LogFAQs > #962518892

Scarlet Nexus (BANDAI NAMCO Studios, Tose)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdWzjJbc-78

So Scarlet Nexus is just pretty good however, theres something to be said about a game being pretty good all the way through. Its a slick, streamlined experience without much fat on it. The general rhythm involves running down a corridor, doing a lot of fighting between comic book style dialogue scenes, then returning to base to do bonding missions, give gifts, and upgrade weapons before opening up a menu to start the next chapter. Its a tidy structure, and I mostly played it a chapter a session. Theres not much in the way of exploration, but the corridors you run down are decorated with dilapidated industrial sprawl that gives a sense of the state of the world, though earlier outdoor environments like Kikuchiba and the highway have a lot more going for them than later stuff like the sewer tunnel that looks like a dozen sewer tunnels youve been through in other games. Your squad uniforms are slick and stylish. The monsters (Others) that you fight have creative designs with a lot of animating parts, and some QTE kills that pull them apart in cool-looking ways. Combat isnt super complex but it looks cool and feels pretty good. You start with the basic rhythm of combo-ing hitting things with your sword and throwing objects with telekinesis, managing meter for the latter, then it layers in environmental QTEs and dodging, then support abilities from your squad which are all on their own meter, then as your bond goes up with them you unlock other squad commands. Theres a lot going on, but prompts are plentiful and its pretty easy to take advantage of everything at your disposal. Its a breezy game that goes down easy, and is just consistently good enough without dragging much.

The thing I really want to talk about though is your party, not because theyre interesting characters, but theyre almost remarkable in how unremarkable they are? Yuito is the mildest motherfucker ever. A former teammate tries to kill him and his response is just well Im sure they had their reasons. As a whole, everyones just really polite and considerate of each others feelings. Theres like one asshole in the other squad, but hes like a harmless asshole. Oh yeah, theres another squad that you come to blows with a few times because the game is split into two paths running through the same events (Ive only played the Yuito half). Even though you fight out in the field, you still have bonding missions with the other team where you hang out 1-on-1 at a cafe, which is a cute touch that is emblematic of how little friction there is in this game. All the characters have their handful of traits, but theyre all kind of marked by self-awareness and being communicative about what their whole deal is. Yuito generally comes off like a counselor conducting interviews and offering advice. If I described the plot of this game its actually pretty fucking wild, but its muted in-game because everyones a level-headed professional that catches on quickly and moves through it immediately. Its funny, because youre learning deep dark truths about the nature of the world as well as each other in ways that re-contextualises everything you know and yet your bond with your team never feels anything above saving the world with some coworkers that you get along with pretty well.