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 entire factor appeared slightly bit odd. Vengeance is the Persona 5 Royal of SMT5, and like Persona, it had lots of heavy lifting to do to show its existence worthwhile.
Earlier than we dig in, I wish to level you to our authentic Shin Megami Tensei V evaluate, written by my good friend and colleague Paul Roberts. I agree with nearly the whole lot Paul needed to say in his evaluate, and I feel it’s an excellent evaluation of the sport. It’s essential studying, too, as a result of at its core, Vengeance is identical recreation. Certain, it’s received a number 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 shortly 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 form of demon – are combating to enact their very own new world based mostly 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 into the Nahobino and battle again in opposition to the world.
That story doesn’t basically change in Vengeance, all of it occurs in a lot the identical means, however there’s a new path that may be chosen on the very begin of the sport. Regardless of among the advertising, which prompt it’s solely actually the final act of the sport that adjustments, there may be lots of new stuff taking place all through the story, proper from the get-go. It doesn’t drastically change issues till later within the recreation, nevertheless it’s attention-grabbing to see some issues play out slightly bit in a different way.
It’s not sufficient, although, if I’m being sincere. Whereas there are some variations right here and there, many of the new path performs out very equally to the unique recreation, and it takes a superb 30 hours or so earlier than you get to the large adjustments. When you’ve got a excessive tolerance for sitting by means of stuff you’ve already skilled, then this shall be simply high-quality, however as someone who hardly ever, if ever, replays video games, there’s quite a bit to slog by means of and the payoff isn’t notably price it.
The gameplay is the place issues get slightly extra attention-grabbing. Sure, it’s kind of the identical recreation as earlier than, with the identical gameplay even, however there are little tweaks right here and there that make it much more gratifying. Playable human allies sometimes be a part of your occasion, which is a really good addition and relieves slightly little bit of the stress that comes with managing your posse of demons.
Demons all get a novel passive talent, too, which makes every demon far more attention-grabbing — you gained’t simply be selecting whichever demon has the best stats and loading all of your skills onto that, every demon has its area of interest. There’s some neat synergy with these abilities too, like Angel’s talent Blessed Melody, which will increase the sunshine harm of your entire workforce when within the energetic occasion.
You can even hang around together with your demons in a brand new space referred to as Demon Hang-out. Right here, you possibly can enhance your friendship together with your demons by speaking to them, which can lead to them leveling up, gaining stat boosts, and providing you with gadgets. It’s a foolish little social factor, nevertheless it’s a pleasant break from the doom and gloom, and it exhibits 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 recreation I at all times discovered that conversations with demons had been opaque and irritating to comply with, 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 wish to hear. That doesn’t imply you’ll at all times achieve success, nevertheless it takes slightly little bit of the frustration out of the expertise.
There are some adjustments to the overworld, some further aspect quests, and fairly a number 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 arduous to justify its existence, any little bit helps.
The issue appears to be far 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 pondering and strategising, however in case you’re not operating from each battle then it’s best to have the ability to keep away from any main grinding.
I did truly discover one unusual factor to do with issue, although. I used to be beneath the impression that Vengeance included the entire base recreation’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 form of secret to unlocking it, or if it’s the results of taking part in on a pre-launch copy, however there is no such thing as a Security issue in my menu when beginning a recreation or when altering issue in-game. Once more, this may very well be a pre-launch concern, so I’m not prepared to slam the sport too arduous for it, nevertheless it’s a bizarre alternative if it’s lacking.
One space through which Vengeance is an apparent improve is within the efficiency. The unique recreation 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 number of tweaks to the settings — turning off ambient occlusion, movement blur, and anti-aliasing helps make the expertise carry out in a way more steady means. It comes at the price of visible constancy, nevertheless it’s definitely worth the tradeoff for a extra steady expertise.
I’ve a little bit of a difficulty with the way in which Vengeance has been dealt with, to be sincere. I don’t like to speak about worth and pricing in most of my opinions – worth is completely different for each individual and each scenario, in spite of everything – however I can’t actually discuss Vengeance with out pertaining to it.
I’ll be blunt: Vengeance shouldn’t be a full-priced recreation, at the least not on Swap. I might give it a cross if there was an improve path, a $30 charge to improve the unique recreation to Vengeance, however there’s not, and as someone who paid for the unique recreation, I feel I’d be aggravated 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 adjustments or not, it is a DLC enlargement, 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 recreation, 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 recreation, and each of these issues are irritating. In the event you’ve performed it earlier than, you possibly can most likely skip it, in any other case, get pleasure from taking part in the most effective model of an already good recreation.
Score: 4/5
Word: Photographs on this evaluate had been offered by Atlus through the Nintendo eShop, however precisely symbolize the sport’s visuals.