Going into Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance, I had only one query: why does this exist? I’ve performed SMT5, I performed by means of all of its DLC, and whereas Atlus isn’t a stranger to enhanced ports of its video games, this complete factor appeared a bit of bit odd. Vengeance is the Persona 5 Royal of SMT5, and like Persona, it had a number of heavy lifting to do to show its existence worthwhile.
Earlier than we dig in, I need to level you to our authentic Shin Megami Tensei V evaluate, written by my good friend and colleague Paul Roberts. I agree with nearly every part Paul needed to say in his evaluate, and I feel it’s a terrific evaluation of the sport. It’s vital studying, too, as a result of at its core, Vengeance is identical sport. Positive, it’s obtained a couple of extras right here and there, a brand new story route, some QoL additions, and some new monsters, however you’re nonetheless getting SMT5 on the finish of the day.
So let’s rapidly recap, then. SMT5 is a tough-as-nails turn-based RPG that takes place on the finish of the world. After a collection of killings strikes Tokyo, our protagonist wanders right into a tunnel whereas following his faculty buddies, and after a little bit of rumbling, wakes up within the apocalypse. Demons and angels – that are actually only a completely different type of demon – are preventing to enact their very own new world primarily based on their very own values and beliefs. The protagonist finds an ally on this new world within the type of Aogami, a proto-demon who can merge with the protagonist to turn out to be the Nahobino and battle again towards the world.
That story doesn’t basically change in Vengeance, all of it occurs in a lot the identical approach, however there’s a new path that may be chosen on the very begin of the sport. Regardless of a number of the advertising, which steered it’s solely actually the final act of the sport that modifications, there may be a number of new stuff occurring all through the story, proper from the get-go. It doesn’t drastically change issues till later within the sport, but it surely’s attention-grabbing to see some issues play out a bit of bit otherwise.
It’s not sufficient, although, if I’m being trustworthy. Whereas there are some variations right here and there, many of the new path performs out very equally to the unique sport, and it takes a superb 30 hours or so earlier than you get to the large modifications. If in case you have a excessive tolerance for sitting by means of belongings you’ve already skilled, then this will likely be simply effective, however as anyone who hardly ever, if ever, replays video games, there’s quite a bit to slog by means of and the payoff isn’t notably value it.
The gameplay is the place issues get a bit of extra attention-grabbing. Sure, it’s roughly the identical sport as earlier than, with the identical gameplay even, however there are little tweaks right here and there that make it much more fulfilling. Playable human allies often be a part of your occasion, which is a really good addition and relieves a bit of little bit of the stress that comes with managing your posse of demons.
Demons all get a singular passive ability, too, which makes every demon rather more attention-grabbing — you received’t simply be choosing whichever demon has the very best stats and loading all of your skills onto that, every demon has its area of interest. There’s some neat synergy with these expertise too, like Angel’s ability Blessed Melody, which will increase the sunshine harm of all the workforce when within the energetic occasion.
It’s also possible to hang around along with your demons in a brand new space referred to as Demon Hang-out. Right here, you’ll be able to improve your friendship along with your demons by speaking to them, which may end up in them leveling up, gaining stat boosts, and supplying you with gadgets. It’s a foolish little social component, but it surely’s a pleasant break from the doom and gloom, and it reveals off the very well-written personalities of the demons.
Talking of these personalities, I’ve personally discovered it a lot simpler to recruit demons. Within the authentic sport I at all times discovered that conversations with demons had been opaque and irritating to observe, however in Vengeance it’s a lot clearer what the persona of a demon is, and it’s a lot simpler to intuit what the demon would possibly need to hear. That doesn’t imply you’ll at all times achieve success, but it surely takes a bit of little bit of the frustration out of the expertise.
There are some modifications to the overworld, some further aspect quests, and fairly a couple of new demons sprinkled all through the world, too. None of those change the sport by any measurable diploma, however hey, new content material is new content material, and when the sport is working so laborious to justify its existence, any little bit helps.
The problem appears to be rather more even, with none main spikes like within the authentic. It’s not that the sport is simple, it completely isn’t and you continue to need to spend each second considering and strategising, however should you’re not operating from each battle then you need to be capable of keep away from any main grinding.
I did truly discover one unusual factor to do with issue, although. I used to be underneath the impression that Vengeance included all the base sport’s DLC, together with the Security issue. That doesn’t appear to be the case. I don’t know if I’m lacking one thing, if there’s some type of secret to unlocking it, or if it’s the results of enjoying on a pre-launch copy, however there isn’t any Security issue in my menu when beginning a sport or when altering issue in-game. Once more, this may very well be a pre-launch difficulty, so I’m not prepared to slam the sport too laborious for it, but it surely’s a bizarre selection if it’s lacking.
One space by which Vengeance is an apparent improve is within the efficiency. The unique sport on Swap had some points with efficiency, notably in docked mode. It was blurry, dropped frames left and proper, and actually appeared to wrestle. You’ll be able to mitigate this in Vengeance with a couple of tweaks to the settings — turning off ambient occlusion, movement blur, and anti-aliasing helps make the expertise carry out in a way more secure approach. It comes at the price of visible constancy, but it surely’s definitely worth the tradeoff for a extra secure expertise.
I’ve a little bit of a problem with the way in which Vengeance has been dealt with, to be trustworthy. I don’t like to speak about worth and pricing in most of my opinions – worth is completely different for each individual and each state of affairs, in spite of everything – however I can’t actually speak about Vengeance with out relating it.
I’ll be blunt: Vengeance shouldn’t be a full-priced sport, at the least not on Swap. I might give it a move if there was an improve path, a $30 price to improve the unique sport to Vengeance, however there’s not, and as anyone who paid for the unique sport, I feel I’d be irritated on the prospect of paying once more for one thing that’s largely the identical. New path or not, further demons or not, high quality of life modifications or not, it is a DLC growth, and that’s what it ought to have been.
So the query stays: does Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance justify its existence? I’d argue it doesn’t. I imply it’s a superb sport, SMT 5 at all times was, and it’s higher than the unique model of the sport. I can’t fault it for what it’s, however I can fault it for what it isn’t. It isn’t a DLC, and it isn’t a large enough change to justify charging $20 greater than the final sport, and each of these issues are irritating. In the event you’ve performed it earlier than, you’ll be able to in all probability skip it, in any other case, get pleasure from enjoying the very best model of an already good sport.
Score: 4/5
Be aware: Pictures on this evaluate had been supplied by Atlus by way of the Nintendo eShop, however precisely symbolize the sport’s visuals.