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. 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.
  2. 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
  3. Jonnyrosa
    Jun 27, 2021
    10
    Um ótimo jogo, história envolvente e gameplay super divertido! As mecânicas de luta fazem ter fazer querer lutar mais e mais e o mistério da história te prende.
  4. Tailed-Raven
    Jun 28, 2021
    10
    Super Fun action game extra anime (slice of life/visual novel). You can feel the tales of series feeling that I really like
  5. 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.
  6. EbalAdama
    Jun 26, 2021
    10
    A wonderful plot and gameplay that captivated me for many hours. The only negative that closes all of the above is the narrative that is present in the game.
  7. HiNASang
    Jul 2, 2021
    10
    God Game !!

    DLC plz !! plz plz and Anime love ! hahaha

    Bandai good !!!!!
  8. AbibGuardian
    Jul 10, 2021
    10
    Great Game Great Story and great character. I thought it just another anime game but it is great
  9. CreepyMac
    Jul 12, 2021
    10
    Perfeito. Obra prima. Não mudaria nada. Emocionante. História envolvente que te prende do início ao fim. Sistema de batalhas diversificado possibilitando mil e uma alternativas para lidar com os inimigos. Gostaria de apertar a mão do desenvolvedor desse jogo.
  10. titomito54
    Aug 28, 2021
    10
    ESTA BUENISIMO la verdad.
    juge la demo y se ve bueno.
    tini tini tini mua mua mua
    dale mienteme
  11. 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.
  12. 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
  13. 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!!!!
  14. Gabrielct93
    Jun 26, 2021
    9
    Very nice crips visuals for anime game, astonishing fast paced and rewarding gameplay, nice story and likeable characthers. Also very cool soundtrack.
    The only con is that most of cut scenes are still images of the characthers talking.
  15. Nenmp4
    Jul 3, 2021
    9
    This game balances fun combat with great characters. I can’t really ask for more in a hack n’ slash game in all honesty. I never found myself bored of playing it…which is usually an issue I have with the genre, but this game broke that ceiling for me. Everything down to the music I enjoyed thoroughly, not a single thing disappointed me, definitely worth the 60 dollar purchase. SomethingThis game balances fun combat with great characters. I can’t really ask for more in a hack n’ slash game in all honesty. I never found myself bored of playing it…which is usually an issue I have with the genre, but this game broke that ceiling for me. Everything down to the music I enjoyed thoroughly, not a single thing disappointed me, definitely worth the 60 dollar purchase. Something I’ll be coming back to expecting to have fun every time!!… Expand
  16. 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).
  17. 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)
  18. 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
  19. 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.
  20. Nie_Art
    Jun 27, 2021
    8
    After 35hours playing i recomended this game,New standart Graphic on Anime game...the visual is great, Storyline interesting., But almost Repetitive but What do you expect with anime game?.... altleast storyline is interesting, and satisfying combat i give it 8..and mybe 7,9
  21. Shakir00
    Jul 3, 2021
    8
    a very good action anime game actually, the story parts quite interesting but the fighting mechanism was the key part of this game. The combination of power you can use and the effects of the power(sas) used to the gameplay are very fun to play. every power have it use however yes the enemy type can be repetitive for some time but the variety of combo and environmental interacting usinga very good action anime game actually, the story parts quite interesting but the fighting mechanism was the key part of this game. The combination of power you can use and the effects of the power(sas) used to the gameplay are very fun to play. every power have it use however yes the enemy type can be repetitive for some time but the variety of combo and environmental interacting using your power can spice thing up and keep it engaging. Spent almost 16 hours in this game and left quite satisfied. One of main weakness for me is the relationship between characters and the kind of interaction need to suit the current plots.… Expand
  22. 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
  23. 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.
  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. SuperkenGaming
    Jul 10, 2021
    7
    Scarlet Nexus
    One of the Most Boring good games ive ever played
    Scarlet Nexus is a 16 hour long action JRPG where you play as either Kasane or Yuito, I had to look up their nae before I wrote this review, because that’s how little I cared about this games story. The story seems to be very hit and miss, which isn’t necessarily a good thing considered half of the game is voiced dialog    Scarlet Nexus
    One of the Most Boring good games ive ever played
    Scarlet Nexus is a 16 hour long action JRPG where you play as either Kasane or Yuito, I had to look up their nae before I wrote this review, because that’s how little I cared about this games story.
    The story seems to be very hit and miss, which isn’t necessarily a good thing considered half of the game is voiced dialog comic styled cutscenes… Im not exaggerating, you spend just as much time sitting, waiting for the action to happen as you do actually playing.. some seem to love the story, I however was bored out of my mind, basically youre part of a group of people with special powers, the government is after your brains, youre losing or have lost your memories, something about spaghetti noodles coming from the sky, youre on the governments hitlist and you gotta stop these moon people from destroying earth.. I think.. I think that’s the story… if youre not intogovernemnt conspiracy, half this game.. this is now an 8 hour action jrpg that thankfully is a blast to play though.. you have telekenisis and a sword, you cn slic enemies up as well as throw objects and use the environment to do massive damage, as you progress the game youll unlock new abilities.. which seems to never stop, tutorials will pop up literally the entirety of the games campaign, but as you make it through th story, more charcters will join your party and youre able to borrow their powers as you take on these moon cratures known as others, you can use fire powers, invisiblity, dashing, electric, super speed, dashing, and work up your skill tree to the point that you can stack these abilities, all on cool down.. this is when the game is at its best, taking down enemies and bosses… is the gameplay good enough to justify a purchase on its own though? No.
    Scarelt nexus is insaley repeitve, youre just goin around these very Japanese game styled maps, getting locked ito areas, clearing them and moving on.. youll see a lot of repeat areas, not even counting the optional bonding missions you can do with each of this games characters, so youll rarely come to a cool new area being begged to explore and even if you did there is no exploration incetive, the gear and weapons here are awful, you wont find new wepons, you just by them from a shop that thankfully just shows up in these dungeons, you don’t have to fast travel to a hub or wait until a mission is over to buy consumables, but these 5 weapons for each charcter you buy just will show up the deeper you get into the game, and you buy them and equip them, that sabout as deep as the loot system goes..
    If th sound of a government conspiracy trying to steel the brains of these kidswith crazy powers doesn’t excite you, there is no reason to pick this one up..
    While I found the story to be painfully slow, drawn out, and boring, others are liking it, and for those people, scarlet nexus offers a good package, and a 16 plus hours youll really enjoy, you might even enjoy it enough to play it twice for both sides of the story,
    for me, I could barely manage the story the first time around
    I give Scarlet Nexus
    a 7/10    … Expand
  26. 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
  27. 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
  28. Ridnir2
    Jul 15, 2021
    7
    Name of the game is the game play.If you want good anime story you won't find it here but man the game play is flashy,awesome and engaging.The combos feels solid and satisfying. I loved yuito game play.The hack n slash felt new and refreshing.Story as you expected from this type of games anime cliché,cringy and borderline boring.
  29. D3jaVu
    Jul 19, 2021
    7
    I think the game is serviceable but it does have flaws. The combat is great and fluid. Voice acting seemed pretty good. My biggest issue is with the story. Most of it is played to you after each area using still pictures. Some of the immersion gets lost and I felt kind of bored as the game went on. There's a lot to soak in at least it's all explained to you. Second it seems yourI think the game is serviceable but it does have flaws. The combat is great and fluid. Voice acting seemed pretty good. My biggest issue is with the story. Most of it is played to you after each area using still pictures. Some of the immersion gets lost and I felt kind of bored as the game went on. There's a lot to soak in at least it's all explained to you. Second it seems your character wants to kill the other team. You have this big battle where you're flinging concrete blocks and telephone poles at them. In the next cutscene they're trying to have lunch with you talking about what you do after work, makes no sense. Lastly you have to revisit a lot of the previous maps I'm assuming this is a money saving thing so they can reuse the maps, but damn it get repetitive.… Expand
  30. AgentLvi
    Jan 1, 2023
    7
    Decent game. The story is so --so, scoring is great, visual is decent, and the voice is also great
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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 »