years old, in fact. And it turns out to be a pretty cool dissonance: Arashi, for example, looks like a teenager, with the voice of a teenager, is very lazy, like a teenager, but at the same time speaks like a mature woman.
Besides Yuito and Kasane, Scarlet Nexus is full of other characters.
A very diverse cast only benefits the game, they are well written.
Yes, as I already said, among the characters there are many stereotyped images for anime (and not only).
There are patterns in all genres and cultures, it’s just that among the Japanese they are very bright and expressive, which is why they are more striking.
(I played with Japanese voice acting, which I advise you to do as well!)
I took it in English, because for me it’s also language training.
It is very difficult for me to hear Japanese speech and read English subs – I get lost. And the English dub is actually very good, with the exception of some lines.
And there is a lot of banal pathos in the dialogues.
Alas, yes. Fortunately, I’m used to an abundance of pathos and a lot of talk about friendship.
Globally, this doesn’t interfere with history in any way, you can just train yourself to take it for granted.
The same manner of repeating a thought after your interlocutor is a manifestation of politeness in Japan. If you listen to your interlocutor carefully, you briefly pronounce his key idea.
But what Scarlet Nexus definitely succeeded in is the combat system.
She’s really awesome. Some people complain that attack animations can’t be interrupted by dodging, but it makes you think more seriously on the battlefield. I was terrified of the mechanics, somewhat reminiscent of Platinum Games.
We actively alternate the psionic abilities of the heroes
I can’t immediately remember what it reminded me of, but it plays great.
Very inventively and appropriately woven, I would say. I’m not a fan of QTEs in many other games, but here I destroyed others with QTEs with great pleasure.
The game looks like a cool drawn anime
The game has a very recognizable and expressive style. And the game really looks like a very coolly staged and drawn anime film. I play on XSX – 95% of the time it produces honest 4K@60fps with rare drops to lower resolutions.
Honestly, I love it, it’s very well designed, the render is polished.
If it helps anyone, yes, it is somewhat reminiscent of Astral Chain and vice versa.
That’s right. He was one of the selling point.
And I also consider it a real crime not to mention the awesome soundtrack here. He immediately sank into my soul. In terms of genres, this is a wild mixture of electronics, rock motifs, electronic rock, elements of dub-step, as well as lounge motifs of varying degrees of playfulness.
At the very beginning of the demo version, Scarlet Nexus greeted me with the track “Determination Overdrive”, aka “Grab your power by yourself” (apparently, the tracks are translated/adapted from Japanese in different ways: a common occurrence) – and immediately fell in love with their style.
On release everything turned out to be even better: melodic, inventive, bright and very diverse. The composers even manage to play well on dissonances (the track “Eliminate the Others”, which sounds during heavy battles).
It’s hard to find a release where the music was so organic, beautiful and managed to sound great separately from the game.
P.S.: Incompatible thoughts immediately reminded me of the soundtracks from various Tales of, Atelier, YS, Trails of Cold Steel – everything I love.
Well, you’re literally complaining about Japanese voice acting in a Japanese game 🙂
Russian subtitles were already brought to us, which, although it happens more and more often, still never ceases to please.
Put it in English, maybe it will be better perceived, no problem.
I passed as Kisane, I will pass as Yuito. The game really stands out for its interesting plot, well-developed characters and pleasant, cheerful combat. Only towards the end there are a couple of locations that feel drawn out, but this can be forgiven. We tried to diversify the battles with the final bosses, for which special respect. Definitely in the collection of favorite games and a little surprised why not Raisin.
you can still remember the corridor locks
For me this is more of a plus.To. I’m tired of open worlds and useless walking)
And here there are usually dense buildings and excellent design of these same corridors. Except, perhaps, the last two locations.
Completed Scarlet Nexus.
My sincere and subjective 9.5 out of 10.
I don’t even regret that I believed in Bandai Namco and this title.
a little surprised why not raisins.
Me too. From me – definitely “raisins”.
And if you compare it with their previous project, whose name I constantly forget, this is generally a cosmic step forward. There in the comments they write about corridors. Well corridors, yes corridors. The game is like this, not in popenworld, so to speak. I don’t smell any downside.
Yes, in this game the open world would, on the contrary, play against the hero’s involvement in the process. There is a linear plot that drags you through all the acts like a locomotive. Some will like it, others will prefer open world, but such games also have a right to exist. And for them, corridor locations (which are even sometimes repeated, t.To. even in real life we walk along the same streets, but in the game the action scenes are localized mainly in the central streets) – this is a plus.
The game is more like a solid 8.5-9 points out of 10.
There are holes in the plot with the same Melons, where and why they disappeared ((or Yuito will be explained, idk).
Yuito’s phrase at the end confuses many people; it should have been translated differently, otherwise unnecessary questions would actually come up.
What’s wrong with the BABY data?. It is highly doubtful that the computer just merged so easily, in fact.
NG+ lacks additional difficulty or post-game hard dungeon. Because the combat is very simple, if you accept the fact that you won’t be able to spin the combos normally most of the time.
Music of normal level locations. It would be desirable to have tracks like in the Tails Series – memorable, xD.
Conversations with characters in the rest phase sometimes really spoil the atmosphere. The simplest thing is that in the 10th rest phase, the entire plot drive disappears while you farm relationship points. Pure IMHO, they got it wrong here, just like with the explanation after Kasane’s attacks, when, it seems, her party members help her, and then you go to a cafe to talk to them. But from Kasane’s perspective it looks even more or less.
Well, last dungeon already smells like trolling from the developers. Already in BABY, there were situations when identical packs were thrown at you almost in a row (again, at the level before another), but here there was still not enough logic for a new super midboss. Since the only adequate claim to the variety of enemies is beyond the entire game.
If this part sells well, then perhaps more money will be allocated for a sequel (or a sequel). More money in a story-driven game – perhaps there will be more cinematic production.
In general, I almost finished Scarlet Nexus (phase 12), and I’ve already put it on my list of favorite games – I liked it so much.
I thought SG didn’t notice this game at all. Well at least the review is out.
Well, I sat down with the game at the start of sales, took it on pre-order, played from Friday until today for about 3-4 hours on weekdays and 5-6 on weekends. The rest of the games were completed in the same way.
In general, it’s convenient to play without platform restrictions and buy the game where it will be released first.
Now I’ll finish one three hundred thousandth of the backlog: Sakura Wars on PS5 (chapter 4), when I’m at the TV and Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 3 on PS Vita (chapter 5) – anywhere, from the road to work/on business, to just lying in bed from fatigue after work.
And like this – every year!
Well, no one forced the developers to make them, if there are side effects, then they should be of good quality, and not made to waste.
The choice is up to the player. IMHO, the developers are doing what many players demand of them; give them 500 hours of exciting, staged, varied gameplay (for half the discounted price in the spring sale, and even then they will spit). This has always infuriated me: the development budget is not rubbery, but even if you release an excellent non-stop whirlwind story-driven action game lasting 8 hours, they won’t look at the quality and spit that everything is too short, filling it up with low ratings, as is now fashionable to do.
Sorry, I didn’t read it, I’m just going through it, but it’s almost commendable? What serious problems are there?? 10+ hours. I’ve played enough so far, the best anime game ever, isn’t it??