![]() Scarlet Nexus comes right out the gate with a vision of the world that’s fascinating, and it only builds from there as more of this place’s many secrets get revealed. The towering buildings with ads projected all over them the speed signs and lane markers displayed in a way that’s both directly in drivers’ lines of vision but not intrusive or distracting the news headline ticker tape that hangs in mid-air near busy crossings the vending machines with holographic drink cans sticking out the front. Indeed, the setting is so intriguing and convincing that I one of the first things I did in the game is spend more than an hour-no exaggeration, I checked my playtime-just wandering around the first city area, looking at all the little details and letting this “brainpunk” atmosphere wash over me. ![]() ![]() It’s a place where there are no physical limitations on information presentation-you don’t need a wall to stick a poster or billboard to when you can just have it display anywhere-which means ads everywhere, but also helpful information posters, augmented-reality road signage, holographic festival flags, and hopeful attempts to mark sidewalks with directional arrows (which still get ignored as people use the walkways for bike parking…). Not only on the grand scale of omnipresent media and questions around the validity of any piece of information you come across, but also in the little details of everyday life in this brainpunk world. You can imagine how psychic communications as the default state could be corrupted or exploited by special interests, and that’s something that’s at the heart of Scarlet Nexus. But it’s also a game that makes those surprises work, with just the right amount of build-up as needed-or not, if complete surprise is what’s needed-and thoughtful character development to let every new turn leave a big impact.Īnd running through all of this are those crucial “-punk” themes. Scarlet Nexus is full of surprises, and it’s not afraid to drop emotional gut-punches out of the blue and drop shocking revelations. You can probably already start imagining some of the twists and turns a premise like that would lend itself to, but I guarantee whatever you’re thinking is only the tip of the iceberg. Kasane Randall and Yuito Sumeragi are two new OSF recruits, and it’s through their eyes that the story of Scarlet Nexus unfolds.Īnd what a tale it is. As a result, much of the world has been destroyed, but a few civilizations persist thanks to the Other Suppression Force (OSF), an elite force of particularly powerful psychics who fend off Other attacks. (If you’re wondering what that means for those people without psychic ability, they’re largely excluded from the normal, everyday functions of society-a point that Scarlet Nexus very deliberately makes.)īut all this psychic energy flying around also means Earth has become a prime target for “Others”, bizarre-looking aliens that feed on brain waves. Most people have some small level of psychic ability, and society as a whole has developed itself around that: psychic networks are the default option for communications, while advertising and public information is delivered through hologram-like visions projected directly into people’s brains. Scarlet Nexus takes place in an alternate vision of the world in which some level of psionic ability has become commonplace. All that, wrapped up in an extremely slick action JRPG full of interesting characters and a captivating battle system that’s frantic yet refined and rhythmic. ![]() ![]() It’s cyberpunk-adjacent, with a psychological bent but with the punk part fully intact in its questions of identity, information, privacy, surveillance, freedom, and governmental overreach. Scarlet Nexus is brainpunk: in style, certainly, but more importantly, in substance. That said, early trailers certainly looked impressive, so I was cautiously optimistic that Scarlet Nexus would deliver on the expectations that come with the “punk” suffix. In a world where “cyberpunk” has lost all meaning-where it’s so often reduced to neon lights and “cool” body augmentations, with none of the depth and thematic weight that should come with the territory-it was easy to imagine “brainpunk” being the same thing, with the “brain” aspect being nominal at most. When Scarlet Nexus was first announced, I was intrigued but a little skeptical of the way it was being described: “brainpunk”. ![]()
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