Shin Megami Tensei V Review: Same Pain, New Pleasure

Despite what the angels would tell you on their darkest days, Shin Megami Tensei V takes place in two Tokyos, both of which are genuine. Streets, metro stations, and the city’s other familiar arteries continue to carry both bodies and ghosts. They cross long-forgotten leylines, resulting in a new arcane geometry replete with cell phones, nameless gods, and ravenous demons. The world’s God may have died, but the cities have not. Fasten your belts as we present you with a spoiler-free review of the Shin Megami Tensei V game in this article. So, without further ado, let’s get started with the review!

About the game: Shin Megami Tensei V

Shin Megami Tensei V is a post-apocalyptic role-playing video game for the Nintendo Switch that was developed by Atlus and published by Sega in 2021. It is part of the Shin Megami Tensei series, which is the major series of the wider Megami Tensei brand, and was released in November. It was created as a combination of Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne and Shin Megami Tensei IV, with gameplay mechanics such as raising and fusing demons returning. It was directed by Kazuyuki Yamai, who also directed Shin Megami Tensei IV.

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The role-playing video game Shin Megami Tensei V is set in modern-day Tokyo and the Netherworld. It includes both old and new gameplay mechanics from earlier Shin Megami Tensei games, such as the ability to merge demons.

Atlus is developing Shin Megami Tensei V, which will be produced by Kazuyuki Yamai, who previously directed Shin Megami Tensei IV. One of the game’s purposes is to show and sympathize with contemporary difficulties such as unemployment, retirement anxiety, terrorism and nuclear weapons, and domestic issues. The game is designed to be a cross between Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne’s “deep charm” and Shin Megami Tensei IV’s demon-raising gameplay.

Fun facts about Shin Megami Tensei V game

1. “Turn It Off” Rumor For SMT 1

Almost every popular video game franchise, including SMT, has a Creepypasta-style rumor. The Japanese fanbase believed that SMT 1’s intro may freeze at any time and show the words “Turn it off” endlessly across the screen. While a video on the Japanese video sharing website Nico Nico Douga appeared to prove this, it was later refuted. Although the rumor is unlikely to be accurate.

2. Michael Jackson Reference In SMT II

While the majority of the references in SMT are mythological or religious figures, recent historical figures do emerge on occasion. Michael Jackson, the “King of Pop,” appears as an NPC in SMT II.

Mr. Thriller, the NPC, is dancing in a club with a group of dancing zombies. Despite the fact that he is not titled “Michael Jackson,” given the name, the dancing zombies, and the fact that his attire is identical to the one he wore in the Thriller music video, it is clear who he is.

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3. Orgone Ghost Is Based On Orgone Energy

In the SMT franchise, there are many distinct forms of demons. The demons in the games have unique backgrounds that are frequently based on diverse religions, nations, and beliefs, which is a huge selling feature. However, due to the constant addition of new demons, some of them only appear in one game.

4. The Digital Devil Saga Games Have Novels

Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2 are PlayStation 2 RPGs about a tribe called the Embryon who fights against other tribes on a weird planet called the Junkyard. The protagonists all have the ability to turn into demons after a weird device opens and emits a brilliant light, and they must consume other humans to survive.

5. Alternate Timelines Connect the Games

Except for a few exceptions, each SMT game has a distinct plot and cast of characters. As a result, the majority of SMT games may be played without any prior knowledge of previous games.

Despite this, nearly every game is linked in some fashion. The Persona series, for example, is set in an alternate universe in which the events of SMT 1 did not occur, and there are hints in the games that the Persona and Devil Summoner titles are set in the same universe.

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Shin Megami Tensei V: Game Review

Even though Persona began as a spin-off to the series, Shin Megami Tensei V feels like the edgier, less sociable younger brother of Persona 5. Both branches of the family share a large number of extremely configurable demons, which can be combined to create even more powerful demons. They both have outstanding turn-based combat systems that challenge you to look for your opponents’ flaws and make effective use of every resource at your disposal. Although a lot of the essence of the Persona formula is lacking here, Shin Megami Tensei V succeeds in most other aspects.

The majority of the action takes place in the Netherworld, which is an alternate reality depicting a post-apocalyptic Tokyo swarming with mythological animals and heroes. Each one echoes a section of real-world Tokyo, with damaged buildings and important landmarks protruding out of the wastelands, ranging from the sun-baked desert expanse of Minato to the dismal, blood-red badlands of Shinagawa. They all have their own particular vibes, departing from a basic theme of a bizarre, techno-religious oddity. While you’ll fight a lot of intense battles in them, these strange cityscapes also encourage exploration and even involve some tricky platforming to find all of the hidden Miman – little red dudes who give you a currency that you can use to buy miraculous bonuses for your entire party or to customize the protagonist.

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When you add in the essence system, which allows you to teach talents from a different demon to an existing one and even inherit their elemental resistances and weaknesses, things get pretty fascinating. It’s possible to assemble ridiculously powerful and specialized teams that can take on practically any task using fusion, miracles, and essences. The interactions between these systems aren’t fully explained, but I appreciated the long road to learning them through trial and error. In this netherworld, a desire to experiment is a tremendous plus.

You’ll spend a few short interludes back in the non-apocalyptic version of Tokyo while you’re not exploring and battling your way through the wastelands, which felt like a needless minigame. You control a small pawn through a zoomed-out metropolis with little to do or interact with, but these phases are usually over before you realize it. Each chapter ends with a large mega-dungeon, yet only one of the three, a hellish stronghold filled with difficult leaping puzzles, felt very distinct from the rest of the trip. The other two are mostly just monster-infested corridors. With doorways that start and stop time when you walk through them, the final dungeon tries to provide an exciting new mechanic, but it ends up being less of a puzzle and more of a tool to drive you to backtrack. I didn’t feel like I’d accomplished anything because the solutions were all so mindlessly simple.

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Wrapping up

That’s it for this article as we wrap up our review of the Shin Megami Tensei V game. We hope that you liked our post. Thank you for staying with us till the end, and we’ll see you in the next one!