Story & Character
The world always at war with an mysterious entity called the Others, you choose one of two different (main) characters at the beginning and see their unique story as the intricate plot of the world unfolds. Once you've beat the game as one character, you can then NG+ into the other character to see both sides to this wonderful connecting story. This always creates an air of mystery & excitement and keeps a good beat to the story, always wondering what you'll see next for your cast of characters, and wondering what you may learn when you play as the others. The story is definitely one of the biggest highlights of this experience with multiple layers of conflict that somehow find a way to still connect to one another, and gave us an opposing entity that may be one of my new favorite 'villains' I've ever experienced in gaming. The only element stronger than this game's fantastic story is it's wonderful cast of characters who all have unique personalities and individual goals, and with a similar support system to Fire Emblem give you extra Bond Episodes to spend more time with them and appreciate them more. By the end of my journey I ended up loving every party member I had, even if they weren't on my team throughout the game. Scarlet Nexus also makes excellent use of knowing when to have animated cutscenes so they can be more impactful, ultimately leading to a constant interest in what's happening.

Gameplay
To get as an anime-style hack & slash title an AAA style treatment is rar and this absolute knockout hit all the right spots for me. Gameplay wise this game is for me action genre at its finest. Always feeling rewarding to play even in the basic combat, this game goes a step further by making your main character(s) a psychic user. Throwing around objects and doing big combination attacks always looks as cool as it feels to do it, then goes to the next level when you do combinations with your party members to also use their powers. Teleportation, Duplication, Super Speed and more just give you more ways to enjoy playing this game, which is already enjoyable to do. As you play more you unlock more things you can do with each party member, and expand the detailed skill tree that's one of the best I've ever had in a game.

Graphic/ Sound
The art and animation were well done, I really enjoyed most of the areas and levels of the game. People how are fans of the cyberpunk setting, will like the world of Scarlet Nexus. You can switch the outfits of almost all the side characters and it also changes in all the cutscenes which is pretty cool. The game in general looks very aesthetic, very well design decisions where made (like the red strings or the designs of the enemies..). The soundtrack to this game was phenomenal. Lots of future sounding stuff, mixed with a lot of funky beats and basslines. The emotional parts had many beautiful and swelling songs behind them as well.

Negative
The game can get pretty boring during the "Standby Phases" (free time in-between the chapters of the game). This is due to the boring side quests and the companion system which takes hours to complete (complete meaning fully level up your relationship with your team) and if you're a completionist like me, then its possible that you get burned out like halfway through your first campaign from that mechanic. Don't get me worng: the bond episodes in the companion system are great, I just wished to get to them not by just throw on my team as much as possible gifts all the time. And the game, even when the presention is top tier, is at the end an mid-budget project.. so you will see a lot of re-used environments and most of the cutscenes are slide-shows. Also be aware: Since there are two campaigns with lots of overlap, game can get repetitive towards the end - especially because I felt like the game is 2-3 hours to long in the main story itself.

Conclusion
Scarlet Nexus is a fun action RPG-lite that has a complex story and a bunch of loveable and well-written characters. If you like games like Astral Chain, Persona 5 or being a cyberpunk (/brainpunk) fan, you will not go wrong with Scarlet Nexus, especially as it’s being set up as a potential future franchise. The combination of telekinesis and action elements are nothing new, but SN does it beautifully by combining it with other different skills and magics. I just can say: Thank you Bandai Namco for this. 8.5/10


➤⠀L⠀A⠀P⠀T⠀O⠀P⠀⠀S⠀P⠀E⠀C⠀S
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
CPU-: AMD Ryzen™ 9 5900HX Mobile Processor (8 CPU cores)
GPU-: NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3080 GPU 16 GB GDDR6 VRAM
MB-: AMD Promontory/Bixby FCH
RAM-: 64 GB (2x32 GB) DDR4 RAM (3.200 MHz)
SSD-: Samsung® PM9A1 MZVL22T0HBLB, 2048 GB

[h1] Scarlet Nexus was easily one of the best new JRPGs I've played in years...[/h1] [b]Story & Character[/b] The world always at war with an mysterious entity called the Others, you choose one of two different (main) characters at the beginning and see their unique story as the intricate plot of the world unfolds. Once you've beat the game as one character, you can then NG+ into the other character to see both sides to this wonderful connecting story. This always creates an air of mystery & excitement and keeps a good beat to the story, always wondering what you'll see next for your cast of characters, and wondering what you may learn when you play as the others. The story is definitely one of the biggest highlights of this experience with multiple layers of conflict that somehow find a way to still connect to one another, and gave us an opposing entity that may be one of my new favorite 'villains' I've ever experienced in gaming. The only element stronger than this game's fantastic story is it's wonderful cast of characters who all have unique personalities and individual goals, and with a similar support system to Fire Emblem give you extra Bond Episodes to spend more time with them and appreciate them more. By the end of my journey I ended up loving every party member I had, even if they weren't on my team throughout the game. Scarlet Nexus also makes excellent use of knowing when to have animated cutscenes so they can be more impactful, ultimately leading to a constant interest in what's happening. [b]Gameplay[/b] To get as an anime-style hack & slash title an AAA style treatment is rar and this absolute knockout hit all the right spots for me. Gameplay wise this game is for me action genre at its finest. Always feeling rewarding to play even in the basic combat, this game goes a step further by making your main character(s) a psychic user. Throwing around objects and doing big combination attacks always looks as cool as it feels to do it, then goes to the next level when you do combinations with your party members to also use their powers. Teleportation, Duplication, Super Speed and more just give you more ways to enjoy playing this game, which is already enjoyable to do. As you play more you unlock more things you can do with each party member, and expand the detailed skill tree that's one of the best I've ever had in a game. [b]Graphic/ Sound[/b] The art and animation were well done, I really enjoyed most of the areas and levels of the game. People how are fans of the cyberpunk setting, will like the world of Scarlet Nexus. You can switch the outfits of almost all the side characters and it also changes in all the cutscenes which is pretty cool. The game in general looks very aesthetic, very well design decisions where made (like the red strings or the designs of the enemies..). The soundtrack to this game was phenomenal. Lots of future sounding stuff, mixed with a lot of funky beats and basslines. The emotional parts had many beautiful and swelling songs behind them as well. [b]Negative[/b] The game can get pretty boring during the "Standby Phases" (free time in-between the chapters of the game). This is due to the boring side quests and the companion system which takes hours to complete (complete meaning fully level up your relationship with your team) and if you're a completionist like me, then its possible that you get burned out like halfway through your first campaign from that mechanic. Don't get me worng: the bond episodes in the companion system are great, I just wished to get to them not by just throw on my team as much as possible gifts all the time. And the game, even when the presention is top tier, is at the end an mid-budget project.. so you will see a lot of re-used environments and most of the cutscenes are slide-shows. Also be aware: Since there are two campaigns with lots of overlap, game can get repetitive towards the end - especially because I felt like the game is 2-3 hours to long in the main story itself. [b]Conclusion[/b] Scarlet Nexus is a fun action RPG-lite that has a complex story and a bunch of loveable and well-written characters. If you like games like Astral Chain, Persona 5 or being a cyberpunk (/brainpunk) fan, you will not go wrong with Scarlet Nexus, especially as it’s being set up as a potential future franchise. The combination of telekinesis and action elements are nothing new, but SN does it beautifully by combining it with other different skills and magics. I just can say: Thank you Bandai Namco for this. [b]8.5/10[/b] [b]➤⠀L⠀A⠀P⠀T⠀O⠀P⠀⠀S⠀P⠀E⠀C⠀S ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬[/b] CPU-: AMD Ryzen™ 9 5900HX Mobile Processor (8 CPU cores) GPU-: NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3080 GPU 16 GB GDDR6 VRAM MB-: AMD Promontory/Bixby FCH RAM-: 64 GB (2x32 GB) DDR4 RAM (3.200 MHz) SSD-: Samsung® PM9A1 MZVL22T0HBLB, 2048 GB