SCARLET NEXUS- PS5 (Kasane's Story)

So I have a love/ hate relationship with this game. On the one hand, I love JRPGs. On the other hand, I hate games that increase challenge by simply heaping on bigger numbers of enemies. I have noticed that many of the so-called “big budget, triple-A titles” do this these days (although many also do not, so there is still hope).

At the start of the game you can select Kasane’s (girl) story or Yuito’s (boy) story. I will say that I won’t be getting into Yuito’s story anytime soon, as I will explain. But onward and upward.

So I will start with what I liked about the game. Beautiful eye-candy graphics- this game is gorgeous, and is very much like “playing an anime”. A good modern JRPG should do this. The game also handles quite well, although it makes use of every button. It IS a complicated layout, but as the player makes their way through the game, it becomes more intuitive.

The enemies are creative as well. Called “Others”, they are basically abominations that are combinations of human, animal, appliances, plants, and other various knick-knacks. One looked to me like a potted plant with legs wearing high heels. Oh, and a tail.

The attack system and weapons are interesting. You can “borrow” powers and abilities from the other characters, and it is important to keep weapons on hand, as well as health boosters. The brain map also helps enhance and strengthen the player. There are also tons of save points where you can shop for anything you may need.

The story is a bit complex and difficult to follow, as there I some time travel involved. Two of the characters have had someone special in their life taken from them and turned into Others. One of the characters has better coping skills, and that is Kasane, whose sister became an Other, and later died. The other, Karen (pronounced CAR-in, a guy), doesn’t deal so well and starts laying nefarious plans to try to bring his childhood friend Alice back.

From there the endless cut scenes spring, as well as the endless battles. More and more of the same enemies doggy-pile on you and your team, making for a very repetitive experience. Much of the challenge is just to add more and more of the same, over and over. This kind of challenge can get exhausting and is redundant. I could understand why someone would get fed up and just quit mid-way. In a sense, I HAVE quit mid-way, as the game is really meant to be played through with both stories to truly be complete. But now I have been to that bed-and-breakfast, and I have way too many other games to play at my disposal. So for now I won't do all that again with a slightly different story and a different character.

I give Scarlet Nexus a 5.5/10. Wait for this one to go on sale for cheap, or try something else.