Scarlet Impact

The logo and the Neo Reo cover art of the game.

***Scarlet Impact*** is a action role-playing game developed by PlatinumGames Inc. and published by Kiddosoft.

The game was released on November 11th, 2020 as a exclusive launch title for the Imaginate Neo Reo.

## Story

The plot wouldn't be spoiled until late November.

## Gameplay

*Scarlet Impact* is an action role-playing video game in which players take the role of the hero character, Cecilia, a teenager who can manipulate how gravity affects her, allowing her to walk on walls and fly through the air. Cecilia navigates the game's open world of Airwardz both on foot using roads and walkways, and using her powers; activating Cecilia's zero gravity ability buy double pressing the A button, the player tilts the Neo Reo Controller (or the LAS button via controller options), aiming Cecilia and allowing her to "fall" in that direction. Cecilia can use her abilities to walk on vertical surfaces or areas such as ceilings and the underside of structures. Cecilia's gravity-based abilities are tied to an energy meter which decreases when her powers are active. When fully depleted, Cecilia's powers deactivate until the meter recharges.

Cecilia is able to use melee and long ranged attacks and is able to select special attacks. By pressing a combination of buttons, they are able to use "Wombo Combo" attacks and they are also able to use "Supreme Attacks" in which Cecilia summons a variety of special moves to deal strong amount of damage to enemies. Such specials range from light chainsaws to iron fists. One ability Cecilia has is "Counter", which activates when the player makes a well-timed dodge to an attack. This temporarily slows time to allow Bayonetta to inflict massive amounts of counter damage before the enemies can react.

Once dealing with bigger/stronger enemies and taking them down for a short amount of time, Cecilia does a final special move called "Climax". This allows Cecilia to grab the greatest enemy, throw it to the sky and rip through their hearts.

## Development

Development began in 2016. The game's creator, Hitoki Matsutomo, was a former Capcom employee and he wanted to make a new game featuring zero gravity and incredible special moves. He went to Kiddosoft to work on the game with PlatinumGames being part of the development. During the concept, the game was going to be about a adult woman with red hair as she goes on a mountain adventure. Matsutomo and the team felt that the idea was boring, so they scratch the idea from a complete adult woman to a teenage girl. The mountain idea was scrapped and they switched it to a regular land world, filled with sky islands and dungeons. The gameplay will take inspiration from Bayonetta and Transformers Devastation, with the hack and slash and open-world elements and the air mechanic, where the player controls the character in the air for a long limited time.

In late 2019, the game was originally going to be released on the PlayStation 4, as a exclusive. However, Matsutomo went on to look at other platforms the game may suit on. He went from Nintendo Switch to Stadia and then to Dreamlock. But there's one problem, Imaginate has already announced a new console, the Neo Reo. In August 2020, the game would finally makes its debut on the Neo Reo, as a exclusive.

## Release & Reception

The game was released on November 11th, 2020 as a launch title for the Neo Reo. Upon release, it received "mix to positive" reviews my many gaming critics. IGN calls the game a "golden charm". Metacritic scores the game a 71% on the Neo Reo. GalacticGamer gave it 8/10 stars and praises the game for its combat and story but criticizes the game's price of $70. Kiddosoft announced that they'll be delaying the original price from $70 to $50. GameSpot gave the game a 9 out of 10, stating that the game has potential and it's relevant. Huneykune scores the game with a nice score of 41/50.

 *Huneykune* | 41/50

## Legacy

Upon release, it was grabbing fans attention and so many wanted Cecilia to appear in *Knockout*. Because of the popularity, Imaginate may have a interest on making Cecilia as DLC, along with another random character as the final DLC fighter as Fighter No. 91.

## Trivia

* *Scarlet Impact*, alongside *Heroes Unmasked* and *Persona 5 Royal*, became a best-selling game of the Neo Reo at launch, selling over 4 thousand plus copies.
* It was going to be on PlayStation 4 originally, but Matsutomo went on to other platforms he want the game to be exclusive on. So, he chose Imaginate.