Scarlet Nexus
A mind-bending action RPG with protagonist double trouble
Yuito Sumeragi has never had what you would call a ‘normal day.’ The youngest son of a legendary family, he has psychic powers. As a child he was saved by a mysterious woman, and he joins a psychic military operation, the Other Suppression Force, in an attempt to track her down. Among the rag-tag bunch of new recruits is a girl who looks suspiciously like the person who saved him all those years ago. And so, during our six-hour hands-on, an assortment of anime archetypes fights against a new threat that has descended from the skies to feast on human brains.
Producer Keita Iizuka concedes these monsters, or Others, are similar to your garden-variety zombie, but says “They are immune to normal weapons, which means they are even more troublesome.”
Game director Kenji Anabuki tells us, “[Art director] Kouta Ochiai discovered Masakazu Yamashiro, a very talented art designer, and they designed the Others together. The overall art direction and concept for Scarlet Nexus is centred around ‘abnormality’ and ‘foreignness’, so when we designed the Others we took those elements into consideration as well. We also incorporated things into the Others’ design that usually don’t blend well with each other, such as organic and inorganic materials.”
Yuito takes on these hungry hordes with a sword and telekinesis. With light strikes on and a spin attack on your combos start out fairly pedestrian. As you slash through Others, you build up your telekinesis meter. With enough juice in the tank, you deliver an attack with a real smack by pressing and holding
Iizuka says, “[Yuito’s particular] combination of multiple attacks and psychokinetic attacks will make a good ‘hit and run’ tactic.”
HEARTS AND MINDS
He’s the perfect counterpoint to the lady waiting in the wings, alternate protagonist Kasane Randall. Kasane Ľghts with knives she wields telekinetically and Iizuka tells us “She is good at mid-range attacks. Her attacks will be most eļective while comboing attacks when maintaining some distance with the enemies.”
It doesn’t take long to upgrade her basic combos. Press and she leaps back as she strikes, maintaining a safe distance while foes suļer a death by many cuts.
You can play as Kasane from the get-go, and while her story intertwines with Yuito’s, it doesn’t just rehash similar beats. Her tale begins with a vision of a man begging for death from a red-soaked sky. What that’s about is unclear during the Ľrst few hours of Kasane’s story, which mainly reveal the bond she shares with her adoptive sister Naomi. Though she appears stand-oĿsh in Yuito’s story, seeing things from Kasane’s perspective left us feeling like she was the true protagonist. We can’t wait to uncover what her dreams are all about.
Regardless of who’s your fave, though, Iizuka assures us, “You can create save data for both characters at the same time as well, so players who want to have both stories progressing in parallel will be able to do so.”
WHACK ATTACK
Keita Iizuka tells us, “OSF members are using SAS (Struggle Arm System) to connect their brains together and utilise their powers to Ľght against these monstrosities.” What that means in practice is once Yuito partners up with the rest of the cast, he can use their abilities to gain an edge in battle. Your comrade Shiden’s power is electrokinesis and he’s desperate to put Yuito in his place. When we press and select his power, our attacks take on a shocking edge for a short while. Work with Shiden in battle by borrowing his power and he may just change his opinion of Yuito. Our favourite power-pairing is Kasane’s knives with Ľre-starter Hanabi’s pyrokinesis, resulting in a combo ending in a ľaming whirlwind.
But as ľashy as the Ľghting is, Iizuka adds mysteriously, “The compensation and price [members of the OSF] need to pay by using these powers is one of the themes.”
These opening hours only lightly touch on what that cost might be. We’ll learn the full price in the summer.
IMPRESSIONS
“THE OTHERS ARE IMMUNE TO NORMAL WEAPONS.”
Kasane’s combos are a ton of fun and the Brain Map promises to at least tickle your noodle. Scarlet Nexus has some stylish characters but we’ll have to wait to see if they’ve got genuine heart as well.