Bandai Namco prefers not to be satisfied with what has already been achieved and continues to expand its game catalog with completely new titles. Scarlet Nexus demonstrates a fresh perspective of the authors Tales of vesperia on role-playing actions, starting literally from the shell – the futuristic world has replaced fantasy, where interaction with the environment occurs by the power of thought.
Brains are at the center of the concept for a reason. Literally everything – from the transmission of information to battles – is broadcast here, processed and performed with the help of human convolutions. In fact, they also become a bone of contention in the storyline, if you generalize everything, but, of course, everything is not so simple furnished.
The narrative is delimited by two protagonists – Yuito Sumeragi and Kasane Randall, one of whom you choose at the start of the menu. An interesting fact: the game is permeated through the theme of dualism – these are two diametrically opposed heroes of different genders, and two global factions of characters by interests, two powerful commanders, conscripts and contract soldiers, the existence of a different type of people and their habitats, respectively, and much more.
The story begins from the moment the key actors entered the service of cadets in the “OPI” – a squad for the suppression of others. Moreover, if Yuito voluntarily joined the army after a series of events in his childhood, then Kasane was recruited thanks to her outstanding abilities. The term “others” classifies the mysterious monsters that once appeared due to a natural phenomenon and now annoy people with sudden attacks with only one purpose – to feast on brains. We will discuss them in more detail below.
The detachments are divided into two regiments. The first regiment is led by Major General Fubuki, and the second is commanded by Major General Karen. Both have these titles by right – for remarkable combat talents, recognized by both the leadership and colleagues. Each regiment has many battalions, and each battalion is already divided into platoons. So, our protagonists are on opposite sides of the barricades, obeying different commanders and serving in separate detachments. Therefore, everyone has their own party of companions, but every now and then we will intersect as we progress through the game. It will be possible to test everyone within the same branch of the campaign.
The events take place in one of the districts of the city of Suo, the capital of the state of New Himuki, built on the ruins of civilization, and, as you might guess, one of the last inhabited strongholds of mankind. Due to a breach in the defense system, creatures make their way into the city, and the suppression squad comes face to face with them, getting the opportunity to prove themselves. Both heroes instantly fall into the lens of reporters’ cameras, which the government begins to actively use, diverting attention from pressing problems. The state completely controls all information flows, manipulating the facts for its own benefit, which will subsequently become the reason for an uprising in one of the regions. The game has a lot of information about the world order and events in the present, future and past, but the authors manage to keep the players at the screen, while simultaneously managing to devote to all the subtleties from scratch.
There is much more dialogue here than in the lion’s share of the JRPG. In this regard, the Scarlet Nexus is close to Persona or The legend of heroes and Tokyo xanadu… This is natural, since the first part of the series should introduce players to the universe and heroes, but here the narrative always comes to the fore, going hand in hand with the gameplay. Who are the others, what are the real plans of the state of New Himuki and the religious sect Togetsu, what kind of experiments are carried out on humans, what are the causes of natural anomalies, is there life on other planets and much more – you cannot blame the game for the lack of plot twists. Often you will have to face death and disgusting spectacles, and the revelation in one of the peculiar factories vividly reminded of a similar moment from the cult Xenogears, with which Scarlet Nexus has in common a number of ideas, which is only a plus for the new game, since recently few people have dared to touch upon the deep themes of being, humanism, genocide, and religious symbolism. At the same time, the authors perfectly illustrate in the game their vision of the development of science, especially the problems of modern physics, as a result of which an original mix of ideas that work is obtained.
If the minor characters are the gears that rotate the scenario mechanism, then the protagonists are its core, so a lot of discoveries await you. Both Yuito and Kasane give you a glimpse of history from different angles, and combining them, you get a complete picture of what is happening. Unfortunately, the rest of the playable characters do not receive the same significant character development and are more like a support group with a cameo in the plot. We learn their motivation and background through correspondence in the messenger and by increasing the level of relationships in dialogues and cutscenes.
The peaceful gameplay is simple enough. There is no exploration as such, mini-games and other familiar things. The aforementioned team building events are held mainly at the main hub – our secret base. The process of developing friendship is built on a principle similar to Code Vein, but more thoroughly done. The protagonist has an indicator of the level of communication with each of the partners. It grows as they use their skills in battle, as well as when presenting gifts they like. These items themselves can be obtained in different ways – found at locations, exchanged, earned as a reward. In this case, all gifts are displayed after donation in the rooms of the base. Among them are various plants, posters, figurines of robots, dumbbells, a drone and even a set of elite alcohol. As a result, in the finale, you will have a fairly comfortable environment, reminiscent of what you went through together. After all, you can also receive gifts when certain conditions are met. It is important to note that among them there are also equipment expansion slots for party members, because only the main character is pumped. When the characters feel close, they will invite you to a party where you will learn new stories from their lives. This can be either a conversation at the base, or a walk somewhere or a gathering in a restaurant. As the relationship grows, access to new abilities and enhancements of existing ones opens up. Some time later, a parameter for the development of squad relationships will appear, which also increases the effectiveness of the arsenal and interactivity with each other in battles.
At the end of each chapter, we return to the secret headquarters to discuss the findings, develop a further plan of action and rest. During the break, you can update your equipment, buy useful items, accessories and gifts. The local mobile shop, combined with a manual save point, is perhaps the most advanced we’ve seen in an RPG. It’s funny that for once a character providing services, a military archivist, is spelled out in the plot and follows you almost everywhere, outlining the summary of military actions, describing things and compiling a detailed bestiary with illustrations, which indicates the habitats of monsters and lists the resources received. The store itself, in addition to the usual trade, also has an exchange option. The exchange is made by barter with the help of things found at locations and dropped from enemies. Moreover, everything is arranged as comfortably as possible – for example, you immediately dispose of the old version of the weapon when bartering, and numerous items of equipment require different ingredients, which eliminates the need for a tedious grind. Therefore, you will almost always be able to make the desired upgrades at the end of the passage phase. In order not to forget about the upcoming purchase, you can add the product to your favorites, and if you need to understand where to find any resource, you can immediately go to the bestiary tab. Taken together, these are not just cosmetic amenities, but huge time savings, given how much micromanagement you have to do.
The sidequests here are as primitive as possible – they are built according to the well-known paradigm “fetch-bring” without any deviations. You need to find the required item or kill the monster under certain conditions. And, alas, the awards are also disappointing – these are either combat consumables, or something that can be easily purchased in the store. Yes, sometimes you come across expensive chips that improve the parameters, but, firstly, rarely, and secondly, you will get them faster for resources.
It’s good that the mini-map and the main location scheme are as informative as possible and make it clear, barely looking at the icons at the entrance, whether it is worth spending time looking for a quest giver or not. The same applies to goals, although it is impossible to get lost in very compact zones of cities and structures. Moving on to the locations, I want to immediately warn you that they are not seamless and are divided into levels by short loading screens. This is surprising given their small scale and sketchiness. The developers tried to rotate the biomes, but still found themselves constrained by the framework of the narrative, since the lion’s share of the adventure takes place within the boundaries of city buildings – an abandoned metro, a hospital converted for experiments, a highway and other obvious places. Snow-capped mountains near the monastery of Togetsu Church and some later locations help to dilute the concrete flow. Nevertheless, in addition to new enemies and plot scenes, the creators still manage to find something to surprise.
