When it comes to strange enemy designs, things surely can’t get much weirder than Bandai Namco’s upcoming action RPG Scarlet Nexus. Flowers with ostrich legs and stilettos, a slinky with human hands – it’s all rather disturbing stuff. Kind of like that horrible spider doll from Toy Story.
Thankfully, the game’s developers are here with some answers as to why these look so darn odd, as discussed in a recent Scarlet Nexus preview viewed by Eurogamer.
For context, the game is set in a technologically advanced society called New Himika – a country “so big that the concept of ‘overseas’ doesn’t even exist,” as art director Kouta Ochiai explained. This civilisation has developed based on technology surrounding the brain, with the populace using a form of brain-internet called the Psynet, while some use advanced brain power in the form of various psykinetic abilities. It’s not all glamorous, however, as this world is frequently visited by “the Others”: alien creatures without a consciousness that feed on human brains. Those are the flower bouquet things, if you hadn’t guessed.
Scarlet Nexus Gameplay Watch on YouTube
Those living in New Himuka have taken measures to deal with this, such as developing technology to essentially forecast where and when the Others will appear – and by sending in the Other Suppression Force (OSF) to deal with the pesky things. This is where you come in. Playing as new OSF recruit Yuito Sumeragi, you and your teammates are tasked with taking down the otherworldly monsters. As the story progresses, Sumeragi starts to wonder if fighting for the OSF is the right thing to do, and questions whether being constantly connected to his teammates’ brains is healthy. I can’t imagine wiring Twitter straight into your noggin would be a good idea, to be honest.
Anyway, back to the monster design: so why do these creatures look so strange? Well, in part it’s because Bandai Namco enlisted the help of independent artist Masakazu Yamashiro, who’s known for his disturbing illustrations combining animals with human features and metal objects.
“When we were designing the monsters, we wanted to make something new and unusual, and also things that people will [take] interest in,” Ochiai explained. “That’s when I thought of finding an independent artist to design the monsters for us, because we wanted to get a different perspective on values towards the game, in order to contribute to the foreignness factor.”