Psychokinesis may well be the quintessential videogame power. Certainly, games are uniquely placed to communicate the physical exertion involved in controlling objects with your mind, and that particular sensation is at the heart of Scarlet Nexus’ wildly entertaining combat. As the aloof Kasane (one of two playable protagonists you choose between at the start; she gets the nod ahead of the blandly heroic Yuito on our first playthrough), we lift and throw barrels, boxes and even cars. By holding the right trigger, we automatically launch these at our target. With a longer squeeze of the left, we pull up a stone statue before thumbing the left stick downward to pound repeatedly on an enemy as if hammering home a stubborn nail. We swing a lamppost across the screen like a colossal baseball bat, swatting opponents aside. Soon after, we wrench a chandelier from its moorings and whirl it like a spinning top, grinding away a beast’s hard carapace.

This is merely one of a startling range of options available to you in battle, as you lead a group of psionics against an invading force known as Others – nearindescribable hybrids of plant, fungus, human, animal and machine that look like gene-splicing experiments gone horribly wrong. Developers Bandai Namco Studios and Tose deploy just about every character-action game trick in the book: launchers, air combos, backdashes, perfect dodges (which confer temporary immunity), break meters, an overdrive mode, and a range of cinematic finishers. And if that isn’t quite enough power, you can borrow those of your allies, too.