The director of the Bandai Namco action JRPG Scarlet Nexus, Kenji Anabuki, was recently interviewed by the Japanese outlet denfaminicogamer about the title and tangentially related facets. This interview is lengthy, lasting a whopping two pages of in-depth answers.
Some of the questions had to do with the Tales of franchise, with one, in particular, revealing Anabuki’s resumed involvement as the one leading the Tales of team.
You can read the full question and response below, translated by our team’s Ryuji:
Interviewer: …Is there any chance that the knowledge you gained from developing Scarlet Nexus will be returned to the Tales of series?
Anabuki: That’s right. I temporarily left when I was developing Scarlet Nexus, but now, I am in charge of leading the group that oversees the Tales of series. About half of my life as a developer consists of the Tales of series. And Scarlet Nexus was born out of that. Therefore, I intend to return my knowledge and experience to the Tales of series in the future, so I hope “Tales of” fans will support me in this endeavor.
Interviewer: I see. What does the Tales of Series mean to you as a developer?
Anabuki: The very first game I worked on as a developer was Tales of Symphonia. Since then, I have been involved in many games, so the Tales of series has sort of become my base as a game developer.
At first, I was just one developer [among many], but now my position has changed, and I am in a position to give back what I experienced and I am very happy to be working on the Tales of series again.
For those unaware, Anabuki worked on Tales of Symphonia, both Tales of Xillia entries, Tales of Vesperia, and Tales of the Abyss.
You can view the full interview here.
Scarlet Nexus is set in the distant future, where a psionic hormone has been discovered in the human brain. This leads to people gaining extra-sensory powers and thus changing the world. Humanity entered a new era, but deranged mutants known as Others began to descend from the sky with a hunger for human brains.
These enemies aren’t affected by mortal weapons, and so humanity is forced to rely on those with abilities to save the world. Players take on the role of Yuito Sumeragi or Kasane Randall to uncover the mysteries of a Brain Punk future that is caught between technology and psychic abilities.
Scarlet Nexus is currently available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
In case you missed it, check out our review.
