Starting Scarlet Nexus for the first time can feel like walking into a conversation that began three hours ago.
You have psychic powers. Strange monsters called Others are attacking people. There is a military organization called the OSF. Everyone seems to know one another. People casually throw around terms like “SAS” and “Brain Message” while you are still trying to remember who is who.
And then the game expects you to fight monsters.
For new players, Scarlet Nexus is easier to appreciate when you understand that it is deliberately building toward something. The opening is a bit of a slow burn, but once you know what to watch for, the story and combat become much easier to follow.
Scarlet Nexus is an action RPG set in a futuristic world where some humans develop supernatural abilities called powers.
You play as either Yuito Sumeragi or Kasane Randall, two members of the Other Suppression Force, or OSF. Their job is fairly straightforward on paper: protect humanity from the mysterious creatures known as Others.
Naturally, things become considerably less straightforward from there.
The game mixes fast-paced combat with a story involving military organizations, psychic abilities, conspiracies, relationships, and plenty of questions that are intentionally left unanswered for a while.
That last part is important. If you are waiting for the game to explain everything immediately, you may spend the first few hours wondering whether you accidentally skipped a chapter.
But no worries—the game’s anime-like story sequence makes it impossible to skip a chapter or two.
The game’s vocabulary becomes much less intimidating once you know the basics.
Others are strange creatures that attack humans. They are the main enemies you encounter throughout the game.
OSF, or Other Suppression Force, is the organization responsible for fighting the Others. Both protagonists are members.
Powers are supernatural abilities possessed by certain humans. They are also a major part of the combat system.
Psychokinesis is Yuito’s signature ability. It allows him to manipulate objects around him and throw them at enemies. Those conveniently placed cars, containers, and other environmental objects suddenly become considerably more interesting.
SAS, or Struggle Arms System, lets your character temporarily use a teammate’s power. Depending on the character, this can give you abilities such as invisibility, teleportation, duplication, electrokinesis, or pyrokinesis.
Learning how these powers work together is one of the most enjoyable parts of combat.
This is probably the biggest piece of advice for a new player: give the story time to breathe.
The beginning spends a lot of time introducing characters, organizations, terminology, and mysteries. There are plenty of conversations before and between major battles, which can make the game feel more like a science-fiction anime than a traditional action RPG.
That is not necessarily a bad thing.
Think of the early chapters as setting up a mystery. You are not supposed to understand every detail yet. Instead, pay attention to the important relationships and the major questions surrounding the Others and the world.
Some details that seem completely random early on will make more sense later.
Trying to solve every mystery immediately is also likely to make things more confusing. Humans do love demanding answers before the story has finished asking the questions.
Once you get comfortable with the basic combat controls, start experimenting with SAS.
Each teammate’s ability can change how you approach a fight. For example, invisibility helps one avoid getting spotted, teleportation is great for mobility, and being able to control elements like fire and electricity gives you more options in defeating foes.
The important thing is not to treat SAS as a collection of flashy extras. It is one of the systems that makes Scarlet Nexus combat work.
You should also make good use of the environment. If there is something nearby that you can throw at an enemy using psychokinesis, there is a good chance the developers expect you to throw it.
Subtlety was apparently not invited to this particular battlefield.
The Brain Map is essentially your skill tree. It allows you to unlock abilities and improve your character’s combat options.
For beginners, there is no need to obsess over creating the perfect build. Start with abilities that make combat feel more comfortable for you.
If you enjoy aggressive attacks, prioritize skills that support that approach. If you prefer mobility, defense, or using powers creatively, build around those instead.
The goal is to make your character better suited to how you actually play rather than following some imaginary universal definition of the “correct” build.
You will also encounter Bond Episodes, optional interactions with your teammates that develop your relationships with them.
These scenes are worth paying attention to because they add more personality to characters who might otherwise feel like members of your increasingly complicated psychic-military spreadsheet.
More importantly, improving bonds can unlock stronger effects for SAS abilities.
So if the story allows you to spend time with a teammate, it is worth considering. You get additional character development and useful gameplay benefits.
When the exposition starts piling up, focus on three things:
Who is involved?Keep track of the main characters and their relationships.
What is happening now?You do not need to understand the entire history of the world to follow the current conflict.
What questions remain unanswered?Those unanswered questions are often the reason certain information is being introduced in the first place.
It can help to think of Scarlet Nexus like a mystery series rather than a game that immediately hands you its entire backstory.
The same idea applies to its terminology. You do not need to memorize every fictional term at once, just as you would not expect to understand every rule of a completely unfamiliar game like Jili after hearing its name once. Start with the basics and let the rest become familiar through context.
If you are just starting Scarlet Nexus, keep these points in mind:
Scarlet Nexus rewards patience. Its opening may feel unusually exposition-heavy if you are expecting immediate answers and nonstop action, but the gradual approach is part of what makes its later revelations work.
Give yourself time to learn the vocabulary, experiment with the combat system, and get familiar with the cast. Once the pieces begin connecting, that initially confusing world becomes much easier to navigate.
And when it finally clicks, you may find yourself thinking, “So that’s what all that weird stuff was about.”
A satisfying conclusion, considering the game spent several hours making you wonder what was going on.
Players must be 21 years of age or older or reach the minimum age for gambling in their respective state and located in jurisdictions where online gambling is legal. Please play responsibly. Bet with your head, not over it. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, and wants help, call or visit: (a) the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey at 1-800-Gambler or www.800gambler.org; or (b) Gamblers Anonymous at 855-2-CALL-GA or www.gamblersanonymous.org.
