Scarlet Nexus

Scarlet Nexus is an action role-playing game played from a third-person perspective. Players can assume control of either Yuito Sumeragi or Kasane Randall, members of the Other Suppression Force (OSF) who are tasked to defend New Himuka from creatures known as the Others. While they are equipped with short-range weapons like a sword, both Yuito and Kasane possess the ability of psychokinesis, allowing them to hurl objects and debris at hostile enemies. The protagonist's powers can be upgraded through accessing the "brain map", which serves as the game's skill tree.

As players progress through the story, they encounter different party members who assist them in combat. Each companion has their own unique combat abilities, which can then be temporarily borrowed by the protagonists through an ability named "brain link", powered by the Struggle Arms System (SAS).

The game is set in the near future in an alternate reality where humanity has developed technology and formed a society based on substances found in human brains that grant extrasensory superpowers. Humans without ESP are a minority disadvantged by the psychic interface of most telecommunications. The Other Suppression Force (OSF) recruits members with supernatural abilities to protect humanity from the Others - mindless mutants made from humans exposed to the matter of the 'Extinction Belt's orbiting earth, and which devour human brains.

The story is played through the perspectives of two New Himuka OSF members: Yuito Sumeragi and Kasane Randall. During a mission, Kasane's sister Naomi takes a bullet intended for Kasane that metamorphizes her into an Other, revealing the ultimate origins of all Others. Naomi is then transported away by agents of Seiran, a rival settlement of New Himuka.

Scarlet Nexus was co-developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Tose. Keita Iizuka is the game's producer while Kenji Anabuki served as the game's director, both of whom have worked on the Tales series. According to Iizuka, the term "Scarlet Nexus" means "red connection" or "red bond". Therefore, "objects or persons connected with red lines represent a big part in the visuals and key art" of the game.

Artist Masakazu Yamashiro combined organic lifeforms and mechanical elements together in order to create unique design for the Others, the protagonists' enemies. In the game, while the Others invade merely to consume human brains, humanity has already developed a system to forecast their invasion. Game director Kenji Anabuki compared them to natural disasters that humans need to co-exist with. Given the game's theme, story and setting, Bandai Namco called Scarlet Nexus a "brain punk" game.

Scarlet Nexus received "generally favorable reviews" from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic.

Particular praise was given to the game's combat systems, particularly the telekinesis powers of the two protagonists. IGN's Mitchell Saltzman wrote that "the ease of transition between the [telekinetic and melee attacks] is a really exciting and smooth mix of long-range and close-range combat." NME's Jon Bailes agreed, arguing that the game introduced new gameplay mechanics in an accessible way, and that it "build[s] slowly towards something very special. I took early satisfaction from the pendulum rhythm of sword attacks and telekinesis throws ... Complexity here is flexibility and dynamism."