Developer/publisher: Bamco.
Platform: PS4/5/PC.
Official Site:
Release date: 25-06-2021.
I bought this game on a sale a while ago, this goes on sale quite often
and for that price I couldn't say no! since I wasn't sure what to play
till something else interested me I decided to work on my backlog
before adding more to it and honestly it feels better to look at what
you have instead of adding one more game to it from yet another sale.
I'm mostly positive about scarlet nexus, while I had a few minor gripes here and there
I enjoyed this game a lot more than the previous dumpster fire that I sat through!
Pro's
- Good story and great cast of characters.
- Bond episodes are fun and definitely worth doing as you play the game.
- Combat was good but can get repetitive...
- BGM.
Con's
- 80% of the scenes are told like skits, it very obvious they had a budget.
- Late game dungeons were too long and felt different from the pacing early on.
(Its like they finally paid their dungeon designer or something...)
This game has two scenarios with different MC's and from what I read before playing
you're basically forced to play it twice for the full picture, I decided to start with Yuito
first since that's who everyone seems to recommend. It takes place in a post-apo
setting about a bunch of kids that're part of a gaurdian corpse that protect citizens
from weird creatures. Not a lot of things made sense at first but as I played
through the game most of my questions were answered! and when I finished
for some reason I didn't feel the need to go through Kasane's route atleast not right away.
More rambles after the jump. I don't think there are any real spoilers in this post
atleast not those that are about the plot, I do talk about the characters a little but nothing major.
Yuito was pretty likable tbh, and a good protag! My favorite line of dialogue was:
Its better to take action than let yourself be cosumed by worry.
Which is easier said than done and well there were a lot of things also
in this game that they couldn't do much about yet they tried their best.
I liked Hanabi a lot as well, staple childhood friend but she was really likable and well written
it was also sort of implied she had a crush on Yuito but I was disappointed it never
went anywhere only implied and that she will tell him someday..... real buzzkill tbh.
I liked Gemma a lot as well! never thought he was that old too.
Luka... is where things get complicated, he's not a bad person but I just didn't like
his character as it felt like he was trying too hard or compensating for something
so I just ended up giving him sunglasses which actually suited him.
Tsugumi was the cute and shy girl of the group who really likes plants...
she ended up being my favorite female character in this game.
Arashi was pretty likable as well, Kagero was a total clown but I still liked him
despite some things?! so there's that! Kyoka... idk she kind of felt like a mom at times
but maybe I need to play Kasane's side to get her more or something. Shiden was an asshole
most of the time but he has some good points, by the end it was pretty clear he was just
a mega tsundere and some of his dialogue in his bond episode made me howl more often than not.
Honestly it was nice getting to know all the characters and it is definitely
worth to do their bond episodes as you play through the game!
I think my favorite character was Fubuki who is Arashi's brother
sadly he wasn't playable but that was okay since he is way too OP.
A certain villain reminded me of Ankou a little and in a ways it wasn't even
that different but honestly the story+cast was pretty strong in this game overall.
Also it surprised me by how anime this game is, it seems they tried to hide this with the cover...
but the story and characters were actually pretty decent than most anime I watched
and the story had some twist and turns too, it was hard to know what was gonna happen.
There was some degree of unpredictability however I almost figured out a small
plot thread pretty quickly and my guess wasn't far off yet still didn't match my own guess.
things happened I I felt very little for them as some things just happened too quickly
and just confused at what or why things happened... it may have been better if we spent
a little more time with them cuz the emotional investment with certain characters was just not there.
I wish they had bond episodes TBH.. on the other hand I did find that it was 
actually quite mature with some things and made the setting realistic, so it is not bad perse.
So while I was disappointed I couldn't get to know certain characters better
it may have been a good thing we couldn't! Atleast the bond episodes with the main cast
were fun and you get to know your team better which the main story didn't do too well, so its
worth stopping in standbye phases to do them. The funniest bond episode was probably
Gemma for me, finding out his age despite him looking like a stud, I thought this dude
was like in his 30's but LMAO I wasn't even close! 💀💀💀 The brain message
afterwards didn't even help it just made it worse. There aren't really that many funny moments
in the game cuz of the tone of the story but this literally killed me for a few seconds.😂
Tsugumi's episodes were also really nice, she's cute! Hanabi was okay tbh...
I think the characters and their episodes really made the game, cuz apart from the story
nothing much else was going for it except the combat maybe.
I loved the brain messages the characters send after an episodes! some were too good...
Combat... well its action-rpg,, at times it could feel a bit much but it was fluid
and the inputs were responsive as long you pay attention you could avoid
most things once you learn the enemies moves. Its also party based but you can't play
as the other party members and honestly it took me a while to get used to the combat
as well thankfully equipping the exp boost and double edged sword accessories help out a lot.
There's also a skill tree which actually helped to improve the quality of the gameplay and combat
performance as well, if I had any tips then I recommend learning the counter ability ASAP
but as you play esp with EXP accessory you will have plenty of points from leveling
to learn almost everything without grinding which is really good.
that you can just turn in whenever you did or got what was necessary. Nothing memorable
about them at all except that one where some dude blamed you for things blowing up???
and wanted an expensive healing item that was at the time hard to get.
I think I prefer quests like in shining resonance or something cuz it atleast
had that quest complete! feeling. Here its just like some random dialogue
to set you iup to the task and nothing else but a lacklustre reward for completing it.
Its clear almost zero effort went into the quests in this game...............
 |
| 80% of the cutscenes are just stills... |
they were like skits, so imagine those from tales of arise but its basically
every scene is a skit except a few. This took a bit getting used to... You know atleast in anime
hair or clothing moved if there was wind and even lips when they spoke but here
everything was mostly just still frames, characters didn't even breath or blink!
In the end the cinematic style is just part of the game's appeal but it was hard for me tbh.
Music was decent, some good beats but nothing to write home about.
 |
| Mood.... |
My only complaint really is that the dungeons later in the game start
becoming quite lengthy, esp the one in chapter 10... it like just kept going
and while it had some twist and turns it only lead to some random healing item or plugin
or some material. I actually said welp break time, I guess I will come back to this later
cuz I am pooped! Yes I was actually checking out side rooms and killing most mobs...
I think I was more comfortable with the pace in the beginning rather than at the end.
It may also be better for me to have not played on normal and just on easy or v.easy
as the combat wasn't easy, enemies off-screen in the back just attacked me and were
a general nuisance as I was busy with some mob infront of me, the AI was pretty bad
too only good when I could force them into a combo vision or Assault vision.
Party members can revive the player if they got ko'd.... I think they could only do this
once or twice before you'd just get a game over. So its not like they were that useless...
just don't expect them to do it indefinitely.
Also there was something at the epilogue where you could talk to your team members
before the final scene, talking to them was so finicky that I even thought some had
no talk at all when they did but you had to try really hard. Wouldn't be surprised
if some said screw it and just talked to Kasane right a way.
Fav character:
Fubuki > Tsugumi > Yuito > Gemma > Hanabi / Arashi > Kagero > Shiden > Kasane...>
...Kyoka > Karen > Luka.
I guess Fubuki is my husbando and Tsugumi is best girl!
Its not like I don't like Kasane but maybe I need to see things from her perspective more
because as it stands she was just okay, she has a cute side but it rarely shows...
maybe it was because of her personality. I think Kasane is a kuudere.
Final Thoughts?!
I will say that at times the combat did tire me out esp in the longer dungeons at the end
but there's a difficulty selection so don't hesitate to use it if its too hard or easy for you.
I think its worth playing if you want an anime game that focuses on character interaction
with a decent enough plot, there are parts of the story I could guess but it still
had a level of unpredicability to it which kept it interesting still.
Other things I liked was that the characters were surprisingly human...
and the sense of team spirit! like the gifts you can gift them showing up in
the hideoutwhich ends up becoming really lively as the game progresses.
I clocked out of my first play at 30ish hours but that was because I did some quests
and all bond events as they popped up. Even if it is recommended to play Kasane as well
I will admit that just Yuito does the job pretty well... so I was like hmm maybe
I will take a breather and do the other half some other time.and fighting trash mobs got too repetitive that I am more inclined to say, no not now.
Rushing Kasane's route isn't going to make me like the game more anyways...
it may even make me dislike it cuz I'm forcing myself through it /again/ so I will save it.
8.5/10
I think Scarlet Nexus is a good example of games don't need to be long to tella decent story while also having enjoyable moments with the characters!
So if you see this game on a sale(or not) and you like anime with enjoyable
character interactions its totally worth it.
What's next? Ys X probably, I heard Fate/remnant is a pretty lengthy endeavor
so i will be going for Ys first. Lately it is pretty rare for two games
I am interested in to be released on the same day.
[19-10-2023 Update] I have started and finished Kasane's route, by phase 7 I definitely
have grown to like her a bit more than in the initial playthrough and am enjoying
seeing another perspective on things. I still don't like Shiden that much
and still think he's an tsundere arsehole, on the flip side I like Kyoka more now!
I don't really like the combat though, they try to introduce so many things that you can easily
gloss over or that never really get explained, the same goes for the story which in the beginning
along with the combat can seem like a bit much? Kasane's party is overall better than
Yuito's by far in terms of abilities... but I do miss Luka's teleport to get thru things and am
happy to let you know that Kasane's bond events actually did make me like him a little more!
while Shiden didn't change much and Kagero is just Kagero... not a bad guy but eh.
Sadly by the end of the second play I realized I have seen the story somewhere before
and heavily started drawing paralels etc like Alice and Karen remind me of Ceres and Ankou
or Madoka or Homura for those that don't play otome games....... but honestly I prefered
Scarlet Nexus story over Virche by far! maybe it is because this game doesn't go off the deep end.
Also I recommend doing the Karen episodes 1 to 4, it adds a lot of perspective to the story
the only bad part is that they have you fight some powered up boss for no reason
other than to unlock ep 3 but eh health preserve assist exists I guess? so it wasn't too bad.
-
I do feel like I had to force myself to get started on Kasane route though but
if you don't force yourself at times nothing will happen plus I didn't want to wait too long
as while I still remember the general story some names had already faded till they
were mentioned again, like its not that I don't recognize the characters its just the names.
Besides... starting fate/remnant or something else now would probably make me
forget even more so here was I finishing my backlog again!
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