Vengeance is the Game SMTV Should Have Always Been (2024)

Atlus’ Shin Megami Tensei franchise has always been a standout in the RPG genre. Brutally hard and darkly atmospheric, the series fills a unique niche for gamers who want their JRPGs to have a bit more mechanical complexity and maturity than the average Final Fantasy or Pokémon offers. At its core, Shin Megami Tensei balances strategic turn-based combat with monster taming and raising, giving players full control over their parties and often even character builds as they explore a hostile world full of ravenous demons and dense dungeons.

Released for Nintendo Switch in 2021, Shin Megami Tensei V was a change of pace for the series’ storytelling and level design, opting for a minimalistic narrative and open world-esque areas that felt inspired by Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, respectively. Unfortunately, lackluster performance on the Switch coupled with an incredibly barebones narrative and cast left players wanting more – much more. Three years later, Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is here to right SMT V‘s wrongs and the game succeeds in spades.

Related

REVIEW: Unicorn Overlord Is An Early Contender for Game Of The Year

Unicorn Overlord crowns itself as an early contender for Best RPG of 2024, netting Vanillaware another masterpiece in their impressive library.

What’s New in Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance?

Vengeance Is Overflowing With Changes & New Content

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is the latest in Atlus’ long line of rereleases that enhance its original games with new mechanics, story beats, and a fresh coat of polish. What Royal was to the original Persona 5, Vengeance is to Shin Megami Tensei V. Like Royal before it, Vengeance is a transformative upgrade that more or less makes its predecessor obsolete. Between new gameplay mechanics, an even larger compendium of demons, and a flat-out better story, there’s really no reason to go back and play the original Shin Megami Tensei V except out of sheer curiosity.

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is very generous with its changes and additions, staying true to the original game while offering a brand-new coat of paint. One of the most notable additions is the inclusion of Guest Party Members. Tao, Atsuta, and newcomer Yoko Hirohime all get to fight alongside the Nahobino at different points during the story. You’d think they’d only be around for a short while, but Guest Party Members actually stick around for a surprisingly long time. While they’ll never be as strong as properly trained demons, they can pack a punch and help carry under-leveled (or underdeveloped) parties through difficult encounters. Yoko, in particular, is a genuine crutch during the first Netherworld and helps offset your team if you haven’t done a particularly good job at raising demons.

Overworld shortcuts in the form of Magatsu Rails make traversal a bit easier and more manageable. Every major Leyline Crossing tends to have a Magatsu Rail nearby that mitigates the need to backtrack. Just do some rail-grinding and skip half the map. It’s a great way of simplifying exploration for anyone who’s already played Shin Megami Tensei V to death. Considering you can now save anywhere, however, (a fantastic quality-of-life feature), rails don’t really matter beyond just letting you circumvent major sections without needing to fast travel back and forth. Still, they help you reach out-of-the-way areas quickly and play off of the verticality in SMT V‘s level design.

Accessible through the Leyline Crossing, Demon Haunts whisk you away to safe havens where you can talk to all the demons in your party, gift them items, and potentially net some stat bonuses without the need to level up. Even Guest Party Members have unique dialogue in Haunts, offering you deeper insight into their personality and helping flesh out the story at any given moment. The real boon is the added characterization of Aogami and Nahobino’s relationship. It was rather one-note in the original game, but now, Aogami tends to offer extra context into every major story beat while occasionally giving you extra stat points to distribute to your protagonist. It’s a win-win all around.

Side quests were far and away home to the best narrative content in the original Shin Megami Tensei V. Although the story fell flat, you could always count on side quests to help add in extra details or expand the lore. The same remains true for Vengeance, even if the story is much stronger this time around. New side quests help expand the world even further, with the added benefit of actually fleshing out the supporting cast this time around. Just as importantly, Shin Megami Tensei‘s friends get a game-long side quest not dissimilar to Nocturne‘s menorah questline, pitting you against difficult bosses for the chance at a reward bound to excite series fans. Throw in some new cutscenes and it’s no exaggeration to say that Vengeance manages to turn water into wine.

A brand new character, Yoko Hirohime, is arguably the single most significant change in Shin Megami Tensei V. A major character in the Canon of Vengeance campaign (more on that later), she more or less steals the spotlight and exemplifies all the differences in Vengeance. Her presence alone leads to more dialogue alongside the main cast, she fights alongside you more often than not, and eventually results in the story’s biggest diversions. Considering how underwritten the original SMT V was, Yoko’s presence is nowhere near as jarring as Marie’s in Persona 4 or Alex’s in Strange Journey Redux. She fits in surprisingly well and quite frankly facilitates some of the strongest story beats in the whole game. Vengeance‘s plot is honestly better off making Yoko a member of the main cast.

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance Gameplay Breakdown

SMTV’s Gameplay Loop and Premise

For anyone already familiar with the franchise, Shin Megami Tensei V fancies itself another Nocturne – a dense RPG with deep customization and a lonely, often oppressive atmosphere that’s rounded out by an intentionally minimalist narrative and one of the best soundtracks to grace the genre. The difficulty curve is high and you’ll net yourself a Game Over if your protagonist dies, so it’s important to build your party around your strengths and weaknesses. Likewise, you need to take even random encounters seriously. This is not an easy game, and underestimating the wrong demon can result in death for your entire party.

One wrong move can tank an entire battle into the ground. You have to be ready to contend with status ailments, cover your weaknesses, and exploit your opponent’s. The good news is that, unlike most RPGs, Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance will often reward you for playing around with status ailments yourself. Buffs and debuffs are also non-negotiable the deeper into the story you get. Enemies only get harder and harder, and brute-forcing combat quickly becomes borderline impossible. Even the Casual difficulty mode will punish players who think they can just Auto-Battle their way through every fight. Learning enemy weaknesses, taking advantage of buffs and debuffs, along with playing smart are all basic requirements to guarantee your survival.

Related

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II Review: A Technical Masterpiece Weighed Down by Mediocrity

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II continues Senua’s struggles against her own reality, but undermines its nuances for an Xbox epic that’s lesser in design.

Press Turn System

Vengeance uses Shin Megami Tensei‘s staple Press Turn battle system. In the Press Turn system, every party member adds an Icon during the Player’s Turn which is spent whenever someone attacks. Missing or having an attack blocked eats up two Icons while getting an attack repelled or absorbed costumes every Icon. On the other hand, landing a critical hit, exploiting an elemental weakness, or passing to the next party member only uses half an Icon.

Enemies also have their own Icons and will take advantage of Press Turn mechanics if they’re left unchecked. It’s important to treat every random encounter as a dance with death. The Press Turn system encourages strategic gameplay above all else. Normal attacks will drag out battles far too long when exploiting Press Turn can prevent enemies from fighting back altogether. Buffs, debuffs, and targeting weaknesses are an outright requirement to get through harder fights.

Random encounters consist of a wide variety of enemies with their own unique strengths and weaknesses, potentially overwhelming you during the lengthier dungeons. It’s important to keep a healthy stock of items on hand and to confront new enemies carefully, especially bosses. The average boss fight cannot be brute-forced and demands a legitimate strategy. Beyond successfully using Press Turn, there’s a level of foresight required on the player’s part to stay alive. Bosses will never be so random that a party wipe will be immediate, but you still need to be ready to counterattack patterns, or else you’ll drop dead in no time at all.

Magatsuhi skills are a mechanic exclusive to Shin Megami Tensei V which lets you turn the tide of battle into your favor. Once the Magatsuhi Gauage is filled – done by either taking damage, exploiting weak points, or factors based on your unlocked Miracles – you can trigger a special ability that does not use up a Press Turn icon. The default Magatsuhi ability makes every single attack a critical hit, but others can be unlocked through side quests, granting you access to double damage, extra EXP, or even buffed stats. The Magatsuhi Guage is a convenient way of giving you an advantage while still demanding you make an effort to play by the rules.

Demon Recruitment

Killing every demon that comes in your path is all well and good, but half the fun of Shin Megami Tensei is recruiting new demons into your party – and Shin Megami Tensei V has some of the most entertaining demon conversations in the entire series. Demon negotiation is critically important when it comes to party composition. You can recruit new demons into your party by simply talking to them and answering the correct responses. Triggering a conversation will result in demons asking several requests or questions based on their personality – in some cases, you might even have to answer a full-on quiz to recruit them into your party.

Most demons aren’t too hard to bargain with, but there’s still a level of trial and error that goes into recruitment. Be ready to deal with occasional failures the deeper into the game you get. Every demon has to be treated differently and the RNG adds to a potentially hostile combat loop where the wrong answer can result in you losing all your Press Turn icons and getting barraged with a series of attacks. Fortunately, the more negotiating you do, the more acclimated you get to demon requests and the better you get at figuring out how to respond to a potential new recruit. Negotiating is just as important as battling and you should make an effort to recruit every demon you see if you want to build up a strong party. That said, just about any demon you miss recruiting can still be fused with the right combinations down the road.

Customization

Every time you level up, you get to allocate your protagonist’s stats, allowing you to create a build that suits your play style. Demons don’t have the same luxury as their stats are automatic, but this is where party composition comes in. By fusing different demons, you can create an entirely new party member whose stats and skills match the demons fused together. Any demon you fuse or recruit is also automatically added to your Compendium (basically Shin Megami Tensei‘s Pokédex), logging every demon you’ve recruited and even allowing you to repurchase them later if they get fused.

World Design

Shin Megami Tensei V‘s level design is open-world in nature, a major departure from previous SMT games. Every region of Da’at is a massive overworld with its own treasures, secrets, and optional bosses to hunt down. In this sense, the average Netherworld outright replaces dungeons in the core gameplay. For what it’s worth, SMT V does actually have a few proper dungeons, but they’re few and far between – considerably less common than your average Shin Megami Tensei game. The real star of the show is the Da’at regions, hiding their own goodies and making use of verticality for some soft platforming. These locales will be hit or miss with series fans, but they’re not poorly designed by any means.

Every Netherworld has its fair share of Treasures, Vending Machines, and Mimans to track down. Treasures will more often than not unlock Essences which you can use to augment your Nahobino’s (or demons’) resistances and skills, while Mimans net you Glory which can be spent at the World of Shadows to unlock more Miracles – abilities that affect anything from battling to demon negotiation and fusion. Every now and again, you’ll also gain access to a demon companion who will uncover secrets in the overworld. These range from Magatsu Rails to goodies to straight-up fights depending on your luck. You’ll also find loose Magatsuhi, which do anything from restoring your HP, MP, or filling the Magatsuhi Gauge for battle.

Enemies are visible on the overworld ala Shin Megami Tensei IV, but you can actually tell which demons you’re going to be fighting ahead of time thanks to better graphic fidelity. This helps make Da’at a little bit more immersive while letting you prepare for specific encounters. Demon NPCs are littered around each Netherworld, offering context into the game’s story or lore, or granting you side quests to complete. Every region also has its own set of Abscesses – optional areas with slightly stronger demons that unlock more Miracles once beaten. These can be completely ignored if you want to stick to just the story, but you’d be playing at a serious disadvantage and it’s worth taking the extra effort to track down each area’s Abscesses.

Every area also has its own batch of Leyline Crossings, safe zones where you can save, fast travel, shop, or fuse your demons at the World of Shadows (this is also where you access the Demon Haunts, as previously mentioned). Early on, Leyline Crossings are the only way to travel between the Netherworld’s many zones, but it doesn’t take long to unlock the Return Pillar, which whisks you back to any previously triggered Crossing. Cadaver’s Hollow allows you to buy new items, sell materials, or exchange Mimans for goodies. If you’re making an effort to explore, you’ll want to visit the Hollow often. The most important option in the Leyline’s Crossing is the World of Shadows.

The World of Shadows lets you spend Glory on new Miracles and add Essences to your Nahobino or Demons, but most importantly fuse your demons together and access your Compendium. Every time you recruit a new demon and level them up, you can register them to your Compendium, allowing you to re-add them to your party at the cost of Macca. The more demons you fuse and recruit, the larger your Compendium grows. Fusing different demons together funnels their stats into a new monster and lets you select their skills, potentially creating an even stronger party member. It’s important to fuse often, not only to expand your Compendium but to increase your own chances of success at battle. New demons are locked behind set levels, so don’t expect to fuse high-level monsters without doing a bit of grinding in advance. If you’re playing the Switch version and have a completed save from the original Shin Megami Tensei V, you can actually inherit your final party into Vengeance (but don’t expect to summon them until endgame as they’ll cost a lot of money).

Related

REVIEW: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Catapults the Classic to New Heights

The biggest PlayStation 5 exclusive of 2024 is Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Here’s how the eagerly anticipated Final Fantasy VII Remake sequel holds up.

The Canon of Creation & The Canon of Vengeance

Replay the Original Shin Megami Tensei V or Embark on a Brand New Campaign

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance features two campaigns for its story mode: the Canon of Creation and the Canon of Vengeance. The Canon of Creation is Shin Megami Tensei V‘s original story, warts and all. It’s slightly improved thanks to Vengeance‘s many inherent enhancements, but it’s nothing special when all is said and done. The Canon of Creation is still a barebone storyline with minimal character development and almost nothing going on thematically, best played by anyone who wants a narratively unobtrusive experience or is simply curious about the kind of game SMT V was before Vengeance.

The Canon of Vengeance is home to the real meat: new characters, new cutscenes, and a campaign that actually makes an effort to develop its themes to elevate a mediocre plot into something truly compelling. The Canon of Vengeance starts out fairly similar to the Canon of Creation, with only a few simple changes here and there, but quickly spirals out of control by mid-game. By Shin Megami Tensei V‘s endgame, you’re playing through a completely different experience that flips the Canon of Creation on its head. Of the two, the Canon of Vengeance is the clear winner, but it’s admittedly hard to appreciate its many changes and revisions without playing the Canon of Creation first.

This is very much a best-of-both-worlds scenario – newcomers can still experience the original story while returning players can dive right into the Canon of Vengeance’s remixed (and frankly much stronger) storyline. If you’re only looking to play Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance once, though, do yourself a favor and make sure you play through the Canon of Vengeance. The Canon of Creation still leaves a lot to be desired and is only worth playing if you know for a fact that you’re going to check out the Canon of Vengeance down the road and want a point of comparison before doing so. Otherwise, there’s no reason to waste your time on the original campaign.

Vengeance Fixes Almost Everything Wrong With the Original SMT V

You’ll Never Play the Original Shin Megami Tensei V Again

The original Shin Megami Tensei V has its fair share of problems, so it’s genuinely amazing how much Vengeance manages to improve and outright fix with its tweaks. Atlus clearly took fan criticisms to heart. On top of more cutscenes and dialogue for everybody, new side quests help flesh out the main cast past their barebones portrayals in the original. Narrative minimalism isn’t a bad thing, but SMT V‘s core cast felt like afterthoughts with little beyond the surface. Vengeance course-corrects, giving everyone deeper characterization besides a few loose personality traits. Don’t expect the character depth found in Shin Megami Tensei IV or Strange Journey, but the main cast is now more in line with the quality of writing found in Nocturne

Gameplay-wise, Vengeance completely retools the RPG’s level-scaling. SMT V‘s original release featured rather extreme level-scaling that made it basically impossible to defeat high-level enemies or bosses without excessive grinding. While this may sound like typical RPG fare, it’s something the Shin Megami Tensei series always got around in the past by letting you play strategically. So long as you understood the mechanics and managed your resources well enough, low-level runs were possible. Vengeance tones down the level-scaling considerably, more or less eliminating the need to grind. If your party composition is solid and you know what you’re doing, it’s possible to stand a chance against the hardest bosses without over-leveling. This isn’t to say the game is easy, though. I died more often in Vengeance than I ever did in the vanilla Shin Megami Tensei V.

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is multi-platform this time around, but for those of you still adamant about playing on your Switch, rest assured that the game’s performance is notably better. The original release suffered from frame-stuttered, a bit of lag at times, and lackluster visuals. Vengeance drops a new coat of paint on the game, stabilizing gameplay and refining the graphics. Make no mistake, performance sticklers should probably stick to the PS4/PS5, Xbox, or PC, but Shin Megami Tensei V is now perfectly enjoyable on Switch, both docked and handheld. You might notice some hiccups here and there, but nothing anywhere near as drastic as vanilla SMT V.

Is Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance Worth Buying?

Vengeance Is a Must-Buy For Any Fan of the Genre or Series

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is a massive improvement over the original and absolutely worth buying for both new fans and anyone who’s already played SMT V to death. Justifying paying full price for a game you’ve technically already played or beaten is a hard sell, but Vengeance is absolutely worth it. The amount of content present goes above and beyond what the original offered and completely redefines the game for the better. The already excellent gameplay is refined even further, the story goes from mediocre to actually fairly compelling, and all the new side quests and demons breathe new life into the experience.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that this is Atlus’ best revision to date, taking a 7/10 RPG and polishing it to near perfection. There are still some flaws, of course – the Canon of Creation will always leave a lot to be desired and the level design can be a bit hit or miss – but Vengeance redefines Shin Megami Tensei V with a vengeance. This is a JRPG with hundreds of hours of gameplay on tap and arguably the game Shin Megami Tensei V should have always been. Don’t miss out on Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance. We’re only halfway through 2024, but it’s already one of the best RPGs of the year.

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance

In Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance, players navigate a post-apocalyptic Tokyo teeming with demons and divine beings. The protagonist, caught between warring factions, must forge alliances, recruit demons, and harness their power to uncover the truth behind the destruction. As they battle through a ravaged landscape, players face moral dilemmas and challenging choices that shape the fate of humanity.

Platform(s)

PC , PS5 , PS4 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , Xbox One , Switch

Released

June 14, 2024

Developer(s)

Atlus

Publisher(s)

Atlus , SEGA

Genre(s)

JRPG

Engine

Unreal Engine 4

ESRB

M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Violence

Pros

• Amazing gameplay loop
• Canon of Vengeance is a much better story than the original
• New side quests, demons, and cutscenes give the game much more depth
• Outstanding music and art direction
• New quality-of-life features are very welcome

Cons

• Canon of Creation still leaves a lot to be desired