Scarlet Nexus is one heck of a good time thanks to its engaging combat mechanics and intricate narrative. While the game does a pretty good job of showing you the ropes, there are a few bits it leaves out.

Luckily, we have assembled the ten most valuable tips to help make life a bit easier when playing Scarlet Nexus.

SAS Choices Are Key

You probably know how to assign members to your team of psionics. What Scarlet Nexus glosses over is that it’s a far more significant decision than it seems. It all has to do with the Struggle Arms System. You select two characters to be with you in the field, and the rest stay in Reserves. Your teammates’ SAS are automatically assigned, but what about the other two slots?

Your Reserves can fill those. That’s right. You don’t need a character to be on your team to gain access to their powers. However, this comes with a caveat. Activated SAS powers from teammates last longer than those of Reserves.

This is significant because some powers can be worth having longer durations than others. Genma’s Sclerokinesis and Luka’s Teleportation are both very useful when fighting bosses and large groups of enemies. Squeezing out a bit more time out of these abilities can sometimes mean the difference between life and death.

Be Careful What You Sell

From early on in Scarlet Nexus, you begin to gather data in the form of items. These can seem like they have no use and are there as story fluffy. Considering how little money the game throws at you in the first few phases, you might be tempted to sell them off for the pennies they’re worth. Stay your hand and don’t sell them!

These data items are actually another currency that Scarlet Nexus doesn’t clearly explain. Once you reach Phase 2, the game gives you an extra option in the shop called Exchange. Here, you can trade your data for other items, such as cosmetics and gifts. The latter is critical for developing your Bonds with the other characters so don’t sell off your data items.

Don’t Waste Your Jellies

Taking damage in Scarlet Nexus happens quite often and can be taxing on your wallet. Jellies don’t come cheap, and finding them in the wild is a tall order at times. Fortunately, the game has a credit-saving mechanism.

When you save at Satori the Archivist, all of your team members get healed to full. Because he appears regularly during missions, it’s worth holding onto your jellies even when you are at half health. And speaking of health…

Always Be Moving

Enemies in Scarlet Nexus can sometimes be a real pain. While many of them aren’t tough to kill, some do tend to land a few hits before they go down. From unexpected projectiles to off-camera cheap shots, you’ll be taking a slight beating along the way.

Because of the aforementioned deficit in Jellies you might face, it’s crucial to utilize every movement option you have at your disposal to avoid taking damage. Dodging effectively is one of the most important skills you can master in Scarlet Nexus. Especially after you’ve unlocked a few counter-attacks, using it copiously along with your other movement options will ensure you stay alive and in good financial health.

Language Choice Matters

This particular tip is down to preference. One of the big things about Scarlet Nexus is dialogue. And when I say big, I mean a lot. Characters are constantly yapping away, and that can occur during combat as well. More often than not, this dialogue is pretty crucial to the story.

When choosing which voice language to go for, you should keep in mind that you may miss story stuff while you’re fighting Others. Subtitles are still available. The problem, though, is that it’s relegated to the left side of the screen. Unless you’ve got superhuman peripheral vision, you won’t be catching what is being discussed. Therefore, if every little piece of the story is essential to you – and you don’t understand Japanese – maybe you’ll want to stick with English voice acting.

An Easier Way to Turn in Quests

Scarlet Nexus has a fair share of side-quests, and they’re all offered up by NPCs like in most RPGs. Unlike most other RPGs, however, the game has a much faster option for turning the quest in that doesn’t involve going back to the quest giver.

By utilizing the Story tab in the menu, you can complete quests when their objectives have been met. This option can be a big lifesaver when you’re just catching up to your backlog of quests you didn’t know about because…

Be on the Lookout for Quests

…the game has a nasty habit of not telling you where they are! The majority of locales in Scarlet Nexus are filled to the brim with NPCs, all of who are happy to have a chat with you. The problem is that most of them don’t have anything valuable to say or give you, except for the few quest givers.

The worst part is that the game doesn’t convey who these special NPCs are on the screen. To find them, you need to open the map manually. Wherever you see a diamond marker, there’s an NPC with a mission for you to undertake. Thankfully, you don’t miss out on side-quests no matter how far you go into the story.

Make Your Life Easier

As a game, Scarlet Nexus is relatively straightforward and does an excellent job at keeping things somewhat efficient. There are, however, a few added ways you can make your life slightly more manageable.

By unlocking specific nodes in the Brain Map, you can grant yourself a few quality-of-life options the game should actually have available from the get-go:

• Rebound – Press a button to recover from being knocked down
• Item Attraction – Picks up items near you automatically
• Double Jump – What it says on the tin
• Quick Item – Can use items while moving
• Auto-heal – Recovers health after combat

Another small QoL is an option for shortening the Brain Crush finisher animations. While they’re all pretty badass and decently varied, performing them repeatedly can drag the game a bit too much. Go to Settings and set the Brain Crush Animation to Short.

Leave No Stone Unturned

It may not look like it, but Scarlet Nexus has a small exploration element. Especially when roaming through the fairly linear mission levels, you’ll come across a few crossroads and turns. Don’t ignore them.

By taking a few short detours, you’ll more than likely stumble upon a few item pickups. In some cases, the detours may have enemies you’ll need to fight. They typically, though, will drop something useful, so always make sure you take the path less traveled.

Get The Whole Story

You likely already know that you can play as both protagonists in Scarlet Nexus. However, what may not be completely clear is that Yuito and Kasane have different perspectives on the same story. If you’ve felt that the game is somewhat jarring in its narrative, it’s because of this aspect.

Therefore it’s well worth your time to play the game as both protagonists to get the whole story. What’s important to note is that you can play as the other in New Game+ once you beat the game with one character. This will keep all items and levels from the previous playthrough. You’ll still be expected to level up your Bonds in the second playthrough, though.