REVIEW: Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance


Title	Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance
Developer	Atlus
Publisher	SEGA
Release Date	June 13th, 2024
Genre	RPG
Platform	Switch, PlayStation 4 \| 5, PC, XBox consoles
Age Rating	Mature
Official Website

I was pretty excited when Atlus announced Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance a few months ago. I love the vanilla release, so adding an all new storyline, with new characters and demons sounded like a great time to me. I’ve spent around 40 hours with the game, and achieved one of the many endings. This means it’s time for me to share my thoughts on this one. Did it meet my high expectations? Let’s find out.

This release contains all the story content of the original game, and a brand new Vengeance path. This path will introduce you to a new character named Yoko Hiromine. She goes to a different school and seemingly has the power to fight the demons as well. She is a very grounded girl and looks at everything through a very objective lens. Like the previous story, our young protagonist will bond with his Nahobino ally and fight to save this world from the demons.

The new story path is more interesting than the vanilla one, but honestly it’s the character and demon interactions that make this one really shine. The writers went above and beyond to give everyone a lot of personality and it really comes through in the writing. I think fans of the previous release and new fans will find a lot to love here. The localization team should get a shout out here as well, since without their work a lot of this gold would’ve been lost.

The gameplay here is very similar to the vanilla release. You will still explore each area of the game, taking on side quests and collecting demons to fuse into stronger ones for combat. That doesn’t mean there haven’t been some additions and QoL improvements, though. First off, you can save anywhere now. I really loved this feature cause I’m always afraid my console won’t wake up from sleep correctly and I’ll lose some progress. There are new demons for you to collect, two new locations to explore in Shinjuku and Shakan, and you can interact with your demons in the Demon Haunts. Interacting with them will improve their stats and gain you some powerful items as well. Other new features include a compendium fusion system, guest characters that can be used in combat and much more. With all this, even old players will have plenty of new stuff to play around with in this release. If you want to know more about combat and gameplay features that didn’t change, please check out my review of the original Shin Megami Tensei V.

Graphically, Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance looks fantastic. The amazing environments and highly detailed character and demon models make it one of the best looking Switch games out there. The new demon designs are top notch as well, especially Nahobeeho, as cosplaying Jack Frost is just a win! The game runs at a steady framerate, but there is some graphical pop in every now and then. This doesn’t take away anything from the fantastic experience though.

There are plenty of new battle tracks to enjoy in this release. I found myself rocking out to each of them as I slayed all the demons that opposed me. The new areas have some great new themes as well, Shinjuku’s really stands out with some creepy chanting in the background that really immerses you into the overall atmosphere of the area. The voice acting is all great; no matter if you go with the Japanese or English cast, you’re getting top quality VA that really brings these characters and demons to life.

Overall, Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance took an excellent release and just made it better. The new areas are great, new demons spice up the already crazy roster you could obtain and the Vengeance story path really shows off the game’s characters in a new light. This game is well worth the $59.99 price tag for anyone who doesn’t own the initial release, and even if you do I still think there is enough new content here to warrant a purchase. Now if you will excuse me, I have some post-game demons to round up!