Scarlet Nexus

 PC
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 169 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 109 out of 169
  2. Mixed: 39 out of 169
  3. Negative: 21 out of 169

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  1. Harmid
    Aug 10, 2023
    5
    Interesting story that is delivered in a lazy manner (mostly still images of people talking). CInematics are cool, but there's far too few of them. Combat is interesting when it works, but getting stun-locked by most attacks sucks for a system that tries to be fluid and fast-paced. Not being able to animation-cancel for dodges is also a huge detriment. Only managed to get through 7 hoursInteresting story that is delivered in a lazy manner (mostly still images of people talking). CInematics are cool, but there's far too few of them. Combat is interesting when it works, but getting stun-locked by most attacks sucks for a system that tries to be fluid and fast-paced. Not being able to animation-cancel for dodges is also a huge detriment. Only managed to get through 7 hours before uninstalling from how bored and frustrated I was. Will probably watch a youtube playthrough to see the story though.… Expand
  2. muzmuz
    May 24, 2023
    5
    Despite the lack of enemy types, weapon types or combos, Scarlet Nexus' combat manages to be satisfying enough with its synergies and special effects when paired with other characters, which properly distracts me from its terrible writing, boring manga panel presentation, laughable plot twists and shallow characters.

    Not representative of its full AAA price.
  3. Drapaa
    Apr 23, 2023
    7
    Sensational combat, beautiful graphicks, comrades are a big helps but repetitive locations and you can't play without a gamepad.
  4. Snjake
    Mar 18, 2023
    7
    Its not the best game but not the worst either it has its moments but got boring pretty fast
  5. Necr0s
    Mar 13, 2023
    10
    Bom, o Jogo me si é ótimo, história muito bem desenvolvida com personagens com personalidades únicas, ótima construção de cenário que me renderam varias fotos do jogo para usar como wallpaper, jogabilidade ótima com diversos combos, no geral, ótimo jogo!!!!
  6. KinimodYunmi
    Mar 11, 2023
    10
    Das beste Anime Spiel der Welt!

    Vom Stil her erinnert es sehr an God Eater 3 und Code Vein, von den beiden Spielen haben sie einfach alles Gute genommen und in ein Spiel gepackt und alles Schlechte weggelassen, wenn jedes Anime Spiel auf dem Stand rauskommt können wir ewig glücklich zocken! Auf einmal gibt es noch ein geiles Feature und du denkst, das war´s jetzt, was soll da denn    Das beste Anime Spiel der Welt!

    Vom Stil her erinnert es sehr an God Eater 3 und Code Vein, von den beiden Spielen haben sie einfach alles Gute genommen und in ein Spiel gepackt und alles Schlechte weggelassen, wenn jedes Anime Spiel auf dem Stand rauskommt können wir ewig glücklich zocken!

    Auf einmal gibt es noch ein geiles Feature und du denkst, das war´s jetzt, was soll da denn jetzt noch kommen und zack es kommt noch eins und noch eins und jedes einfach nur genial durchdacht und umgesetzt. Das Ganze passt auch noch super in die Steuerung!

    Zudem bekommen wir hier keine lappigen 8-12 Stunden, sondern 30-40 und das Wichtigste: eine sehr geniale Story, man weiß einfach nicht was es zu Ende ist, man denkt erst, dass es jetzt soweit ist und passiert doch noch was total unerwartetes, wie alles immer umgeworfen wird, echt wie in einer extrem guten Serie!

    10/10    … Expand
  7. Lt_Maverick
    Feb 16, 2023
    10
    No words. I don’t typically play Japanese style games but I loved this. So many aspects of this game got me. Story was weird but fun. Graphics were good. Combat was just sick. Easy recommendation.
  8. TitaniumDragon
    Jan 30, 2023
    5
    Scarlet Nexus is an anime-styled action game with limited RPG elements. You control a character who is a member of the OSF (Other Suppression Forces), who uses weapons plus psychic powers to fight the Others, horrible otherworldly monsters who have come to Earth to eat the brains of people.

    The core gameplay is decent enough. It starts out pretty simple – you have a basic melee or short    Scarlet Nexus is an anime-styled action game with limited RPG elements. You control a character who is a member of the OSF (Other Suppression Forces), who uses weapons plus psychic powers to fight the Others, horrible otherworldly monsters who have come to Earth to eat the brains of people.

    The core gameplay is decent enough. It starts out pretty simple – you have a basic melee or short ranged combo attack, a dash ability (that can also be used to dodge), and a jump ability, along with your psychokinesis power, which lets you pick up (select) objects from the environment to hurl at your enemies. Some of these objects are special interactive objects and will hit the enemy multiple times – like something that breaks in half and then you smash the two halves together on the enemy, or a telephone pole you can make sweeping attacks with.

    As the game goes on, you gain allied characters, who themselves have special powers which you can “borrow”. These range from the ability to set things on fire, to making you temporarily immune to damage, to turning you invisible, to letting you see invisible or hidden enemies, to teleportation (which can also be used to navigate through the environment by teleporting through certain barriers).

    The core gameplay is decent but not amazing; there’s a decent variety of enemies, though most of them basically boil down to “use the correct power and use your basic combo attacks on them”. Still, they have different attack routines, have pretty wildly varied appearances, and manage to put up a decent challenge. Some of the boss encounters are more challenging, and while I only had a couple game overs, they definitely pushed you at times, especially if you weren’t using your abilities wisely.

    As you play through the game, you gain levels and you become more powerful by unlocking abilities from a skill tree, which lets you gain additional moves, improve your combos, use multiple borrowed powers at once, and just get straight up statistical boosts.

    The biggest flaw with the game in terms of its gameplay is that it can get a bit repetitive, especially in the side missions; the side missions basically are composed of backtracking through areas to complete kill quests, where you have to kill specific Others in specific ways to complete the quest. As this is all rehashed content, it is not particularly interesting. But even the main story suffers a bit fom throwing a bunch of encounters between you and your goal, where many of the encounters are basically the same thing over and over again; while these segments aren’t overly long, they can at times feel like they’re padding, especially when nothing significant story-wise happens.

    The real problem with the game, though, is that it is a pretty heavily story-focused game, and the story is not written very well. You will spend a lot of time on the story, but the story was written by people who end up making everyone act unnaturally to preserve the “mystery” of what is going on.

    At the start of the game, you choose one of two characters (a male character, Yuuito, or a female character, Kasane); while you might think this is just a minor aesthetic choice, this is, in fact, a choice between entirely different storylines – the characters not only fight differently (Yuuito being a melee character while Kasane has short-to-mid-ranged attacks) but they experience entirely different storylines and have different personalities. The storylines are in fact the same storyline, but told from different perspectives, so you will see one set of events with Yuuito, and then a second set of events with Kasane, as for the majority of the game the characters are off doing different things in different groups, so rather than doing the same missions with different characters you’re actually playing through the other “half” of the story line, where you get to see a different perspective on things.

    Unfortunately, the result of this is that not only do you often not know what is going on, with important events happening “offscreen” with the other set of characters, only to have those events intersect with what you’re doing, but you have little idea that making the choice you do affects who your supporting cast will be for most of the game (though eventually you do gain access to both squads of characters).

    The biggest problem, however, is that this is one of those games where weird stuff is going on, events are crazy, and people refuse to explain anything to anyone, even when it makes no sense whatsoever for them to refuse to explain thigs. This is extremely annoying as the “mystery” is really “when will someone tell me what is going on” rather than “there is this mysterious thing going on that I need to investigate.” Indeed, on at least one occasion, you will “investigate” something only for the person who was with you all along to explain it after the fact. Why? No reason.    … Expand
  9. AgentLvi
    Jan 1, 2023
    7
    Decent game. The story is so --so, scoring is great, visual is decent, and the voice is also great
  10. phoebused
    Dec 20, 2022
    6
    Pros:
    • Great combat system
    • Convincing sci-fi plot • Good enemy design Cons: • Bad side quests • Force grind in the last few missions ** Scarlet Nexus is an action RPG. You will be choosing between two protagonists, similar to Persona 3 Portable options, with different teams and gameplay, at least for majority of the game until the end missions. Eventually, even if you choose    Pros:
    • Great combat system
    • Convincing sci-fi plot
    • Good enemy design
    Cons:
    • Bad side quests
    • Force grind in the last few missions

    **

    Scarlet Nexus is an action RPG. You will be choosing between two protagonists, similar to Persona 3 Portable options, with different teams and gameplay, at least for majority of the game until the end missions. Eventually, even if you choose Kasane or Yuito, both stories will be laid out and no missing points to sought over again after finishing the game.

    As someone who recently played Bandai’s Tales of Arise, I thought that the dialogue, visual novel scenes were rehashed. These may have been good during the light, candid moments throughout the game but when it was used to skip action scenes, the adventure of the climax felt lacking because it felt like reading a manga when I was holding a controller ready to enjoy the action.

    During standby phases, the main characters form bonds and relationships with the platoon members by talking to them or giving them gifts (which weirdly you can buy from the store, removing the thrill of hunting for these specific novelties). This relationship system is similar to Persona’s sim situation, albeit less enthusiastic and dramatic. As they reveal each other’s stories and motives, they level up until 5 with new abilities and passive support systems unlocked. However, this could have been a good reliever from all the stress but it felt like a chore at some point because of poorly written and uninvested squad members' backgrounds. Side quests also felt empty, introduced during the beginning of the game, then disappears almost lazily.

    The combat system is where the game shines. Unlike typical JRPG styles of slow ATB systems and turn-based strategic moves (which I'm not complaining on), this game will appeal to a Western gamer because of its hack-and-slash fast-paced, Devil May Cry-styled attacking and dodging.

    The main character employs the skill of telekinesis, flinging lampposts and cars toward the enemy, who are beautifully designed by the way in the cirque de soleil rhythm of Persona’s Shadows. Squad members are uncontrollable, however you can equip their skills and mix them together with your telekinesis abilties. This is where strategy will be employed as eventually the four squad members will become nine by the end of the game. I found it struggling to shift between double-tapping R1 (to switch UI) and clicking each of the buttons just to activate all maximum four skills at the same time just to defeat the large bosses.

    This game, however promising and full of potential, felt short of the gameplay time. 19 hours felt short if there were more side quests and the sim system was perfected and invested on. The story, however a good unfolding and world building, was cheesy in the sort of [I could’ve removed some filler OVA episodes out and focused on the main ones] kind of way. Other parts of the main story could have been a DLC or side quest. I was convinced however in the brain technology system and time travel initiative explained in the game – something this game could have used as a strong suit and focused the story more, in retrospect.

    All in all, this game is a good and refreshing one from Bandai; a good rest from all the repetitive franchise of JRPGs in the market. I will definitely play another one of something similar to these, when they make better and complete ones in the future.

    ***

    Gameplay Time: 19 hours    … Expand
  11. Sepherim
    Nov 10, 2022
    4
    Scarlet Nexus es un juego que, en el mejor de los casos, podría considerarse mediocre. La historia tiene un punto de partida interesante, pero luego rápidamente va perdiendo interés en buena medida porque los personajes carecen de carisma como para que realmente importe o interese lo que pasa o lo que descubren. La jugabilidad, centrada en los combates, es más floja, acabando por serScarlet Nexus es un juego que, en el mejor de los casos, podría considerarse mediocre. La historia tiene un punto de partida interesante, pero luego rápidamente va perdiendo interés en buena medida porque los personajes carecen de carisma como para que realmente importe o interese lo que pasa o lo que descubren. La jugabilidad, centrada en los combates, es más floja, acabando por ser tremendamente repetitiva ya que tenemos pocas opciones de cosas que hacer. La personalización mecánica de los personajes también es escasa, solo podemos elegir tres piezas de equipo que dan algunos bufos pasivos y, en el caso de nuestro protagonista, algunas habilidades que obtenemos de un árbol que mezclan algunas cosas pasivas con algunas activas pero que no aportan realmente nada demasiado nuevo. El resultado es que los combates se vuelven muy repetitivos, anclados en unos enemigos cuya varianza tampoco es tan grande y basados en unas mecánicas de combate que siempre son básicamente iguales.

    Gráficamente el juego tiene una estética bastante diferenciada y llamativa, ejecutada además con bastante habilidad, lo cual son puntos interesantes a su favor. El sonido también cumple bastante bien tanto en efectos de sonido, como en las voces, aunque personalmente no fui demasiado fan de la música. Y, al menos en mi experiencia, no me encontré con ningún bug de importancia.

    Por todo ello, no puedo decir que Scarlet Nexus sea terrible, pero tampoco puedo recomendarlo. He acabado por abandonarlo por aburrimiento, encontrándome que no tenía suficientes razones para seguir avanzando, y eso que apenas había llegado a la docena de horas. Un 4.    … Expand
  12. pmasterfunk
    Oct 7, 2022
    7
    Scarlet Nexus should be so much worse than it is. But incredibly, against all odds, Bandai Namco has actually made a game I don't intensely hate.

    MY WORLDVIEW IS CRUMBLING Scarlet Nexus is basically an action game with possibly the most ridiculous high-concept universe ever made into a game. The mechanics are overly complicated, the story is full of dumb twists, characters are    Scarlet Nexus should be so much worse than it is. But incredibly, against all odds, Bandai Namco has actually made a game I don't intensely hate.

    MY WORLDVIEW IS CRUMBLING

    Scarlet Nexus is basically an action game with possibly the most ridiculous high-concept universe ever made into a game. The mechanics are overly complicated, the story is full of dumb twists, characters are walking tropes, and yet - AND YET - I kept playing to see what happened next. I don't hate it, so it can't be that bad right? So what does it do well?

    ...

    I'm not sure, really.

    Visuals are a bit of a mixed bag. It's not that they're bad, but the mismatch between the very stylized anime characters and everything else doesn't work for me. Environments and enemies are realistically modeled, coloured and shaded soberly. Characters on the other hand have extreme proportions, are super colorful, and are cell-shaded. It's not that I don't like the designs; overall, I actually like how the characters look, and the enemies are pretty disturbing. Individually, designs work, but as a whole I think it produces an incoherent look.

    Characterisation isn't too bad. The main male character (Yuito) is the generic oblivious anime teenager, and his teammates are mostly a collection of tropes, but some of their early interactions aren't too bad. Later on, the supporting cast doubles in size, and the numerous supporting characters don't really get a chance to do anything other than stand in the background and yell "Yuitoooooo!" during cutscenes. We then spend lots of time with the MC, but he's kinda boring. I haven't played through the female's story.

    While we're talking narrative, the game is littered with massive info dumps. These dumps can be so dense and hard to follow that the game actually has its characters text message each other the plot, because the devs knew players would be lost. So yeah, the story is a mess. After finishing the game, I'm hard pressed to understand how any individual event really affected the ultimate fate of the planet. Imagine man A buys a lighter for man B, which helped B save himself from a zombie apocalypse, and B's survival would later make it possible for him to go back in time to make sure A met his future wife, because A would not have had kids otherwise, and the kids picked the the lighter, and later A's wife disappears to go into the future to save the world, which she accomplished by bringing that same lighter onto the alien mothership that allowed her to set up a chain reaction - powered by the power of friendship no less - that destroys the invading alien horde that initially caused the zombie apocalypse. Which was the instigating event?

    I haven't spoiled the story for you, but I kinda feel like I did.

    I don't mind the general gameplay, but it's clear that to really master/exploit the mechanics one has to really commit to its more esoteric elements. Slashing and dodging is not going to cut it; heavy use of secondary abilities is paramount to success, especially later in the game. Ultimately it's not really my bag, and I can nitpick all day. Stealth is kinda OP but doesn't work against bosses, there aren't many options for long range or AOE attacks, I suck at swapping between items or skill sets in battle, there are 3 meters and 3 HP bars to keep an eye on... it feels finicky to me. During most of the game 4 alternate skills are available, which I found fine, but when the team doubles in size the skills shoot up to 9, I never really got proficient with those. If you really like this kind of complexity, Scarlet Nexus has you covered. I prefer simpler things.

    The game also has Persona-style social stuff, but it doesn't work nearly as well. It works in Persona because there's pacing, there's buildup. Here they're all lumped together at the end of a chapter. After a 30-minute dungeon, there will be the opportunity to hang with your homies. At first, it's not too bad, but with the large cast, tons of items to give, long "bond episodes", it just gets very tedious. After 40 minutes of bonding and gifting, I want to move on, not ask Luka about his protein shakes. The supporting cast doesn't really get any interesting development in these events, either. I know not every side character can be Akinari from P3, but I want a bit more than "I want to work out and get big muscles because I'm insecure".

    Still, with all that being said, it's a decent game. I like that it's unique in its action, general aesthetic, and overall concept. It doesn't feel like a ripoff (except for the social part), and I feel like it was crafted with care and passion. So yeah, not bad, Bandai Namco.    … Expand
  13. Theanbushinobi
    Sep 3, 2022
    7
    Super super solid story, and really fun combat you'd think this game would be a 10/10 but linear and boring level design, extreme repetitiveness, and non stop cutscenes make this game one that by the halfway mark you just want it to be over
  14. TwoBe
    Aug 29, 2022
    8
    Play Yuito story first. Kasane story is not bad but it was meant to complement Yuito's, so for a better experience do Yuito first.

    This was a really good game, with a good story, good skills, epic finishing moves and interesting battle mechanics, the battle mechanics sometimes feel clunky and overwhelming at the beginning but is just matter of getting used to it. One thing that is    Play Yuito story first. Kasane story is not bad but it was meant to complement Yuito's, so for a better experience do Yuito first.

    This was a really good game, with a good story, good skills, epic finishing moves and interesting battle mechanics, the battle mechanics sometimes feel clunky and overwhelming at the beginning but is just matter of getting used to it.

    One thing that is not good is that some of the really cool skills are behind this "friendship system" that in order to use them you have to level up your friendship with all the characters, and that's a pain because it is really difficult to max out all the characters in your first playthrough, also no all of the characters have a "good" character or deserve it, for example Shiden, he was an asshwhole in Yuito's story, in Kasane's story he was ok, but in Yuito's he was a real pain in the ass, honestly the writers overdid it with that the guy.

    Anyway, lot's of fun with the game and definitely will be playing the second part if it ever comes.    … Expand
  15. Winged_hussar__
    Aug 29, 2022
    8
    Only after finishing the passage, I can summarize. Management in the game is crooked, but you can get used to it. The music is great, the storyline is just fine. On the whole, I can say: it is impossible to call the game even average, but it is not a masterpiece either.
  16. Oldman1917
    Apr 8, 2022
    10
    Now this is my favorite JRPG! Many years later, I felt like a teenager in a cool shonen like Naruto or Bleach. Cool story, good gameplay, addictive setting. True Playstation plays better.
  17. mugaro4201
    Mar 27, 2022
    0
    Scarlet Nexus game is too hardcore, difficulty level doesn't matter,..........
  18. eri41205
    Mar 23, 2022
    7
    This game did not get enough love, could be one of the best action game 2021.
    I prefer it better than Tales of Arise.
    Next game please don't spilt the storyline in two parts.
  19. AloisWRLD
    Mar 7, 2022
    9
    Brilliant game design and world building. Dialogue may fall flat at many points, though there are just as many great character interactions and game scenes (of course that doesn't eliminate the bad, but no game can be perfect).
  20. Adravil
    Feb 19, 2022
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Thanks to Jakir Channel for drawing my attention to this gem and a separate thanks to the Microsoft GamePass for letting me play this.

    -- I love the art style! People who designed Others: I don't know what sick exercises you practice to give birth to such not less sick... creatures, I am not sure if you sleep well at night, but gosh I hope you are paid well because you definitely should be. You are from the same school as Atlus' guys, are not you?
    -- I love the English voice actors and the story told by them because each of them feels different and feels alive, I feel myself there, involved in both action and complex affecting story. Luka does sound wise, as well as Kagero -- suspicious. Come on, even the only separate Arashi's voice, character, and her "Run, youngster!" can already sell the game to me hahaha.
    -- I love the combat system, fast and sharp, constantly testing your knowledge of your friends' skills and so making those skills useful. You did a great job!
    -- I love the music! Thank you for not just making my ears busy with thematic background sounds, but for doing your best to wrap the artists' visuals and gameplay designers' mechanics in a warm and slightly electrified blanket and cover me with it entirely. I hope you won't be mad about the comparison, but some time ago I really loved to just sit in the Velvet Room (you know where) and listen to the vocal track, or replay Alice's highly energetic background fight track (same place), but you managed to produce the same good tracks but more of them, to enrich the entire game!
    -- I love visuals and animations! This is partially a field of an art style, but anyways, it is funny to mention that this transition from quite static conversations to cut scenes has become more of a feature to me than just a "budget restriction" as someone may consider it. Those transitions are cool, like telling me "maaan, something is going to happen!". The only thing is, I would like to be able to switch the subtitles off for dialogs because they simply distract me. I want to be completely focused on the voices. Also I want to separately note faces (look at the Kasane's photo: you can't tell if she is looking at you, through you, or just thinking about something with her eyes open -- and this is cool, especially because I know why) and SAS link activation animations (literally any of them).

    Those were great 30+ hours of me taking care of Kasane (someone should have taken care of her too) and I want to see the story from Yuito's side as well. Without claiming anyone guilty I am shocked that this game is not yet as popular and discussed as the Persona series is (while I agree that Persona is just technically older and so is spread across many years and games).

    Conclusion: Do you know when the game is cool? It is when you start looking for similar games or other parts of the same series after polishing every corner in this game. And this is the case for me. I sincerely pray for this game to grow into a series and make me (and more people around the globe) happy once again in the future. And am already looking for similar games. Thank you Jakir Channel, thank you Microsoft, thank you Bandai Namco.    … Expand
  21. MajorKusanagi
    Feb 13, 2022
    8
    C'est un bon jeu. Les personnages sont intéressants / l'histoire est bizarre.

    Le gameplay est pas trop mal / le bestiaire aussi. Je lui met 8 car j'ai passer de bons moments sur le jeu.
  22. 3t3rnal
    Feb 10, 2022
    6
    An anime game that is more like a mildly interactive visual novel.

    Graphics: - anime styled, overall pretty good quality with some very nice environments - enemy design is very… distinct – but not in a very good way, and they feel very out of place and made so different just to be able to say they are original, but they are weird even by anime standards performance: - overall very    An anime game that is more like a mildly interactive visual novel.

    Graphics:
    - anime styled, overall pretty good quality with some very nice environments
    - enemy design is very… distinct – but not in a very good way, and they feel very out of place and made so different just to be able to say they are original, but they are weird even by anime standards

    performance:
    - overall very good, game feels well enough optimised, no crashing, no stuttering

    gameplay:
    - cutscenes after cutscene after cutscenes, then a short period of running around, even shorter period of fighting, then more cutsceeeeneeees
    - most of the cutscenes are boring AF with very little substance, some of them are fully animated, but most are this weird mix of animated and comics style, not a big fan tbh
    - fighting feels pretty good, landing some combos feels very satisfying
    - the abilities are pretty interesting and useful for the most part
    - target lock on is inconsistent, often it locks at an enemy out of field of view, or not the one you look at
    - would prefer if the HP of the enemies was decreased a bit and instead there was more of them, but overall it’s okay
    - bosses and minibosses are very spongy and the fights with them pretty unimaginative, you lure them into “traps” that damage them / hit their weakspots for more damage, but you still have to do it multiple times, making it repetitive – these fights are more an exercise in patience than in skill
    - forced finisher and ability animations which mostly let remaining enemies closer to get off an attack that you cannot dodge after the animation finishes
    - enemies also have some pretty interesting abilities or attack patterns, but their AI is kinda dum dum
    - companion AI is also dum dum, they are kinda useless other than drawing some attention at times, you can change their “tactics”, but it has very little impact in my experience, they also sometimes bug out and just run into enemies instead of actually attacking them, their pathfinding could also use some work, in some areas they get stuck all the time, constantly teleporting to you as you get too far away from them, teleporting is fine as a fix if it only happens occasionally, but as mentioned, in some maps, it’s near constant, distracting, and makes the AI look as even more of a joke...
    – game has a bunch of rpg elements, miscellaneous item drops that can be traded, etc. and is kinda grindy, there’s no special twist on the formula, it’s run of the mill kind of thing for this genre, but at least it feels mostly well balanced
    - the game is semi open world, the amount of locations is okay, but their size is pretty small and they are all completely linear
    - encounters respawn on re-entering locations, but resources that you have to gather appear to respawn on some sort of timer that’s not entirely clear and I don’t even see the point
    - overall, it’s your average japanese modern day action adventure game / rpg hybrid, and there have been some much better examples of the genre lately, for example the Nier series.

    Sound:
    - very good japanese voiceacting
    - very little ambience in most maps
    - music kinda forgettable, also not mixed correctly – some songs are really quiet

    story:
    - your average sci-fantasy anime, a lot of cliches and tropes, cringy “jokes” and a barage of badly explained pseudo scientific gibberish as a replacement for actual lore, and a crapton of cliché side characters that feel like the writers had a checklist of anime character tropes and did their damned best to have not one, but at least 2-3 meaningless characters for every category
    - neither the “lore” that’s not directly tied to the main story nor the side characters are worth caring about, they come and go without any serious impact, there’s no real depth to any of it
    - main story, told from the perspective of two characters, is pretty interesting and has some intriguing parts of it, but it’s still quite far from a masterpiece, mainly the crap characters drag it down
    - the main characters are also cliché AF, a lot of cringy behavior, retarded decisions, and so on

    Overall, what could be an interesting, if at times cliché filled anime (actually there is a SN anime now I think), got turned into a serviceable, but otherwise pretty indistinct game with some serious pacing issues and lack of actual gameplay time where you do stuff. I’d lie if I said there are no fun parts in this game, but unfortunately, they get pretty much evenly matched with the tedious or boring parts. With a 70 EUR price tag, I expected a lot more – a lot more game, especially. If I want to watch an anime, I go watch an anime.    … Expand
  23. VG_Alex
    Jan 17, 2022
    8
    As an ARPG, "SCARLET NEXUS" still needs to be improved, but the 'power of mind' design is also commendable as the selling point of the game.

    Review of "SCARLET NEXUS"

    Graphic/Art: 8.5

    Music/Sounds: 8

    Narrative/Performance:6.5

    Gameplay: 8.5

    Score: 8 (+0.1)
  24. Mandulum
    Dec 10, 2021
    7
    I liked the story but there are a lot of problems. The idea of two separate stories is a bust; everything of importance is answered in the first playthough. The environments are so very boring and linear and they make you repeat them ad nauseam.

    Date Completed: 2021-12-10 Playtime: 36h (22h first playthrough) Enjoyment: 7/10 Recommendation: I'm on the fence. If you do, skip the    I liked the story but there are a lot of problems. The idea of two separate stories is a bust; everything of importance is answered in the first playthough. The environments are so very boring and linear and they make you repeat them ad nauseam.

    Date Completed: 2021-12-10
    Playtime: 36h (22h first playthrough)
    Enjoyment: 7/10
    Recommendation: I'm on the fence. If you do, skip the second playthrough.    … Expand
  25. hamik17594
    Nov 9, 2021
    0
    Not to speak ill of anime fans, but is there a reason that they're such suckers for bad gameplay, story, pacing, really bad everything? Man, I really want to find the thing that's worth respecting here but I'm coming up less than short. Scarlet Nexus is both the worst video game of the year and the worst anime of the year. God, I am so embarrassed for anyone who enjoys this.
  26. Xitomz
    Oct 16, 2021
    8
    Good story with really nice characters, but poorly delivered. REALLY confusing at times aswell, too many long names and most of them thrown around randomly all at once. Till the later chapters I didn't even know what New Himuka was...

    Pros: -Great story -Good characters with decent development -Nice graphics -Good combat -Great music -Great and unique worldbuilding -Not too short    Good story with really nice characters, but poorly delivered. REALLY confusing at times aswell, too many long names and most of them thrown around randomly all at once. Till the later chapters I didn't even know what New Himuka was...

    Pros:
    -Great story
    -Good characters with decent development
    -Nice graphics
    -Good combat
    -Great music
    -Great and unique worldbuilding
    -Not too short to complete but not too long either (around 20 hours give or take if you play normally)
    -Both protagonists are really well written. Yuito is too good of a guy, while Kasane has that badass attitude that is the complete opposit of Yuito.

    Cons:
    -Confusing plot at times. I've been wondering multiple times throught the game "what am I doing here?" or "why are we going there".
    -Even though the story is really good, It's delivered really poorly. The big moments, cliffhangers and game-changing reveals barely make an impact on the player or the characters. It's such a shame because it has incredible potential due to it being pretty unique.
    -Scenery is good, but repetitive. You go to the same places over and over.

    Overall I give the game a solid 8. It's a good game, with good story but leaves me thinking how good of a game it could have been. It had the potential to be in the top of the list in terms of JRPG's or RPG's in general, but due to the problems I mentioned it will be just a solid game.

    I must say, if they ever make Scarlet Nexus 2 and take the chance to fix the issues I mentioned, we are gonna see one of the best JRPG's ever.    … Expand
  27. Gaudy
    Oct 13, 2021
    6
    Lo diseños esta bien, como en todos lo JRPGs. La historia es una locura, no hay quien la entienda y se puede hacer pesada. El sistema de lucha esta bastante bien y el crecimiento es rápido aunque se me hace algo complejo con tantisimas opciones y combinaciones. Graficamente esta algo obsoleto y no es nada original. Lo mapas podrian estar mas currados y la variedad de npcs es ridicula. SeLo diseños esta bien, como en todos lo JRPGs. La historia es una locura, no hay quien la entienda y se puede hacer pesada. El sistema de lucha esta bastante bien y el crecimiento es rápido aunque se me hace algo complejo con tantisimas opciones y combinaciones. Graficamente esta algo obsoleto y no es nada original. Lo mapas podrian estar mas currados y la variedad de npcs es ridicula. Se nota que es de bajo presupuesto y de que es para un publico japones. Aun así es entretenido y recomendable para fans del genero. Eso si, no es un triple A y no debería valer lo mismo.… Expand
  28. 2random
    Sep 18, 2021
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. There is no way to lock the enemy properly. It just keeps removing the lock at random.
    Old locations are empty, so there is no way to farm for resources to get a better weapon really fast. The resource I need just won't drop so I'm stuck with one of the worst weapons and I can't even upgrade it. There is also a ton of cosmetic items in the store I can't get for the same reason. Disappointed!
    The combat is fun and all, but the plot... oh man. The plot is just not doing it for me.
    - Hey, I've just killed your father. Imma kill you as well!
    - Let's just talk it out.
    Like, really? Really? Come on! And after the fight he be like "Oh no, she is escaping!". And wouldn't even follow or capture her.
    Imagine meeting a killer of your father irl. I bet you'd be more like 9S when he saw A2.    … Expand
  29. LorDofLegEnd
    Sep 9, 2021
    7
    STORY: 5/5 GAMEPLAY : 5/5 EXPLORATION: 3/5

    This is one of the best JRPG of 2021. The combat and gameplay is fun. Story is also nice. The one that disappointed me was the Exploration. The world is not that big and the side quests are not that rewarding. The bond system was nice you can unlock game changing abilities if you manage to go to level 6. Overall great game. Definitely worth playing
  30. Asquard
    Sep 6, 2021
    10
    This game is great.
    When I started, my expectations was really low.
    Story looks like common sennen story in the beginning, but literally every hour its getting better.
    Combat system is good.
    Graphics isn't resource intensive, but looks stylish.
    This game gave me a lot of emotions and Im very happy that ive found this.
    Sorry for my English.
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Awards & Rankings

43
#43 Most Discussed PC Game of 2021

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 25 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 25
  3. Negative: 0 out of 25
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Feb 17, 2022
    60
    Scarlet Nexus is its own worse enemy. Bandai Namco is trying to fill game's own shoes with engaging fights and JRPG style story narative, but fails to deliver them in a proper way and especially with consistency. And don't try to play the game with keyboard, you do need a controller.
  2. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Sep 3, 2021
    78
    They tried to tell a very epic story on a very limited budget. A contrast like this sometimes really grates on my nerves, but, paradoxically, it’s also a part of Scarlet Nexus’ charm. [Issue#254, p.40]
  3. CD-Action
    Sep 1, 2021
    80
    Scarlet Nexus is all about combat. The fights are spectacular thanks to vibrant cel-shaded graphics, but primarily because the developers skillfully combined a couple of truly explosive ingredients: agile protagonists with psychokinetic talents, well-designed enemies, and the ability to unleash hell using the powers of your AI-controlled companions. As for the game’s downsides, the environments are repetitive and the writers failed to tie up all the loose ends and left some plot holes. [09/2021, p.54]
See all critic reviews »