I see a lot of the negative reviews, and I'm absolutely puzzled why my opinion differs so much? Perhaps I am in the wrong for liking this? No, of course not, it's the gamers that are wrong. Scarlet Nexus absolutely floored me with it's presentation, gameplay, in-depth cast of characters. and it's post apocalyptic story. It's not so much they all worked amazingly, but rather the sum of it's parts are what made me utterly impressed by it. Everything this game does feeds into other parts of it fleshing out the world, story, and characters through a mix of visual and character storytelling. There just isn't anything here that feels like a downer, and with the replay-ability of another character's campaign makes for a nice experience to come back to.

For those wondering, I have only played the Kasane side of the story, and while there are absolutely things to see and criticize about Yuito's side, I am simply saving it for another day. That being said, you're not exactly miss all parts of the story if you only play one given campaign, and truly you only need to beat one of them to enjoy this game. If you do want to go back and play the other campaign it's recommend thru a new game+ mode rather than just playing them on separate files. Not so much a good or bad thing, but just something to consider when you decided to play this.

All that said, Scarlet Nexus has a super neat world that is consistently informed by it's various map and character designs. With various characters now requiring transhumanist magic to combat the enemy threat know as Others, and the Others themselves being a variety of abominations mixed together threatening this apocalyptic world. A bunch of maps and cities have you explore abandoned areas as well as a few inhabited ones showing how far technology has advanced. After certain exploration bits and chapters you are often greeted by a standby phase that lets you explore the various character interactions between the group and your main character. Through these various moments you really get to learn more about each character while also getting nice perks with each new bonding episode. On top of that, the game also gives you a variety of missions to help you get material to level your equipment, characters, and acquire a bunch of costumes.

Scarlet Nexus's story however mainly focuses on Kasane and Yuito as they navigate the new political world while also trying to figure out the mystery of a new seemingly black hole in the sky. There is a nice amount of twist and turns as you navigate through the story, and one that can feel both personal and mysterious at the same time. As the red strings unravel, it's pretty clear that the journey throughout Scarlet Nexus is one that is informed through it's main character and their personal connections with people. In a way, I can see how this can feel a bit off pace or boring as it's far more character driven than anything else. This means that if you're not feeling one part of Scarlet Nexus, you're likely to drop off a lot due to how much each part feeds into the other.

That being said, Scarlet Nexus really does have some fun and interesting combat choices. From various ally power ups giving you new movement or element options to it's fast pace dodging and environmental weaponry. There is just so many neat options and combos that really feel like it can rival Bayonetta in terms of combat. The only real hitch in that wagon is that Scarlet Nexus does use a RPG system for leveling up, so while there are plenty of options to chose from, the beginning combat and what happens around the mid point can feel very different. This isn't exactly bad, but with how fun combat can be then grinding to a halt as you simply don't have enough energy to do what you want can be a bit disheartening. Thankfully, there isn't much challenge or problem in the early stages. So if you combo wisely, Scarlet Nexus can feel really rewarding, and sometimes downright amazing when you pull off some environmental hazards.

Really, I can't express enough just how many cool and neat things happen throughout a given Scarlet Nexus playthrough. It's a game seething with a lot of cool moments and raw combat potential all wrapped together with interesting character growth and interactions. The story is engaging, power ups are fun to use, and the soundtrack is stellar. If you don't give this game a try, you'd be missing out on a super neat and interesting game, and that would be rather heartbreaking to hear.