A construction site with its abandoned scaffolding seems wholly uneventful, until you stop to see the blaze of the sun hidden behind an atmosphere warped into something approaching an oil slick. The environments are rather nice when you have the odd chance to stop. But instead of inspiring Uzumaki level horror, it just feels like you’re waging war against the outdoor section of Bunnings. The developers said the idea was to trigger both “ familiarity and foreignness“. The enemies, though, never really bridge that gap from bizarre to genuinely frightening. It’s especially effective in the city, with holographic street signs and high contrast buildings offering a nice backdrop against what soul remains of the obviously Neo Tokyo inspiration. The general aesthetic of the game is described as “brain punk”, but it’s really better thought of as cyberpunk crossed with the Tales series. And that makes for some amazing landscapes, visual effects, costume designs and a killer stylised look. It’s still not really quite clear to me why Bandai enlisted Masakazu Yamashiro, the artist behind all the enemy designs, for Scarlet Nexus. But given her speciality is hanging back, it’s natural that her playstyle involves more backward dashes and putting cars between you and whatever roided plantpot that happens to be in your line of sight. Kasane prefers to hang back, launching a flurry of purple hued knives to do her damage. Yuito is a traditional close-quarters brawler, using slashing combos and aerial launches peppered in with the occasional shipping container Force Thrown into the mix to keep things going. But what helps to mix it up is that Kasane and Yuito are diametrically opposed as fighters. The cast of characters you’ll spend most of the time with have different powers, although there are some brief crossovers where you’ll play with the same teammates. Having played through the initial chapter in my preview, I wanted to see how a longer playthrough panned out from Yuito’s perspective. (It’s never explained why everyone needs to look like they’re 12, but it gives the experience almost a Attack on Titan vibe.) After an initial tutorial, Yuito/Kasane get assigned to one of two squads. But when the flowerpots in heels - yes, that’s an actual enemy - attack, the OSF and their legions of psychics, filled to the brim with anti-aging drugs. The regular standing army looks after civilians and general law and order. The OSF is one of two armies in New Himuka. The game begins with either (along with Naomi or Nagi, your closest companions) character entering the Other Suppression Force (OSF) for the first time. But as in the playable demo, and the three-hour preview I had earlier this year, Yuito and Kasane start from the same position. Those backstories naturally get woven into the fabric of Scarlet Nexus story as you weave through the chapters. The game gives you a choice of two characters: Kasane, a no-nonsense, hard-nosed member of the Randall family that manufactures weapons or Yuito, a son of the powerful Sumeragi family that founded the city of New Himuka. Which platoon you play depends on a choice you make from the outset. There’s no heavy fan service here, but it is unabashedly a straight up shonen adventure based around one of two psychic platoons. And if you’re not a fan of anime, or many of Bandai’s anime JRPGs (particularly the Tales series), then Scarlet Nexus will do precisely nothing to change your mind. Let me be upfront: Scarlet Nexus probably won’t win any Game of the Year awards. But that has its advantages, because Bandai Namco’s little anime brawler is absolutely more fun than I was banking on. Go back and look at just about any list of “Most Anticipated Games of 2021” and chances are you won’t find Scarlet Nexus on many of them.
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