Scarlet Nexus the latest action JRPG by Bandai Namco just came out a few days ago. The game is based in an alternate reality where the world has been invaded by dangerous creatures called Others. These creatures come from the sky as part of a phenomenon called the Extinction Belt. Society has been able to utilize a certain “psionic hormone” in the human brain that allows people to develop supernatural powers, such as cryokinesis and air manipulation. Humans with these powers are called “psionics,” and they’re scouted and recruited by the Other Suppression Force, or OSF.

Your first decision in Scarlet Nexus is to choose between playing one of the two main protagonists – Yuito or Kasane. Each of these characters has their own storyline and battle style. This is a pretty important decision to make early on because both of these characters for a large portion of the game will experience their journey quite differently.

The game takes about 20 rough hours to complete so you can go ahead and play both roles for 40 hours. If you don’t have the time or have a huge backlog of games like I do then you may not end up playing the second role. Either way, both characters will run through the main storyline. It’s just their playstyle and personality that will affect how you experience the story. We’ll explain how both differ in this guide, without any plot spoilers at this time.

 

About Yuito Sumeragi

 Yuito is the descendant of the country’s founding father. He’s a compassionate and optimistic lad and your almost vanilla main protagonist. Back when he was younger, he was saved from the Others by a psionic from the OSF. When he grows up in joins them in order to become an elite psionic and to save humanity from the Others.

Yuito is also driven to prove himself as a soldier and escape the long shadow of his father and brother, both of whom are prominent political figures. He is the second son of the prestigious Sumeragi family, who are related as the founding father of New Himuka. Despite those concerns, he’s cheerful, trusting, and makes friends easily.

 

About Kasane Randall

Kasane Randall is the daughter of a weapons manufacturer; she’s often indifferent to the people around her but is loyal to the ones she cares about. She’s an elite cadet at the OSF and was recruited into their ranks, unlike Yuito, who volunteered. She’s a star soldier and is consistently ranked at the top of her class.

Cool and confident, she is usually indifferent to people around her. She reveals her real kind self only to the ones she trusts which is her adoped sister Naomi who is the only one who showed her any kindness growing up. Kasane lost her parents to an Other attack when she was younger and was adopted by the Randall family. The Randall family operates the military contractor, Randall Industries. Her adoptive parents never treated her like a real daughter and disciplined her harshly. 

At night Kasane is troubled by mysterious recurring dreams, in which she sees visions of red strings.

 

Yuito and Kasane Combat Styles

Kasane and Yuito’s battle styles vary quite a bit. So picking a character may end up just being based on their playstyle. Yuito fights with a katana and has a much more up-close, combo-centric battle style. While Kasane fights with floating daggers that strike from a distance. As you can guess Yuito would have a slightly slower attack style than Kasanes’.

Yuito is stronger than Kasane when it comes to physical attacks, so he’ll be able to take out enemies more quickly when using his sword in combat. However, Kasane’s psychokinesis powers are much more powerful than Yuito’s, so she’ll do significantly more damage when throwing objects at enemies. 

 

Kasane’s build balance will take a little bit more getting used to than Yuito’s since she will need to build her psy gauge using relatively weak knife attacks in order to fully unleash her powerful psychokinesis. Yuito’s balance is probably a little easier for those wanting a simpler style of play. This is because he can more reliably use his weapon to dish out damage. His psychokinesis abilities won’t be the main focus of his attack style and instead be used as an additional option of attack.

The skill treess in Scarlet Nexus are also slightly altered for Kasane and Yuito. Yuito almost always learns skills before Kasane. He learns how to rebound from attacks before Kasane, and he also gets the option for an extra accessory at the base of his skill tree. Combat wise Yuito may be easier to handle first as he can be powered up early-on.

 

Yuito’s Combat And SAS Abilities

 

While Yuito and Kasane’s Psychokinesis attacks work pretty much the same, Yuito’s bread-and-butter attacks are close-range sword slices, which will put you in the thick of the action in combat. You’ll need to keep a closer eye on your health and keep consumables at the ready, especially at lower levels and in boss fights, but basic healing items are easy to find and cheap to purchase.

Yuito’s SAS links to his teammates will allow him to use the following abilities:

• Pyrokinesis — Adds flame element to weapons and objects manipulated using Psychokinesis.
• Clairvoyance — Allows Yuito to see enemies hidden by darkness or fog and more easily break shells on enemies.
• Teleportation — Allows Yuito to teleport behind enemies for a sneak attack. Also allows you to bypass certain walls and grates while exploring.
• Sklerokinesis — Become immune to damage, and later status effects, for a short period of time.

 

Kasane’s Combat And SAS Abilities

Kasane’s basic attacks are ranged, allowing her to fight from a distance. Though she can also get up close and personal with her enemies if needed. For better or worse, her fights can feel slightly less intense, as you’re given more breathing room to survey the battlefield for objects you can manipulate using Psychokinesis.

Kasane’s SAS links to her teammates will allow her to use the following abilities:

• Electrokinesis — Adds the lightning element to weapons and objects manipulated using Psychokinesis.
• Hypervelocity — Enhanced speed, allowing you to get in more attacks and move around the battlefield quickly.
• Invisibility — Allows Kasane to move around the battlefield unseen, allowing for increased evasion and critical damage.
• Duplication — Create doubles of Kasane that can keep enemies distracted and deal added damage.

 

Scarlet Nexus – In Consclusion

To get the absolute full picture for Scarlet Nexus, you’ll want to complete both routes anyway, so it doesn’t matter to a huge degree which character you do first if you are planning on doing both. However, if we had to pick one to recommend based on just the story it would be Kasane.

Broadly because Kasane has a more defined motivation early on, and certain major plot/lore explanations come a little bit sooner in her route. Yuito’s route in comparison will still make sense in retrospect. But its pacing and structure in how the storyline unfolds might be a little bit harder to swallow in early chapters.

Scarlet Nexus does have a New Game Plus feature, so playing through the second route will be practically painless and much easier to complete because you can carry quite a bit into your second playthrough.

Scarlet Nexus is out now on PlayStation 4 | 5,  Xbox Series X | S, Xbox One, PC – Steam