Scarlet Nexus

Scarlet Nexus grabs you with a wonderfully gamey combat hook: psychic powers turn loose objects in the environment into ammunition. That simple idea gives its action a welcome sense of force, and the escalating focus on building combos makes fights feel more active than routine button mashing. The hostile Others provide a strong excuse for this aggressive style, even if the premise leans hard into anime-flavored sci-fi melodrama.

The bigger commitment is its two-protagonist structure. Starting as Yuito or Kasane means accepting that one route is not the whole picture, and the full payoff comes from seeing how their perspectives connect. It is a worthwhile action RPG for anyone who wants kinetic combat and is willing to invest in a dense, character-driven science-fiction story.

Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The first thing that makes Scarlet Nexus stand out is how naturally its psychic combat fantasy feeds into action. You are not just trading conventional attacks with the Others. Psycho-kinetic powers let you lift, break, and hurl parts of the environment, turning nearby debris into part of your offense. That is a much more satisfying hook than a vague promise of superpowers, because it gives you something tangible to do in the middle of a fight.

The combo focus is important. Throwing objects is designed to build on your attacks rather than replace them, so the combat has the potential to feel like a chain of increasingly forceful decisions instead of a detached special-move system. When it clicks, you get the pleasure of treating the battlefield as a weapon while still staying engaged with direct action.

That said, the game asks you to buy into a very heightened combat loop. The Others are grotesque brain-hungry mutants and unusually resistant to ordinary methods, which makes the psychic escalation fit the fiction, but it also means the tone is never especially grounded. If you want a restrained sci-fi RPG, this is probably not it. If you want action built around tossing the world at monsters, it has a clear and appealing angle.

Graphics

The setting combines a futuristic Japanese landscape with classic anime and Western science-fiction influences. That mix suits the game’s brain-punk premise: psychic soldiers, advanced technology, and bizarre mutants belong in the same heightened world rather than feeling pulled from unrelated genres.

Story

Scarlet Nexus does not settle for one straightforward hero’s journey. You begin as either Yuito Sumeragi, an energetic OSF recruit from a politically important family, or Kasane Randall, a notably skilled and mysterious scout. Choosing between them gives the story a built-in contrast in personality and perspective from the start.

The real draw is that their experiences interweave, with the full set of mysteries only opening up across both routes. That structure makes the game more demanding than a single-pass action RPG. You need to care enough about its world of psionics, the OSF, and the Others to see the story from both sides.

There is a lot of familiar anime sci-fi material here: gifted young fighters, an organization protecting humanity, political connections, mysterious powers, and a threat that descends from above. Still, the dual-story framing gives those ingredients a useful purpose. You are not merely choosing a different character for flavor. You are choosing which pieces of the larger narrative arrive first. For more on the original premise and its two leads, the publisher’s Scarlet Nexus description lays out the foundation.

Overall Experience

Scarlet Nexus earns its reputation on a strong central sensation: using psycho-kinetic force to make the immediate surroundings part of your attack. It is an easy idea to understand and a fun one to inhabit, especially when you want an action RPG that feels more animated than standard sword-and-spell routines.

The dual campaign is both its most ambitious storytelling choice and its biggest ask. A single route can give you a complete individual viewpoint, but the stated promise is a broader story assembled through Yuito and Kasane together. Go in prepared to commit, not expecting every mystery to be resolved from one character’s perspective.

At a 7.8, this lands as a good, distinctive action RPG rather than an automatic recommendation for every sci-fi fan. Give it a chance if psychic combat, anime energy, and a two-sided narrative sound exciting. Skip it if you prefer your role-playing games more grounded or want a story that reaches its fullest shape in one playthrough.