I had an urge to play another Action JRPG recently, so I decided to give Scarlet Nexus a try.
Despite hearing mostly decent things about the game, I didn't have high expectations for it, and after playing through it, I'm glad I did, for several reasons.
First of all, I'm gonna get 2 things out of the way; the gameplay is very good, it's not perfect, but it's deep enough to keep the player entertained for at least 1 playthrough.
Also, the art style is good as well.
With that being said, however, the most interesting thing about Scarlet Nexus is that everything else in this game just... kinda sucks.
The worst offender in my opinion is the whole "PowerPoint presentation/Manga panel" looking cutscenes; oh my god, they're SO goddamn boring! And if that wasn't enough, the story, the writing and the characters are just awful; nonsensical time travel garbage paired with literally every generic trope imaginable. It's like the game doesn't try to be interesting or unpredictable in the slightest.
It doesn't help that the game is very linear, so you go from cutscene to cutscene every few minutes, listening to its terrible characters and writing all the time.
While the game's world has interesting concept and ideas, the level design is pretty bad and most areas are rehashed multiple times through the story.
Also, the enemy and boss variety is seriously lacking.
Lastly, the last few missions and the final dungeon are so tedious, it's almost unbearable.
Pros:
+ Enjoyable and cool gameplay
+ Nice visuals
+ Intriguing concept and world
Cons:
- Very boring cutscene format
- Badly written & completely generic story and characters
- Extremely linear structure and level design
- Rehashed levels and very poor enemy variety
- Flawed pacing
Narrative: 2/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Content: 5/10
Characters: 2/10
Music: ?/10
Art Style: 7/10
Final Rating: 4/10
- Weak -
Scarlet Nexus is the kind of game where you have to "turn off your brain" and enjoy the gameplay without paying attention to anything else around it... because everything else in this game just sucks.
Do I recommend it?:
Not really, but only at low price if you're interested in it.
Despite hearing mostly decent things about the game, I didn't have high expectations for it, and after playing through it, I'm glad I did, for several reasons.
First of all, I'm gonna get 2 things out of the way; the gameplay is very good, it's not perfect, but it's deep enough to keep the player entertained for at least 1 playthrough.
Also, the art style is good as well.
With that being said, however, the most interesting thing about Scarlet Nexus is that everything else in this game just... kinda sucks.
The worst offender in my opinion is the whole "PowerPoint presentation/Manga panel" looking cutscenes; oh my god, they're SO goddamn boring! And if that wasn't enough, the story, the writing and the characters are just awful; nonsensical time travel garbage paired with literally every generic trope imaginable. It's like the game doesn't try to be interesting or unpredictable in the slightest.
It doesn't help that the game is very linear, so you go from cutscene to cutscene every few minutes, listening to its terrible characters and writing all the time.
While the game's world has interesting concept and ideas, the level design is pretty bad and most areas are rehashed multiple times through the story.
Also, the enemy and boss variety is seriously lacking.
Lastly, the last few missions and the final dungeon are so tedious, it's almost unbearable.
Pros:
+ Enjoyable and cool gameplay
+ Nice visuals
+ Intriguing concept and world
Cons:
- Very boring cutscene format
- Badly written & completely generic story and characters
- Extremely linear structure and level design
- Rehashed levels and very poor enemy variety
- Flawed pacing
Narrative: 2/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Content: 5/10
Characters: 2/10
Music: ?/10
Art Style: 7/10
Final Rating: 4/10
- Weak -
Scarlet Nexus is the kind of game where you have to "turn off your brain" and enjoy the gameplay without paying attention to anything else around it... because everything else in this game just sucks.
Do I recommend it?:
Not really, but only at low price if you're interested in it.