Scarlet Nexus

Scarlet Nexus is an action role-playing game from 2021. It was made by Bandai Namco Studios and Tose, and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The game came out on June 25, 2021, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Critics gave it generally positive reviews, liking the combat but not the side missions. By April 2022, it had sold one million copies.

The gameplay is third-person action role-playing. Players control either Yuito Sumeragi or Kasane Randall, members of the Other Suppression Force (OSF) who protect New Himuka from creatures called Others. Both characters use short-range weapons like swords and have psychokinesis, letting them throw objects and debris at enemies. Their powers improve through a "brain map" skill tree. As the story goes on, party members join and help in fights. Each companion has unique abilities that the protagonists can borrow temporarily via "brain link," powered by the Struggle Arms System (SAS).

The story takes place in a near-future alternate reality where society runs on technology from substances in human brains that grant extrasensory powers. People without ESP are a minority, disadvantaged by the psychic interface of most communication. The OSF recruits superpowered members to fight Others—mindless mutants created from humans exposed to matter from the "Extinction Belt" orbiting Earth, which devour human brains.

The plot follows Yuito and Kasane, two OSF members in New Himuka. During a mission, Kasane's sister Naomi takes a bullet meant for Kasane, which turns her into an Other, revealing the true origin of all Others. Naomi is then taken by agents of Seiran, a rival settlement. Later, Kasane and Yuito accidentally create the Kunad Gate, a black hole-like object. Kasane is thrown into the future alone, where Yuito's future self explains that using their powers makes the Gate grow, threatening humanity, and the only way to stop it is to kill him. He also reveals they both have Red Strings—gravikinetic power for time travel, which they had mistaken for telekinesis.

Back in the present, the platoons split. Yuito's group finds New Himuka has done inhumane experiments to create an army of Others and wants to destroy the Extinction Belt. Kasane's group joins Seiran, learning they also experiment on Others and humans, seeking to revert Others back to humans.