Survive the fall from grace
Though Shin Megami Tensei V was originally released in 2021, Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance feels tailor-made for 2024.
In only a handful of minutes after starting the game, I found myself in a world that has long since been destroyed. Armies of angels and demons fight for dominance over the ruins of Tokyo, and all I can do is survive amidst the chaos. In many ways, 2024 has felt similarly apocalyptic. The games industry has callously killed over 10,000 jobs (already surpassing the employment bloodbath that was 2023), and the institution of journalism is in absolute freefall. As prideful CEOs battle each other in pursuit of fleeting trends while flesh-and-blood humans are discarded like broken toys, the world in Shin Megami Tensei V feels closer to reality than it ever should. Who should you root for when no one has your best interests in mind?
Based on my (albeit limited) experience with the Shin Megami Tensei series, I know I’ll probably want to pick a side sooner or later. However, after spending roughly 20 hours with the game, I haven’t cared much about that dilemma. Instead, I’ve enjoyed exploring the vast wastelands, doing favors for demons, and constructing my dream team of misfit monsters. The world is dead, but I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun. Somehow, there’s beauty in desolation.

When the thousand years have expired
At the very beginning of Shin Megami Tensei V, you have the choice to either play the story path from the original game or embark on the new Vengeance story. Even though this is my first rodeo in Da’at, I selected Vengeance. This decision was primarily influenced by what I could write about (I’ve been contributing guides to Kotaku these past couple months), but I’m glad this is how I’m first experiencing the game. The reasons why will become evident later.
As mentioned above, the game almost immediately thrusts you into the boundless sands of its alternate universe, referred to as Da’at. This wide netherworld feels overwhelming at first, and generally speaking, I dislike feeling lost in big open world games. However, Shin Megami Tensei V threads a very careful needle in its map design. I always feel I have a lot to explore at any given time, but within five or ten minutes, I have a mental lay of the land and can focus on unearthing secrets. Maybe I don’t have a countless number of paths I can follow. But every path I’ve taken has been well worth exploring.
Part of this appeal comes from Shin Megami Tensei V’s willingness to take advantage of its 3D space. In many RPGs, the jump button primarily exists to take a few shortcuts or enable combos in a real-time combat system. Meanwhile, Shin Megami Tensei V isn’t afraid to throw some light platforming at you here and there. Oftentimes, you’ll see a treasure chest in the distance, wonder “how do I get up there,” and find a roundabout path that gets you where you want to go. Shin Megami Tensei V isn’t revolutionary in this respect, but for a turn-based RPG, the sense of exploration is delightful.

Drink of the wine of the wrath of God
Of course, the real draw of Shin Megami Tensei comes from fusing and creating your own party of demon companions. I thought I knew what to expect from Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance in this respect, but what I didn’t expect is that I’d get so attached to all these creatures.
For a game with over 200 unique monsters, they’re all overflowing with personality. As per series tradition, you can talk with demons in normal encounters, and successfully bargaining with them or recruiting them involves reading their tone and matching their energy. After playing so much Persona and dissecting its static social link conversations, the unpredictable outcomes of demon negotiation scratch the social combat itch I’ve had for about a year now. It’s so exciting to encounter a brand new demon, and there’s real tension in negotiating for their companionship without upsetting them.
But it’s not just the recruitment segments that make each demon so lively. New to Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance are Demon Haunts, which are open areas where you can freely talk with your party members. This is where you really get to know your companions' idiosyncrasies. For example, Leanan Sidhe once told me that she couldn’t see any love in my eyes (which, I mean, fair). And meanwhile, the otherwise abrasive Ippon-Datara confided in me that it can’t find any shoes that fit its long feet.
Despite the grim setting of the game, there’s something so realistic about how these creatures can talk philosophy in one minute and share anxieties about banal parts of life in the next. And it’s not like they’re all guaranteed to like you either; Legion and I have a firm understanding that it wants me to fear it. The earnestness here ironically makes the demons feel more human than many human characters in RPGs.
I don’t consume a lot of booze these days, but you could easily make a drinking game out of every time I’ve said “same” in response to the demons’ dialogue.

I have your back to the wall
My favorite part of the demon interactions is when the quests, dialogue, and gameplay all come together to form weirdly compelling short stories. My favorite example of this so far is Oni, the giant red brute. During one sidequest, Oni asks you to find any demons that might need its help, since it’s lonely and figures someone might need a bodyguard. This doesn’t go well right off the bat, since Oni is… well, a bit of a violent maniac. Frankly, Oni scares me. If I met it in real life, I’d probably be one wrong look away from it removing my head from my body. Yet despite that, deep down, it seems like it kind of has its heart in the right place.
This is actually reflected in Oni’s skillset. Its base skills are strictly physical attacks; no nuance, just damage against one or multiple monsters. But once it levels up, it learns Taunt (letting it take hits for the party) and Fang Breaker (a physical debuff attack). Oni grows into and excels at being a tank for the party, which really helps out in at least one fight in Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance. My time using and raising Oni felt like an extension of the story the game already told, and I couldn’t help but cheer for it as it took potentially lethal hits in my stead.
Admittedly, this questline was already present in the vanilla version of Shin Megami Tensei V. But Vengeance does add new quests, delivering more of these little stories that flesh out the monsters so well. Honestly, I’ve started to feel bad about using demons as fusion fodder once they become outclassed by other monsters I could use. I like to think of the fused monsters as Pokemon-style evolutions rather than flat-out replacements, even if the lore of the game doesn’t necessarily support that interpretation.

One more god rejected
Aside from the lovable demons, there is one human in Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance that I like an awful lot so far: Yoko Hiromine.
As the new character in the Vengeance story path, Yoko quickly proves to be an invaluable ally. She’s a “Guest” character that can join battles as long as she's with you, and her diverse set of skills often comes in clutch. Shin Megami Tensei V’s battle system is absolutely exquisite, featuring a rich array of options and possibilities that make battles and team building consistently dynamic. So not only does the inclusion of Guest characters expand your combat capabilities, they serve as reliable party members to use if you’re ever struggling with the team building aspects of the game.
But more importantly, it’s Yoko’s function in the story that really endears me to her. Just as I can’t find myself aligning with the major powers of Shin Megami Tensei V’s story, Yoko similarly expresses skepticism to virtually everyone she meets. She sees right through angels that take advantage of me, and she’s not afraid to call boss enemies out on their hypocrisy after they make speeches filled with platitudes.
However, she’s not totally cold to the world. She seems to trust my player character, and isn’t afraid to say a kind word or two when the situation arises. Yoko also appears to value the weird group of humans that I suppose are my friends, especially when they prove they can put others above themselves. I compared one particular story beat in the Vengeance story with how it played out in the original canon, and Yoko’s inclusion made the outcome far more interesting. The Vengeance path incorporates Yoko so well into the plot that I often forget that she wasn’t always there.
Yoko has felt like a kindred spirit in Shin Megami Tensei V’s world. So far, she often says what I’m already thinking, and that companionship is welcome in a landscape so devoid of hope. I might regret this stance as I learn more about her in the story. But in the meantime, I’m really happy she’s here.

I am the bug inside you
If I had one major complaint about Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance so far, it’s that it immediately loses intrigue once it pulls you out of Da’at. The sense of adventure and mystery in that barren wasteland was absolutely enthralling, and having it be explained away through some decidedly more conventional tropes detracted from my immersion.
But more importantly, leaving Da’at brought me back to all the parts of the world I don’t like. The major overarching powers dictate what you can or can’t do, yet they’ve done absolutely nothing to earn my trust. It’s disappointing, but in the end, it’s not enough to keep me from pressing on. If I move forward, I’ll learn more about Yoko. I’ll find more corners of Da’at to explore, uncovering all its treasures and conquering all its challenges. And, most importantly, I’ll get to hang out with more demons and learn their stories.
Life doesn’t always work out the way you hope it would. Oftentimes, it feels like you’re not making choices you really believe in, but instead selecting which option is the least bad from what you’re given. It’s demoralizing, and under those circumstances, it’s all too easy to just give up hope completely. But it’s those little things that make moving forward worthwhile. The one friend you may make, the one adventure you’ve yet to experience; that’s where the joy of life can be found. I don’t have faith in the powers that be anymore, but they’re not the ones I fight for anymore. It’s those little sparks of joy amidst the wasteland that make the struggles worthwhile.
… And I guess all that applies to Shin Megami Tensei V as well.