When going into Scarlet Nexus I was expecting a simple button-mashing anime game with a crazy anime plot. While this was true for the first moments, there was a point in the game where everything just clicked.
The most surprising part is just how fun the gameplay can be. At its best, combat is extremely exciting and I found myself using almost every ability I had. Animations are flashy and over the top making, you feel like a cool and edgy anime character with psychic powers. It was genuinely a lot of fun.
The gameplay outside of combat was mostly great. Sidequests are all from the fetch quest variety with very little substance, but there is also almost no penalty for just skipping this part of the game. What fuels the gameplay out of combat is the bond mechanic with your team. By giving your team gifts you help decorate their spot in the room as well as unlock bond events which vastly develop their character. By the end, I was feeling some attachment to almost every party member, and characters like Kagero and Gemma are incredibly fascinating.
The story is also a lot of fun, as long as you are ok with anime non-sense. There were a lot of exciting set pieces and interesting character interactions that breathed life into every chapter. However, the latter part of the game is a bit unfocused and I could feel the developers struggling to tie the knot on the story. It also has a clear sequel bait which I would love to play.
Speaking of the latter part of the game, that is the weakest part of Scarlet Nexus. Some of the levels in the endgame are so long, running for over an hour. Enemies, especially the annoying ones, start repeating over and over again, making battles kind of a chore, to the point that I just started using Kagero's ability to completely skip most encounters. At first, every new area had brand new enemies which need different strategies to be taken down, I only wished the game could have kept up with this flow until the endgame.
A personal complaint is also regarding the level design of the endgame areas. The game has a unique post-apocalyptic "brain punk" vibe which sets it apart from other anime games. This leads to very unique areas that also feel uniquely organic to navigate through. At the endgame though, areas start feeling less like places in a post-apocalyptic world and more like a video game level. It just doesn't feel natural to navigate and the actual design starts becoming dull really quickly.
That was a lot of complaining, but somehow Scarlet Nexus managed to land the jump despite stumbling by the end. I was sad to say goodbye to the characters, the last bond episodes almost always put a big smile on my face, and the final boss was an incredibly exciting fight that made me jump off my seat at one point. The game does try to bite more than it can chew, but if you like anime games, especially the combat, and you are interested in the aesthetics I would 100% recommend it.
The most surprising part is just how fun the gameplay can be. At its best, combat is extremely exciting and I found myself using almost every ability I had. Animations are flashy and over the top making, you feel like a cool and edgy anime character with psychic powers. It was genuinely a lot of fun.
The gameplay outside of combat was mostly great. Sidequests are all from the fetch quest variety with very little substance, but there is also almost no penalty for just skipping this part of the game. What fuels the gameplay out of combat is the bond mechanic with your team. By giving your team gifts you help decorate their spot in the room as well as unlock bond events which vastly develop their character. By the end, I was feeling some attachment to almost every party member, and characters like Kagero and Gemma are incredibly fascinating.
The story is also a lot of fun, as long as you are ok with anime non-sense. There were a lot of exciting set pieces and interesting character interactions that breathed life into every chapter. However, the latter part of the game is a bit unfocused and I could feel the developers struggling to tie the knot on the story. It also has a clear sequel bait which I would love to play.
Speaking of the latter part of the game, that is the weakest part of Scarlet Nexus. Some of the levels in the endgame are so long, running for over an hour. Enemies, especially the annoying ones, start repeating over and over again, making battles kind of a chore, to the point that I just started using Kagero's ability to completely skip most encounters. At first, every new area had brand new enemies which need different strategies to be taken down, I only wished the game could have kept up with this flow until the endgame.
A personal complaint is also regarding the level design of the endgame areas. The game has a unique post-apocalyptic "brain punk" vibe which sets it apart from other anime games. This leads to very unique areas that also feel uniquely organic to navigate through. At the endgame though, areas start feeling less like places in a post-apocalyptic world and more like a video game level. It just doesn't feel natural to navigate and the actual design starts becoming dull really quickly.
That was a lot of complaining, but somehow Scarlet Nexus managed to land the jump despite stumbling by the end. I was sad to say goodbye to the characters, the last bond episodes almost always put a big smile on my face, and the final boss was an incredibly exciting fight that made me jump off my seat at one point. The game does try to bite more than it can chew, but if you like anime games, especially the combat, and you are interested in the aesthetics I would 100% recommend it.