Scarlet Nexus is a title that I’ve never really had an interest in, a third person button bashing fighter game with an anime art style. A challenge on the Xbox rewards programme made me decide it was worth a go.

A choice of characters, each with a different backstory and from what I’ve read online two different campaigns. I played Yuito’s campaign to start, getting a weird cutscene where recruits to an army like organisation called the OSF were getting cables rammed into their backs. This started a combat training tutorial.

The combat makes this game more than just a button basher. Yes, there’s a sword with quick and special attacks but the magic system works with the melee meaning both are required to fight effectively, the magic being Psychokinesis. It’s very similar to what I’d imagine a Star Wars Jedi would fight like with force powers. By the end of my playtime elemental teammates were helping me in battle making it more tactical and adding more bright, flashy colours.

There are a lot of cutscenes with little animation, instead we get conversations with the character faces in boxes. The story seems to be about monsters called Others that the OSF are working to defend people against. There’s plenty of set-up that reveals Yuito has a powerful family, that there’s lots of different powers but each person can only use one kind, the boys act like boys and it feels a bit like a teen tv show.

For a hub world we get a city where health items can be picked up and manual saves can be performed.

I didn’t get much further as I only wanted an achievement so stopped playing just short of an hour. I’m not a fan of anime graphics, the story and cutscene presentation didn’t draw me in but the combat seemed good. I might play again at some point but I’m not too bothered about it. Maybe I’ll like it more with more time but there’s not even curiosity in me for it.