Scarlet Nexus is one of the better action RPGs to hit this current generation of consoles. It’s a gorgeous game with a complicated backend that makes you want to keep playing. The side-quests might be forgettable, but it certainly has a lot more to offer with its main story.
A couple of weeks ago, Scarlet Nexus was released from BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment. It’s an interesting action RPG that combines a lite version of Devil May Cry with the inner workings of a traditional RPG adventure that is very dialogue-heavy. With a mixture like that, someone is bound to be happy about it, right?
Settling in with this one
You should know that this game could be an anime, In fact, it just launched on July 1st as one. Anyway, anime awesomeness aside, the story is about as anime as you can get, focusing on alternative earth where beasts called the Others roam outside city limits waiting for unsuspecting adventurers to run into, where they can be consumed and what not. The world has to fight these things and keep them in check, so it has created the Other Suppression Force (OSF), an organization that is a makeshift army that taps into a brain map of the individual, which grants them powers and upgrades to keep them sharp and useful. Each OSF member has to go through training, which is where you come in as either Yuito Sumeragi or Kasane Randall, but deadly and efficient in their own rights. When the Others start showing up in cities, the OSF gets overly concerned and starts heavily recruiting and training new fighters, which is where you come in as a player.
It’s an interesting story and the game itself is loaded with details. Lots of details. Details that make the gameplay stop and go so frequently that you believe the story is the main purpose of the game and the gameplay itself has taken a backseat. And don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the hell out of a good story, but the unbalanced fighting versus narrative tips in the favor of the latter, which makes the gameplay so stop and go when the going gets going. There were times where the fighting was just so much fun, but I knew we were in for some dialogue. You can feel it coming up. While you can skip it, it’s best not to do so, as there are some great three-act structures to be had, as well as some deep meaningful characters to enjoy. This might be the first RPG that has caught my attention for the story, it was just that good. It feels like Devil May Cry got together with Attack on Titan, where oddness meets terror. It’s a good mixture of intrigue that might help the flip/flop-ing between gameplay and story feel less drab. The mixture of beautifully big environments that put you in the game’s story and the batshit crazy enemies that make you feel like Miyazaki’s nightmares have come to fruition is something to behold all at once. The story is good, but there is just a lot of it and sometimes it doesn’t do justice to the gameplay. For me, I was here to play a game and not watch a show. You shouldn’t have both because one gets robbed.
So what could the devs have done here to correct this? Well, chunking the story out in big pitstops always helps. People love games like Metal Gear Solid for that technique. But small chunks of a dinner-sized quantity of story just seem to kill the flow of the actual gameplay. Again, don’t get me wrong, the story was great, but it just felt unbalanced in distribution with actual gameplay.
Gameplay functions smoothly
I wish that most of the RPGs that I have played in the past functioned so well with regard to design mechanics. I love how this game feels, especially with a PlayStation 5 controller in hand. The gameplay mechanics are broken down into a few areas. The first is your basic hack/slash, which the game does well, though it is pedestrian in function. You have sword slashes, combinations you can throw at enemies, and good defense in case you need it. It’s what you would expect and if you’re a fan of the DMC series, you know how this is going to work on a basic level. It works well here and it feels good in the midst of a fight. Dodging is equally good and anticipated attacks, even with bosses, are easily seen. It’s a button-mashing fest that feels good when taking down an enemy. That’s good action and something you want in an action-oriented game.
Of course, the game might start with the basics, but then it gets complicated quickly.
You can use objects around you to damage enemies, which isn’t new to the gaming world, but wow is it satisfying. In the beginning, the game just shows you how to pick up objects and fling them at the Others. The longer you hold down the button to psychically grab objects and fling them, the more damage you’re going to perform. The idea of varying levels of damage is that you have to strategize how much distance and time you have from the enemy. The further you’re away, you’re going to do great damage from the object you fling but will miss out on additional damage when you combine it with your weapon attacks. If you get too close as you’re grabbing objects, you run the risk of getting hit in mid grab, so you have to really strategize how things are going to go down distance-wise to get the most out of this type of move. It’s fascinating the amount of simple thought that runs the gambit with this decision-making. Throwing objects and using one’s weapon in conjunction is just gameplay mechanics satisfaction at its best.
And then things get really fun.
Picking up objects and flinging them is fun, but ripping apart objects and smashing them in various ways on enemies is absolutely thrilling. The game allows you to work multiple ways with different objects in the environment. This alone makes the game so much more interesting than other titles like it. It also is nice that the above interactions are felt through the PS5’s adaptive triggers and the haptic feedback function, which adds more to the design/function plate. And these are all just basic fighting functions. Again, these are basic movements that you learn at the beginning of the game by the second mission and it’s just going up from there.
Beyond these simple button mashing and QTE moments, the game has a superb backend skills tree, which allows you to unlock different types of abilities. The Brain Map in the game is just a giant skills tree on the surface. It unlocks different abilities and expands on others that you previously have. It also allows you to work with teammates in fights, which is a big plus in the game. The AI in this game is off the charts dependable in my opinion, which I can’t say is usually the case for NPCs in most titles. They are generally afterthoughts, but not here. Anyway, the BM is expansive and it connects with so many different ways to fight in the game. It will certainly give you a solid reason to keep playing and will motivate you to do side-quests (which are a bit bland) and to become the completionist you never knew you would be. The BM is broken down into Enhance skills (upgrades to how well you can fight), Support skills (upgrades to equipment and moves), Expand Skills (upgrades to combat tactics), and a few other skill sets. Again, it’s really quite impressive how extensive the backend of this game can be with a large flow chart detailing all its different patterns. It will expand the longevity of the Scarlet Nexus experience and what it has to offer. Beyond skill trees, you have traditional item upgrades through purchases, something every RPG SHOULD have with it, and ways to work with other players. It has a lot of mixing and matching going on in the game that will certainly make it deeper and more intriguing than you might expect.
Altogether, the mechanics of weapon play mixed with the mechanics of object flinging/smashing/destruction mixed with an extensive skills tree that makes attacks and co-op with AI devilishly fun time equal out to an exciting action JRPG that lives up to its bill.
What about the pretty?
The game is f**king gorgeous. The PlayStation 5 has the hardware to handle the girth of the world that BANDAI NAMCO Studios Tose put together. When you enter your first city for the first time, you’ll see large expansive skyscrapers that seem to stretch out the draw distance and verticality you want from a current-generation system experience. The worlds are large, they’re multi-tiered, they’re creative and stylish, and they put you in all of them well. You would expect the girth and range of the environments from the PlayStation 5 and the system delivers it.
On top of this, the model and animation of the creatures and heroes are really solid. You get lingering details and beautiful neon lights that remind you that you’re playing essentially an anime. The enemies are intricately put together with properly smooth animation and plenty of visual terror, while the heroes look and move fluidly with over-the-top attacks in the proper anime way. It’s all eye-candy in the strictest of senses, and it works for the story and meets all expectations. Bandai set a new bar with visuals that every other game it makes has to live up to or exceed. Here’s hoping it can do better, but at the same time has done better with Scarlet
Nexus.
It’s freaking nice.
Conclusion
Scarlet Nexus is one of the better action RPGs to hit this current generation of consoles. It’s a gorgeous game with a complicated backend that makes you want to keep playing. The side-quests might be forgettable, but it certainly has a lot more to offer with its main story.
