In June, Atlus will release a remake of a controversial game, Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance. Vengeance serves as a retelling of the first game with many new features and even a new story. While far from bad, fans criticized Shin Megami Tensei for adding little to the series and its weak story. Three years later, Atlus has come back to redeem itself. This time, Vengeance will be released on other consoles besides the Switch.
Instead of being a re-release like Persona 5: Royal, Vengeance is practically a completely new game with a new main story and many other features and quality-of-life improvements. As such, many gamers are probably curious as to what the best reasons are for buying this game. Here are the biggest upgrades to find in Shin Megami Tensei: Vengeance.
New Demons
At the core of any Shin Megami Tensei game is its compendium of demons. Each game gives players hundreds of demons to recruit, fuse, and customize. Unlike other “mons” games such as Pokémon, the demons of SMT are drawn from real-world mythologies including Greek, Norse, Egyptian, Celtic, and many others. All of them are brilliantly designed by artists Kazuma Kaneko and Masayuki Doi.
According to the breakdown released for Vengeance, Atlus spared no expense in building up the compendium of the original, bringing the number to a total of 270 demons. While many return from previous games such as Efreet and Mad Gasser, others such as Onyankopon and Glasya Labolas are new to this game. Hopefully, this new roster will be a mainstay going forward.
Demon Haunts
While the isolation of the original game added to the atmosphere, it could get monotonous. Vengeance gives players new rest areas known as “Demon Haunts.” Here, players can rest, relax, and interact with their party. In the original game, players were given little interaction with their party outside of the recruitment bargains. Now, they will become actual characters. A hub area always adds to the player’s ability to navigate.
In these haunts, players are also able to interact with the human characters introduced in the vanilla game. These will give players not only new interactions but also quests they can use to advance the plot. Lastly, the player’s companion, Aogami, can now be interacted with as well. This will add a heavy layer of depth and development to the game.
New Forms
Out of all of the new additions to Vengeance, few manage to be as visually striking as the new designs available for the Nahobino. Out of all of the images from the new game, few were as striking as the Nahobino’s new form. It features a lunar aesthetic, shorter hair, and shoulder blades. However, no new information was given on the form yet. Additionally, new abilities were showcased using this new form.
In the original game, the Nahobino was a fusion of an ordinary high school student and the enigmatic “Aogami.” Audiences must wait to see what this new form means, as it’s highly unlikely to be just cosmetic.
New Abilities
In addition to the new demons, there are also many new abilities at players’ disposal. This is to be expected, given the expanded roster of the game. However, these magical abilities don’t just extend to adding regular abilities. Much like with Persona 5 Royal, Atlus added an “Innate” skill to each demon, which means a passive ability unique to one.
Furthermore, Atlus added combination abilities. These are abilities that can be used when you have certain demons on your team. Examples include an ice attack when you unite the variations of the mascot Jack Frost, a powerful light attack when you have the Biblical Archangels on your team, and likely many more. While this task will certainly prove difficult, it will be equally satisfying to unleash!
A New Shin Megami Tensei Story
Finally, the biggest cause for excitement for this retelling is the story being completely retold. The story of the original version received the most criticism for its bare-bones plot, weak pacing, and flat characters. This was especially egregious given the usual depth of stories from the series, even with minimalist tales such as Nocturne. As such, the game left much to be desired.
This time around, Atlus will give their best. This time, a transfer student named Yoko Hiromine has entered the story and dragged the player on her quest for revenge. Now, they are pitted against a quartet of demonesses known as the Qadištu. Along the way, the hero encounters many familiar faces who now have a second chance to shine as characters.
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Edward Fargis is a seasoned writer from across the web. His work can be found on Total Apex Gaming, Total Apex Entertainment, Strangely Awesome Games, Dead Talk News, Siliconera, and Comic Book Resource.
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