Cuhbrewin
United States
 
 
Favorite Game
1,174
Hours played
137
Achievements
Review Showcase
67 Hours played
Scarlet Nexus is a surprisingly good anime-heavy, cyberpunk-ish, action JRPG/Visual Novel combo. To get the most out of this game, you have to enjoy watching a lot of story scenes. There are no QTEs during cutscenes, which I consider a plus in a story-heavy game like this. The game also incentivizes you to play through a second time on the opposite character to gather missing story details, if you're into the story (though some of it is covered while playing the other character's side, it doesn't tell the full story). You can also attempt to play through both stories at once, alternating every couple of phases/chapters. I've seen a few reviews mention this method, but - having tried it myself - while I enjoyed seeing both sides while the chapter was fresh in my memory, it is quite slow to slog through and you will find yourself repeating a bunch of areas and bosses this way. To some, incentivizing a second playthrough and/or playing both stories at once can be a negative. [There's an additional drawback for achievement hunters if you play through the story using this method, see below for info] EDIT: I dunno how I haven't mentioned the cyberpunk/"brainpunk" setting, but man I love some cyberpunk action. The environments are repeated a bit, especially towards the end of the game where they get reused a lot more, but they're pretty great aesthetically speaking (fidelity may be a little lacking).

The action gameplay itself is also pretty engaging and very fun. However, some bosses and enemies (especially in early-game, where you have no tools to use, and against human enemies in general) are particularly annoying with wide attack arcs, subtle or no reads (telegraphing moves), and little openings to punish. (not a problem with a bunch of unlocked tools later in the game, though) There are also quite a few fights that are classified as "just survive", which I don't mind since it's pretty clear you're not meant to finish the boss off, but there's one in particular that frustrates me. Because that one seems beatable, but since it's an early-game fight with no SAS assist allowed, against a psionic human that does not telegraph their normal attacks, it's pretty terrible. The reward from winning it versus losing is also very minor. I might as well have just lost anyway to save me like 10 minutes.

The systems themselves, on a positive note, are quite solid and fun to master. The SAS assist mechanic in particular is heavily utilized in the game, in that it is a power infusion system that counters specific enemies. Overall difficulty itself is not intensely hard like Dark Souls, but you will need to use your items a bit more than you'd probably be comfortable with. Scarlet Nexus should not be compared to Dark Souls or Code Vein, another Bandai Namco action game released relatively recently. I will hazard a wild guess and say that Astral Chain is probably the closest comparison you could make with Scarlet Nexus. (but I have not played Astral Chain, so no promises there)

NG+ is an option, as post-story there is not much to do. Side quests are quite the chore and do not add anything of notable value to the story or world. One playthrough will last roughly 30 hours, as long as you're reading the story (and doing a small amount of grinding, but this is a game that doesn't heavily emphasize grinding). It probably could get cut down to 20 or maybe 15 if you didn't care about the story, but it sounds like kind of a waste to skip it outright.

The music is a BANGER of a soundtrack. The design/interaction with the gameplay is awesome in that it is reactive based on what battle mode your party is in (out of combat, in combat, in brain drive, in brain field). It's really unfortunate (and a bit odd) that some of the tracks are missing in the digital deluxe soundtrack, if you decide to buy that.

Also this game is very anime. Besides the aesthetic, obviously. It has "final boss has 3 phases" and "power of friendship" levels of anime trope (particularly towards the end), but I love that. Localization is actually pretty damn good, but while the VAs did a very good job, there are still quite a few misspellings, grammar mistakes, and re-written lines in the text, compared to what is voiced.

Performance is pretty optimized, did not drop below 60 FPS at all on a mid-tier rig. Game runs on Unreal Engine 4. KB+M support is there, but I have not tested this extensively as I do not like playing these 3rd-person action games with a KB+M if I can use a gamepad.

Recommended?: Generally yes, but if you prefer less story and more action you may be disappointed. Though I think the gameplay itself is quite fun and enjoyable, but skipping the story is like half the game. Also if you don't care for the anime aesthetic, then you were probably gonna avoid this one anyway. While I would like a Scarlet Nexus 2, it's fine if this ends up as a one-off IP. (as long as the anime and game count as one thing, lol)
If you want a score, 9/10

DIGITAL DELUXE SOUNDTRACK ISSUES: If you're a soundtrack collector, you'll unfortunately be disappointed because the Digital Soundtrack is missing at least 15 tracks (at least, according to my skimmed Youtube searches). It doesn't feel like a lot of effort was made into compiling the whole thing, because it's not even one whole section of songs missing, just bits and pieces from various areas in the game (skewed more towards tracks originating in the later stages of the game, though). Some battle tracks, some ambient tracks, some cutscene tracks, etc.

INFO FOR ACHIEVEMENT HUNTERS: You will need to do all the bond episode viewing on one file, i.e. you will NEED to play through the game again on NG+ in order to get the bond episodes with the other protagonist. The game does not track these over all your save files, so if you do the "play through both stories at the same time" method for your "first" playthrough, then just be warned of that. The bond episodes are unique on each side, yes, and the gifts are also unique to each side, but it's still rather annoying you have to do it on one file for the achievement to pop. The only ones that seemed to pop for me without going to NG+ was the Combo Vision Expert (use each combo vision once; honestly, this could be an error, it felt like a mistake when I got it) and the "watch the ending to both stories" achievements.

Recent Activity

192 hrs on record
last played on Mar 17
1,174 hrs on record
last played on Mar 17
6,990 hrs on record
last played on Mar 8
1 Shotty Thotty Mar 3, 2018 @ 1:52am 
<3
Dee Dec 25, 2014 @ 4:47am 
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Merry Christmas and a HAppy Holidays!
BowlofR1ce Dec 25, 2014 @ 2:51am 
My new M9 Bayonet - "FKbruin"
1 Shotty Thotty Jul 4, 2013 @ 5:30pm 
~Soup waz hear
l0l 1337
Cuhbrewin Oct 26, 2012 @ 6:40pm 
D:<
Moch(i) Oct 26, 2012 @ 6:03pm 
My friend ended up not being able to get it. >.< He said that he could grab the four pack, but then he told me last minute that he couldn't. =/