With Scarlet Nexus releasing at the end of this week on the 25th June, the review floodgates have opened. Bandai Namco's new action RPG appears to be doing quite well for itself, with most sites sayings that it's a good-to-great anime-styled adventure.
As for our own review of Scarlet Nexus, we should be ready to go ahead of the aforementioned release date — we just needed a little extra time to get through the game's story. Keep your eyes peeled over the next day or so!
Game Informer - 8.75/10
Whatever brainpunk’s take on over-the-top psychic reality is, I’m into it now. Bandai Namco has crafted something truly strange and quite satisfying with Scarlet Nexus, and I hope we get a slightly more refined sequel.
Gfinity Esports - 4/5
Ultimately, Bandai Namco’s done a fine job with Scarlet Nexus and there’s an entertaining action RPG within. There are small flaws like a lacking side quest system and those minor story issues, but thanks to in-depth combat and an engaging story, it kept me invested until the end. It’s a step up from Code Vein and whichever playthrough you end up choosing (if not both), Scarlet Nexus comes highly recommended.
Rock Paper Shotgun - N/A
Scarlet Nexus is a decent game of two parts, and both have weaknesses. The combat is swish, stylish and usually competent, but there are too many foibles that stop it from feeling like a truly great RPG. The story is vibrant YA dystopian fiction that goes JRPG-cuckoo (in a good, laugh-out-loud way) at the 15 hour mark.
VG247 - 3/5
If you like the sound of a deep RPG with extensive combat mechanics, Scarlet Nexus shouldn’t disappoint. If you are expecting something more akin to Devil May Cry, you might find the extensive storytelling gets in the way of the gameplay a little too much. With that said, you can still enjoy it if you’re not an anime connoisseur. There’s plenty of fun to be had for all players because it’s great once it gets going – but I fear it might lose people in its opening few hours.
GamesRadar - 3.5/5
Scarlet Nexus has some great fun to offer through its experimental and varied combat system, and there’s a deluge of skills, attacks, and counters to mish-mash against one another for increasingly satisfying results. What ultimately lets Bandai Namco’s action game down is outside of the action itself, where side characters never amount to memorable, enjoyable companions, and a side quest structure that feels more primed to provide the player with character-boosting XP than tales that capitalize on the intriguing glowing city surrounding them.
Do you have your sights set on Scarlet Nexus? Connect your brain to the comments section below.
Comments 60
If anyone's got any general questions about Scarlet Nexus I can try to answer them — just let me know.
Our review will be up very soon — most likely tomorrow.
The game looks really cool. Gives me a lot of Astral Chain vibes personally
Glad to see it’s at least a step up from Code Vein. I… didn’t particularly think much of that game’s hit detection and general combat. Although I haven’t heard great things about this game’s demo either.
@ShogunRok just want you to know that I appreciate you linking my review here
I’m into this, but there’s still a lot I want to buy before I get around to grabbing it myself. Maybe when it gets a healthy discount?
I'm interested in this game but I don't want to pay $60 for it, and since it's Bandai Namco you know the game will probably be $30-$40 in a month of two.
I think I'll get this when it's like 30€ or so
@nessisonett Extremely random and off topic, but I've got to ask. What was your former profile pic from? I've been wondering for ages and since you changed it thought I should ask sooner than later lol
@huntbearpig It was Peter Parker from Spider-Man 2018 except my hard drive being messed up at the time completely screwed with the cutscenes. So Mary-Jane was bald quite often and Peter’s face turned into that monstrosity.
Here’s the original image!
@nessisonett Man, I gotta say I''m gonna miss that funky face !
@Terra
@ShogunRok What games would you compare it to? Also, how is the length of the game? Some games nowadays seem to stretch a 15 hour game to 30 just so they can justify a price tag. I'm looking at you Days Gone!
I'm definitely interested in picking this one up as I enjoyed the demo well enough. My only critique was that the lock-on function was a little wonky for me since you initiate lock-on with R3, but to switch between targets you needed to hold down R1 and then flick the right stick.
The R1 press just felt unnecessary. Is there a way to just make it flick the right stick and that's all you need to do?
@Bdbrady Hmmmm, I'm not sure there is anything to compare it to directly. It's a hub-based action RPG with a linear story and character bonding. I suppose along with the "brain punk" aesthetic and interesting setting, it's quite a unique game.
Even the combat is quite unique, since you're mostly making use of telekinetic powers to hurl objects at your enemies.
It's a bit like the last God Eater game, if you played it. The combat's obviously a lot different but it has the same kind of structure with missions and story. But that's all I can really think of.
I'd say the length is reasonable. There are two different sides of the story to play through featuring two different characters, and both of them take about 20 hours or so. Altogether, you're looking at around 40 hours (give or take, with side content included).
Looks like a good game and it's not about length to me it's about quality over quantity. A shame so many people here dwell over length. Back when I was a kid games were typically a few hours long and nobody cared, today the first question I see people ask is "how long is it?" sad really but whatever.
@Korgon I've had the same criticism with the full game. The lock on system is clunky at best, and a lot of the time, it won't switch to the target that you actually want. Very finicky when you're up against multiple opponents.
@ShogunRok You son of a *****!
@nessisonett That's golden lol! Wished I would have asked sooner. Thanks for sharing!
@ShogunRok My man
Glad to see that the game is getting some good reviews. I downloaded the demo, and greatly enjoyed the game. To bad that I'll be at the beach, so I won't get to play the full game on release day.
@nessisonett I just wanted to say, as much as I loved your original pic, as a Lynch stan I approve of the change.
Sounds good from what I've read so far. I might get it next month or something.
@QBGaming12 think it's on gamepass day1? Tbh I thought this was a timed Xbox exclusive
@ShogunRok Yes, here are a few question :
Thx!
Liked the Demo. Have it on Pre-order.
It is like CONTROL as an Action Anime (Looks amazing on a 4KTV) Great times to be in gaming!
@Bleachedsmiles for people that don't have a Xbox that's not a option lol. Also Bandai Namco games always go on sale super fast.
Thanks for putting this back on my radar - I had completely forgotten about it. What’s worse, when the demo popped up I ignored it because the icon design on the PS store didn’t appeal to me. Just goes to show that not only do I judge books by covers, I’ve also got a mind like a sieve.
@Olmaz
@nessisonett @Katsuhono I know, right? As I've no idea what he actually looks like, nessisonett IS that Peter Parker mugshot in my mind!
Looks great. Really reminds me of Jet Set Willy
@ShogunRok I heard the game is ridiculously easy even on hard, bad story components and pacing, and very poor/repetitive level design.
Was this your experience? Strong nope for me if so.
@ShogunRok Thanks! Looking forward to your review. Have a good day.
@ShogunRok How good is the character bonding? and sub vs dub? (or are you a sub supremacist?)
@KundaliniRising333 No, my experience hasn't been quite that negative, but I don't disagree with those criticisms completely.
The game is quite easy, but I played on normal so I can't comment on how the hard difficulty is. I had no real trouble, although there are a few tricky/cheap fights later on.
Story is a bit hit and miss. Some interesting themes and concepts, but the storytelling itself is quite flat. I also think the twists are very, very predictable. Pacing is okay since the game isn't that long, but there are times where it almost feels like things move too quickly, and certain situations aren't given the gravitas that they deserve.
I found the level design decent. Maybe a little basic, but it never felt like I was exploring the spaces over and over again, even if the environments are a bit samey.
@Jaz007 Character bonding is solid. You get to learn some interesting and fun details about different characters the more you hang out with them, and the deeper you bond is, the more special moves and abilities you can use in combat, which is a nice payoff.
I played the whole thing dubbed, and it's generally good. A few characters do sound very monotone, but other than that, it's fine.
@ShogunRok is there any PS5 boosts? 60fps etc etc?
@AFCC 60FPS at what seems to be 4K or near 4K on PS5. Very smooth game.
@AFCC It has a native PS5 version with 4K 60FPS. Excellent dualsense usage too.
I played through the demo not too long ago. It was just okay to me. The combat felt off to me. You'd be chopping up a badie and then a button prompt would come up. You push the button prompt and it plays a mini cut scene of you killing the badie. This was cool once or twice, but it got old fast. The conversations, though, were the nail in the coffin. The devs decided to go with a graphic novel approach. It really slowed down the pacing for me. Not a day one purchase for me.
I hope the game does well even though I'll probably wait for a sale. Bandai Namco is like the only major publisher still putting out these Japanese styled RPG/Action RPG games that the Ps2 generation had dozens of.
The meta score is 80, how is that a good to great range? It seems that the game is ok.
@ShogunRok what’s the balance of combat/open play to story?
@ShogunRok These are usually the 2 major problems on Bamco jrpgs, the enemy diversity and the barren level design. Code Vein and God Eater also suffered from this.
@Orochilocka I'd say about 65/35 in favour of gameplay.
@Ah-Void
If you think 80 is "ok", then you mustn't play many games!
@Ah-Void Seiously? 7 is typically considered "good" and 8 is typically considered "great". I mean, literally almost every review outlet uses those exact words for those scores.
@everynowandben
7 is good!!? So I think most games are good for you because literally, every popular game gets 7 or more every time. Regarding the review outlet, Metascore is very different from single scores from gaming websites. For example an 8 on IGN is not the same as an 80 on Metacritic. Usually below 75 is terrible, 75 - 80 is mediocre, 80 - 85 is good, 85 - 90 is great and above 90 is a masterpiece. If I am wrong show me five recent games that have Metascore of below 75, but they are good too.
@Ah-Void 7 is a positive score, yeah. A game can be great fun but still show flaws when critically examined.
@Ah-Void LOL Dude, what are you even talking about? Go to IGN, GameSpot, Destructoid, and PushSquare - the site you're on right now - and look at their review policies. Look at the words next to the numbers. Also, metascores are literally the average of all accounted for review scores. Maybe you didn't realize that?
@everynowandben
You forgot to give me the 5 examples!? I like how you don't mention many the other websites that don't use a word to describe the game. How do you know that a 7 for those websites is a good score? Metacritic uses the score from those websites too and there are so many of them, so you can't just say 70 is good because IGN and Game Spot say 7 is good.
Btw 70 on Metacritic is yellow which means mediocre.
Not sure why I missed this…wandered into the YouTube to view some PS5 gameplay and it looks pretty amazing! Very interested to hear more!
I liked the demo but I may wait on getting it for a bit. Maybe when it's a little cheaper.
@Ah-Void I didn't forget, I'm just not going to do that - I didn't need to in order to prove my point. It appears that you've misunderstood what metacritic is, and what their scores and color codes actually mean. Here's a helpful link: https://www.metacritic.com/about-metascores
@Jaz007 @ShogunRok ok I'm super interested in getting this over the Olympic Games game lol
Thanks!
Had fun with the demo! The game gives me some strong Astral Chain vibes but the character bonding could really deliver something fun. Looking forward to playing it
@ShogunRok one more question. Japanese or english?
The sources for these reviews remind of what a mediocre movie production company quotes to claim it's a good movie.
From the Podunk Gazette: "This movie takes you on a ride!"
@AFCC I played in English which was generally good, but the Japanese seems great too. Can't go wrong!
Looks like one to add to the library.
i downloaded the demo as the deadline is the 27th before it's removed, ill give it a go sometime later, i enjoyed god eater 3 so this shouldn't be so bad hopefully
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