Shin Megami Tensei V

Once, where a city called Tokyo stood, now lies a desert vast and arid. Buildings sit half sunken in sand, like tombstones of a forgotten age. Unearthly structures rise disjointed into the sky--silvery pillars half-finished by some otherworldly architect. There is only the bluster of wind and the far-off howl beasts. On the horizon, a blue dot glides along the sands, skating over dunes, heading towards the top of a mountain. It's a young man, clad in an electrified, skin-tight suit, with cerulean hair as far down as his ankles. He stops as he reaches the mountain top, for something below the sands has begun to move. The desert floor then erupts with something titanic lurking in the dust. The sand clears, and with a venomous hiss, a multi-headed, snake-like monster lunges out--the Hydra of ancient myth! ...

Shin Megami Tensei V, the latest in the long-running JRPG series from Atlus, manages to capture something novel in this iteration. The series, having been locked to handheld consoles since the release of Shin Megami Tensei IV [真・女神転生IV] in 2013 (and Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey [真・女神転生 STRANGE JOURNEY] before that in 2009), had been exploring the claustrophobic--the tight corridors and nooks and crannies in which demons dwelled. It was all about the underground, the smallness, and the confinement. I think back to the Naraku dungeon in IV, and the way that the cramped cavern walls filled me with anxiety--potential death hiding around every corner. Maybe it was just the restrictions of a limited console like the DS and 3DS, but they made do, and they did it well. Though, in retrospect, perhaps it was harder to convey the 'grandeur' of these mythical creatures on such hardware.

This is not the case for SMT V. Grandeur now comes in abundance. From the first moment you're dropped into Da'at, the world comes at you, colossal and heavy. There's a sense of scale to its immersion that no other installment in the series reaches. Demons litter the environment in fully realized 3D, each with their own strange and wonderful personality and aesthetic. Sometimes they'll be having a laugh with one another, swinging from an old street post, or sitting on an abandoned car. At times, you can encounter massive entities, known as punishing foes, that add a sense of awe and fear to the area. Even Nocturne doesn't feel as grandiose in terms of world composition and exploration (though, that too could be chocked up to the hardware). The Nahobino's design also plays well into this sense of scaling the world, his striking blue form (and that amazing hair), as well as his ability to speed along make travel and exploration really enjoyable. Movement wasn't something I could say that I liked in other SMT games, but this one really nails it. There are also times in which mastering movement can be fun and rewarding, such as dodging overworld enemies when tackling the abscess mini-bosses scattered across the maps.

In terms of music and gameplay, SMT V also stacks up to its predecessors. The battle tracks all have that fierce, otherworldly quality that makes for intense fights, and the overworld tracks capture that lonely and menacing atmosphere. They're all pretty excellent. The gameplay is what you'd expect from the past titles alongside some new quality of life improvements and tweaks. Demon customization has been deepened with the introduction of Essences, a new way to share skills, resistances, and affinities between demons and your protagonist. There are also plenty of items that boost you or your demons stats. While the general advice in these games is to not become too attached to any one demon for too long (as there are diminishing returns in leveling), this is probably the easiest game to carry your favorite demon with you thanks to all the additions. Though, the difficulty still has that classic SMT spiciness--so it's still easy to get whomped.

While I think that SMT V does very well (perhaps even the best) at what SMT is generally good at, it still maintains (and maybe even worsens) some of the shortcomings of the series. Mainly, the characters and overall narrative fall pretty flat. There is little time spent building the various characters within the game, and by the time the plot comes to a climax, it's hard to feel much of anything for them. They're all just sort of barely spirited through--things happening without much context. The antagonists, too, don't get much time to develop, and the pacing is a bit jumbled. It can all feel pretty paper-thin at times, and definitely leaves one wanting in the end. Though, I wouldn't say that this is enough to dismiss the game. What SMT V brings to the series through its immense and magnificent world, strong core gameplay, and amazing soundtrack is enough to keep any JRPG fan entertained for a good, long while.