Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance review: Atlus’ canon of redemption

Shin Megami Tensei V is the only game where you willingly disclose to a manic Demon with torture gear whether you’re a top or a bottom. Only a franchise as powerful as Atlus’ obscure, cult-classic JRPG could make you pity a disgustingly rotten, unwanted green Slime. I couldn’t get my fix for zany Demon dialogue and utterly unfiltered rejection in any other game. And you’ll be pleased to hear that in crafting Vengeance, Atlus has injected the same wickedly fun cruelty that fans adore the franchise for.

But Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance isn’t just the same ol’ snarky Demons making you feel like a loser, now in crispier 4K quality. This isn’t just a polished-up redo of the 2021 sensation. Instead, it’s a full-on revamp. Countless quality-of-life features, impressive new Demons and characters, and a major story overhaul give Shin Megami Tensei V—and Atlus as a whole—a redemption arc.

Welcome to post-apocalyptic Tokyo

Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance is an enhanced re-release of Shin Megami Tensei V. The game thrusts you, an average high schooler in Tokyo, into a wasteland named Da’at, where you merge with a mysterious entity, becoming this half-human, half-Demon hybrid called a Nahobino. Now, it’s your job to navigate through Da’at’s chaos and unravel this angels-versus-demons tale.

Turn-based combat with a devilish party

In Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance, battles are governed by the Press Turn system, which is all about exploiting enemy weaknesses to snag extra turns. If you slip up, you lose turns instead. 

You’ve got one big edge over enemies: A party of Demons. Recruit or fuse them to build a team of allies. While recruiting is cool, it’s in the Fusion lab where the seriously addictive experiments happen. Mix two wild Demons to cook up your own custom-made creatures.

And there are a lot of lab rats to experiment on, with 230 Demons returning from the original game and 40 fresh faces. While some are pretty forgettable—looking at you, Nyam Nyam—others, like Onyankopon and Anansi, are visually striking.

Demon negotiation is a classic mechanic in SMT. To get them to join your crew, you have to get through a negotiation first. Depending on the moon’s phase, they can become more or less demanding. But what’s challenging is picking an answer that fits their mood.

I was surprised by the Demons’ cunning. You can start to win them over, but if you’re not on par with their level, they vanish in a puff of smoke. They bookmark you for later, though, like a Demon waiting list, until you level up enough to be worth their time. 

Play-doh difficulty

Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance caters to all crowds with its difficulty options. Playing on Normal, I got sucker-punched and had to reload multiple times, skipping cutscenes to get back to the boss fight. It was like a never-ending cycle of rinse, skip cutscene, fast-forward dialogue, and repeat.

The RNG often decides to play dirty, and before you know it, you get hit with a boss’s instakill move. GAME OVER.

In this difficulty mode, every battle feels like a high-stakes challenge. You’ve got to tackle every side quest, fine-tune every Demon in your crew, and memorize every enemy’s tactics and weaknesses before tackling the bosses.

I enjoyed the challenge, but it wore me out. Encounters felt like annoying interruptions, draining my stamina fast. It turned into a grind—clearing all side content just to beat the boss and move on, only to do it again in the next area.

So, one night, feeling utterly drained, I decided to throw in the towel and switch to Casual mode with Auto-Battle on. Suddenly, those repetitive encounters practically took care of themselves, freeing up all my brainpower for exploration, collectible hunting, and Demon fusion.

With both difficulty modes available right out of the gate, SMT V Vengeance becomes a welcoming haven for newcomers. It can be a nail-biting, turn-based strategy epic or a laid-back Demon collectathon.

The look and sound of the apocalypse

Shin Megami Tensei V’s visual style throws us into a wrecked world that screams biblical apocalypse, and the soundtrack makes you feel every bit of it. Toshiki Konishi’s signature rock-meets-electronic vibe sets the perfect mood for humanity’s impending doom. 

But the one thing I can’t get over is the Demon cries. Each species has its own distinct sound, making them all the more unique and recognizable. Those over-the-top cries from Ippon Datara could give anyone nightmares.

While the sound production in Vengeance is impactful, the visuals leave much to be desired. Back in 2021, SMT V looked good for a Switch game, but on next-gen hardware, it’s painfully clear how boring Vengeance‘s unaltered backgrounds are compared to its revamped 3D characters and Demons. The game drags you through a desolate wasteland for what feels like forever and tries to distract you with giggling Mimans, random treasures, and chatty Demons scattered around. It’s fun for a bit, but these gimmicks can’t hide the fact the landscape is completely shallow.

Atlus’ canon of vengeance

When SMT V originally dropped, fans had a lot to say—and most of it wasn’t flattering. But Atlus has picked up every piece of criticism and clapped back with Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance, its very own reverse UNO card, two years later.

Back in 2021, the biggest critique of SMT V was the thin, badly paced story filled with flat characters. Atlus seems to have taken this personally and addressed it in Canon of Vengeance, a brand new game mode that overhauls the mid-to-late game events. The changes start right from the get-go. Now, Da’at has encounters that make it feel alive. Characters, both returning and new, join your party as Guests. Minor plotlines, even at the beginning of the game, have been reworked, making each arc feel less undercooked.

And the developer didn’t stop there—other criticisms have been addressed, too. The map was hard to read? Atlus reworked it to highlight height differences. Tired of every Demon in the Overworld flocking to you? Activate Etoma Field. Flying fiends were annoying? Poof; they’re gone.

Atlus took every bit of feedback to heart and its re-do of SMT V feels like the studio’s personal Canon of Vengeance. While I’m not entirely convinced this is the game the developer originally envisioned, with Kazuyuki Yamai’s promises of tackling heavy topics like terrorism and Masayuki Doi’s flashy ideas of riding on Hayataro back, I truly believe Vengeance is the best version of Shin Megami Tensei V that Atlus could deliver.