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Summary
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeanceis the latest release from Atlus, bringing back the story fromShin Megami Tensei Vas well as a mostly new adventure for players to embark on. The new path, Canon of Vengeance, offers characters and enemies that weren’t present in the original release, as well as a story that increases the stakes and helps explain the world around the protagonist.
Wasting no time,Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeancehas players immediately select the story they would like to embark on by asking them if they would like to take the hand of someone likely to bring chaos and ruin to the entire world.The two options include Canon of Creation, which will take players into thefamiliar story ofSMT V, and Canon of Vengeance, which includes the new story.
New Additions To SMTV’s Story Deliver A Potent Punch
Yoko And The Qadištu Make An Impactful & Stunning Debut
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeancebeginsrelatively similar to its original path. Due to a gruesome murder on his way home from school, our protagonist is detoured from his usual route and thrust onto a path that will eventually land him in a post-apocalyptic wasteland version of Tokyo, Da’at. Here, after coming face to face with death, he is rescued by Aogami. The two join together as one, becoming a fusion of human and proto-fiend known as the Nahobino, and thus the adventure to save the world truly begins. While the differences are not immediately obvious, small changes will begin to trickle in as things progress.
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance Hands-On Preview: “Undeniably Intriguing”
A new hands-on look at Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance’s biggest changes, improvements, and additions that set it apart from the original release.
While the majority of the changes to the plot come later on, there are a few recognizable differences within the first couple of hours of gameplay that will create enough of a unique feel that those who are familiar with the game will not feel as though they’re reliving the same experience.The most prominent of these changes is the introduction of Yoko Hiromine.Yoko begins to affect gameplay right away, even going as far as to join your party very early on.
This is drastically different from what we’ve seen before withthe introduction of Yoshizawa inP5R,who took a mostly backseat role until the end of the base material due to in-game timing restrictions, which caused her character to feel isolated from the story, rather than integrated into it.Yoko, on the other hand, immediately feels important to the storyline and is almost more prominent than some of the recognizable faces fromSMT V,giving uniqueness to the new content right out the gate and real value to her character.
These Goddesses of Vengeance, spearheaded by their leader Lilith, are the driving force for the new plot.
In addition to new characters,Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeancealso offers entirely new antagonists known as the Qadištu, a group of female demons who have their own devious goals outside the traditional war of good and evil.These Goddesses of Vengeance, spearheaded by their leader Lilith, are the driving force for the new plot.They not only add new, drastically complex elements to the story, but also captivating boss fights.
Battle Improvements Remain Overshadowed By Outdated Mechanics
Despite The Quality Of Life Improvements, SMT V: Vengeance Struggles To Find A Good Flow
Outside the changes to the plot, multiple quality-of-life improvements have been made to make the overall experience more enjoyable, with the most prominent change being the save-anywhere ability.The new save feature completely changes the game, allowing players to save their progress from the menu at any point.For a long time, Atlus has forced players to utilize pre-established save points, meaning that perishing often resulted in having to replay entire sequences. For a game that can already begin to feel monotonous at times, this feature drastically improves the flow of the game and helps to alleviate some of that repetitiveness.
Another improved aspect meant to speed up some of the repetitiveness, primarily when it comes to battling, is the auto-battle feature. This is meant to be used to help speed through some of the smaller encounters players will experience throughout their playthrough, which can be long and plentiful. However, even with this feature,Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeancestruggles to find a pace that works well.While exploring the demon-infested areas of the game, the enemies start at a manageable level and eventually increase to the point of being overwhelming at all times.
On one hand, the argument can be made that it’s great to have this much access to a variety of potential allies, since it makes fusing and utilizing essences very manageable, given players have the freedom to trace back and track down anything they like. However, on the other hand, the sheer quantity makes certain areas nearly impossible to stop and inspect unless players wish to be ambushed by hordes that respawn at a rate too quickly to justify just defeating them all.
All of this can make navigating a path on an already confusing map increasingly difficult. Unfortunately, this even makes one of the other more engaging aspects of the game, optional side quests, hardly worth the time at all. This is especially disappointing given the addition of a new region, Shinjuku, and multiple side quests to Da’at in theVengeancestoryline.
Final Thoughts and Review Score
3.5/5 - “Very Good” By Screen Rant’s Review Metric
Overall, while the new content is a wonderful addition to theSMTseries, it is reaching a point where even that is not enough to overshadow the stiff repetitiveness of the battles.The turn-based system lacks a certain flare that other series, likePersona, have seemed to master. As a comparison to Atlus’ other recent successes,SMT V: Vengeancehas a noticeably outdated feel to it and thus the story content utilized here may have been better served as a new entry altogether with an entirely revamped combat system and structure, so that it truly had the opportunity to shine.
However, Atlus certainly knows how to create an engaging challenge and an ending that keeps you on the edge of your seat.Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeancerequires a substantial time commitment and is geared more toward those in search of a hardcore JRPG, meaning it isn’t going to be a hit with everyone.Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeanceoffers more than enough to encourage both returning and new players with an interest in visiting this new addition to theSMTlineup and is the definitive way to experience this grandiose tale of the powers of good, evil, and revenge.
Screen Rant was provided with a Switch Code for the purpose of this review.
