Topic: User Impressions/Reviews Thread

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Shin Megami Tensei V
Platform: Nintendo Switch
78 hours logged across one complete playthrough

God is dead.

Thus proclaims Lucifer rather dramatically early on in Shin Megami Tensei V. The circumstances of the event are unclear, or even the truth of his words, but the order of God's Creation itself seems to have been abandoned, one way or another, leaving open a mighty throne to the throngs of demons and spirits whose godhood had been robbed from them by the Creator eons before. This basic premise forms the conceptual foundation of the newest entry in Atlus' legendary and long-running JRPG series. As the follow-up to 3DS exclusive SMT IV, first released in 2013, and also the first home console release since SMT III: Nocturne released on Playstation 2 in 2003, SMT V has been long in the making and, thanks to both a lengthy development cycle and aggressive marketing by Nintendo, highly anticipated by series fans. Arguably even more attention from outside of the core fanbase has turned to this newest mainline entry since the success of Atlus' Persona 5, itself a spinoff series of SMT that has, nevertheless, achieved a level of mainstream success and mass-market penetration that has, to date, managed to evade the far more niche and hardmore mainline series.

Shin Megami Tensei V's plot and premise are difficult to discuss, if only because the game is structured in such a way that talking about it in any detail risks spoiling new players on early-game plot twists, so I'll lean into the mystery of it in this review. As with every other mainline Shin Megami Tensei game, things begin with an ominous convergence of the supernatural on the modern world. The tranquility of your unnamed player character's existence is disrupted when his school informs the students about a series of brutal murders that have been ripping across their section of Tokyo. After inadvertently being drawn into a tunnel where demon sightings have been reported, he, along with a loose-knit group of kids from his school, are plunged into a bizarre, apocalyptic landscape known as Da'at. Quickly losing track of the other students, your character only manages to survive by fusing with a mysterious cybernetic entity known as Proto-Fiend Aogami and transforming into a being known as a Nahobino. Sharing a body and consciousness with Aogami, your character sets off into Da'at to discover what has happened to the world.

It quickly becomes clear that the section of Da'at your character has landed in is connected in some way to Tokyo. The once bustling metropolis has become a blasted ruin, though: rusted cars line the roads and the gutted carcasses of once recognizable buildings haunt the sands of this world. You quickly discover that humans are nowhere to be found in this realm, and, in their place, frequently bloodthirsty demons now roam this new land. What happened to Tokyo? Is this Tokyo in the distant future or some otherworld equivalent of it? Where are your friends? Who is behind the mysterious voice that greets your character when he first arrives in this realm, beckoning him to pierce the mysteries of this world? Who, or what, is Aogami? As you play through the game, the extent of your incredible powers as a Nahobino become increasingly clear, and they make you an unwelcome presence for many of the demons in this world, who have eyes on the absent Heavenly throne.

The game's setup, like SMT III: Nocturne's, is deliberately mysterious, inviting speculation about what is happening... at the beginning, anyhow. Probably the one great failing of SMT V is the way in which it takes a fascinating setup, ripe with unique themes to explore, and fails to make anything truly special out of it. Part of this is because it pairs a "minimalistic" approach to storytelling with a very open-ended structure that allows for more player freedom. The pacing is really the worst of it, I think: it feels like there's thirty minutes of actual story movement and development per ten hours or so of gameplay. Intriguing concepts and mysteries are alluded to and then dropped outright as the game goes back to its status quo of exploration and demon-collecting. Now, on some level, this isn't new for this particular series: after all, SMT III was particularly notorious for feeling almost plotless at times. I would argue that SMT III's setup, where the plot is happening in the background and you're just trying to survive and figure out what the hell is going on, is a far better match for this sort of story pacing, though. Narrative elements were scant throughout that game, but each story update felt significant and gave you the sense that you were consistently getting closer to understanding the mysteries at the core of that particular title. That... is just not true here. The plot in SMT V is fairly straightforward, but so underdeveloped that the player never really has much of an investment in what's going on around them. SMT III: Nocturne utilized the element of mystery effectively in this regard, because, in that game, you never really felt like you were fully supposed to understand what was happening. Here, it just feels like Atlus' writers got bored and never expanded the script beyond an initial outline.

This uninspired feeling applies to the game's central human cast as well, who are, by and large, deeply forgettable personalities that are seemingly forgotten by the game as soon as the focus shifts from the bare essential plot details back to the central gameplay loop. Sometimes literally! There's at least one named character here that was shown off prominently in the marketing, yet their role in the game barely extends past the very beginning. They get nothing to do the entire game and their fate would be entirely unknown if it wasn't an incidental detail in a late-game side-quest. SMT V gives these people nothing to do and, frankly, I didn't feel like I knew them any better at the end of the game than I did at the beginning.

It's especially disappointing given how good the characters and plot pacing were in SMT IV and SMT IV: Apocalypse. While neither game was filled with dialogue, they did a good job of connecting the monster-collecting and dungeon crawling bits with surprisingly engaging apocalyptic stories. Hell, even the original SNES SMT (which I reviewed the GBA port of recently) does a good job of balancing these elements. Maybe Atlus is struggling to unify its new approach to exploration and level design with narrative development, but it's hard to escape the feeling that the narrative failure here keeps this game from achieving its true potential.

The rather scathing condemnation of the game's plot development only really applies to the game's main story quests however. While the main plot is arguably the least engaging one in the series, the game features a set of well-developed side-quests throughout that do a great job of fleshing out the larger world and the personalities and mythological roles of various fascinating NPC demons you'll meet throughout the game. Crucially, and this might help to explain why the main plot feels so underdeveloped, many fairly major characters in this game are only properly developed if you complete side-quests associated with them (and it isn't always clear when a side-quest will connect back to a major character).

There is also an interesting element of choice to these side-quests. Oftentimes you'll accept sidequests with contradictory objectives, and will have to make a choice between them. The most common of these are quests will demons will task you with killing each-other. They'll each individually explain their piece, and then it'll be up to the player to decide who to ally with and who to betray, usually with the allied demon joining your party after the side-quest is complete. Some side-quests only trigger if players make specific choices to spare or kill a character. And there is at least one major string of side-quests that stretches across the game and will award the player with some really cool rewards near the end of the game. Many of the best demon fusion recipes are actually locked behind side-quests, so even if you don't care about the narrative aspect of the experience, it's good to complete as many of them as possible so you have access to top-rank demons near the end of the game.

None of this is to imply that the game has The Witcher 3-tier sidequests or anything, but they are unusually good for the series, and probably for the JRPG genre in general, since most of the biggest examples of Japanese RPGs tend to frontload plot and character development in lieu of hiding them behind optional sidequests that need to be tracked down. In this respect, SMT V's approach to narrative development almost feels more like what you'd get in a Western-developed RPG, where the main story is a coat-hanger used to structure an experience filled with optional content that the player can choose to engage with (or not) at their whim. Unfortunately, SMT V's main plot is still a little too structured to successfully facilitate this sort of design.

SMT V's early footage showed off the Nahobino sliding and naruto running across gigantic landscapes, prompting speculation about the nature of the game's structure. SMT games have, traditionally, featured abstract, pulled out world maps for players to wander around in, with the camera pulling back into a proper third-person (or first-person in the oldest games) viewpoint when players would visit towns and dungeons. SMT IV bucked this trend a bit by featuring desiccated urban environments for players to explore, but most exploration of Tokyo still saw the player become a cursor on a map. Had SMT V fully shrugged off the limitations of its predecessors and gone open world with its game design?

Well, kind of, but not really. Players actually will see the return of the dreaded 'cursor on a map' viewpoint at the very start of the game as they wander around Tokyo (and sporadically throughout the game as players return to normal Tokyo in order to advance the plot), but, even moreso than SMT III: Nocturne, the developers seem eager to get players into the action as quickly as possible, and it's scarcely more than twenty minutes before the unnamed protagonist finds himself in Da'at. And Da'at, players will quickly come to find, is a sort of gigantic open air dungeon that is split into multiple zones across the game, which replace wholesale the more traditional map and unique location/dungeon layout of previous games.

SMT V takes a sledgehammer to the design traits of previous games in the series, frankly, as even putting aside the very open nature of the maps now, Atlus has heavily integrated platforming and collect-a-thon elements into the game. Your character can jump! And learning to platform will be necessary, as the landscapes the Nahobino explores will often require physical problem solving to navigate through. If you need to get to something on a hill, for example, you might need to survey the landscape and deduce that you'll be able to reach it if you scale that abandoned office building in the distance and then circle back around to your goal. There was at least one locked building which required my character to climb some nearby crates and then jump onto the roof to squeeze in through an open skylight. SMT V possesses an impressive sense of 3D verticality to it. And, thankfully, given all of the falls you'll be taking when you get too close to the edges of cliffs or building rooftops, there's no fall damage to worry about.

And you'll be doing a lot of this, since there are so many things your character can collect. Atlus' goal with SMT V was to emphasize atmosphere and exploration, and it has pretty brilliantly accomplished this goal, as every aspect of the experience seems to designed to encourage the player to poke around their environments as much as possible. SMT V is a game driven by player curiosity, and, in pretty much every instance, that curiosity is rewarded in some small way; with loot, rare items, rare enemies, potential side-quests, and especially Miman, small, Korok-like demons who will reward you with Glory when found, a resource that is used to strengthen the innate capabilities of your Nahobino: allowing him to use more skills, carry more demons in his stock, improve his negotiation tactics, etc. These are utilized by unlocking miracles in the World of Shadows, and are this game's equivalent of App Points, which were introduced in SMT IV and served a similar role in that game.

Despite this sometimes staggering sense of openness, though, it quickly becomes clear that, as wide as the landscapes are, they're still designed to funnel you down the landscape in a specific way, because this is, after all, a linear JRPG at heart. This combination of design linearity and huge, open-ended environments is more than a little reminiscent of Nintendo's first-party Xenoblade Chronicles franchise, and that similarity extends to the way demons are situated in your environments as well. Like in XC, SMT V likes to toss in vastly overleveled enemies into the mix that will chase you if you stray too close to them. Although, unlike in XC, the game is very fair about making sure the player is able to escape from these enemies (in XC, large enemies can and will attack and kill you from a distance, which is endlessly frustrating). The director of SMT V is also the director of Atlus' Etrian Odyssey series, which also incorporates large, dangerous enemies that will chase you on the map, so the game makes effective use of these enemies not just as dangers to be avoided but also as obstacles in the path of certain items and side-quests. In one side-quest, for example, I was tasked by a demon with stealing the egg of an enormous bird monster so that he could make an omelet. This involved a lot of running and hide to avoid detection by the bird monster as I snuck into its nest and snagged its egg, and ended with a high-octane escape after the bird returned and chased me down across the map.

It won't be a surprise to learn from everything written previously in this review that the real stars of the show are the demons themselves, and the game feels like it was designed around showcasing these creatures in every way imaginable. The large environments allow for the demons to naturalistically prowl the map, and they often do in great number, which must be a lot for the Nintendo Switch's puny processor to handle. The 3D models used for these entities also appear to be hugely improved over the ones utilized for your Personas in Persona 5, as they're extremely detailed and well-animated, from just their idle animations to some of the impressively detailed attacks they can engage in. It's clear a ton of effort was poured into the presentation of this game, and especially of the demons in it. Atlus' localization team also did an amazing job of giving the demons you'll meet throughout the game a unique voice and sense of identity that makes them feel like so much more than the fusion fodder they're often accused of being.

One of the more interesting additions to the game comes in the form of "navigator demons." These demons will follow you around outside of battle and helpfully locate hidden items (and, sometimes, enemies) as you wander the wastes of Da'at. A few of these are more generic demons, but one of them, Amanozako, is absolutely bursting with personality, although whether you find her charming or gratingly annoying will probably vary from person-to-person. Her general chattiness and high-pitched squeals of "Hey, hey, hey!" will probably evoke memories of The Legend of Zelda's sometimes abrasive companion fairies.

A bit of a side-note, but part of what makes the negotiations so much fun in this entry is how they've been overhauled. While the mechanic is unique and arguably series-defining, many previous mainline SMT games have also made them somewhat difficult to engage in. The first three games are all pretty notorious for how difficult it often is to convince these damned things to join you, and, more often than not, players would have to endure many instances of a demon accepting their offerings of macca, items, HP, etc. before either attacking them or running away. This worked against their strength as monster-collecting games. SMT IV did a good job of removing the complete reliance on RNG by making answers at least partially contingent on the personality type of the demon, and SMT V goes further by making it where demons almost never run off with your stuff, and are, in general, much more forgiving about your answers to their queries. Don't get me wrong: relations can and will still break down from time to time, but it doesn't feel as expected anymore. Many demons I've been able to recruit on my first attempt at talking with them, which almost never happened in the first three games. And, while this is subjective, I also feel like conversations in this game are less random: the back-and-forth between demons and myself feel like actual communication and less like infuriating RNG checks.

With that said, one aspect of Nocturne's negotiation system that SMT V doubles down on to great effect are the "special conversations" that can trigger throughout the game. As in that game, if you choose to converse with a demon when running with another demon in your party that it might have a special mythological connection to, you'll be rewarded with unique dialogue detailing said connection. It was a neat, if somewhat underutilized element in Nocturne, and SMT V wisely expands the available pool of such prompts so that even people who aren't looking to trigger these conversations will probably do so a few times accidentally.

The conversation skills from Nocturne don't return, thankfully. While some long-time players argued this added an extra layer to the game's strategy, I found them to be more of a crutch to lessen the nuisance of an unfair, often aggravating negotiation system that relied on the use of demon skills to make recruiting demons less of a dice roll. These skills occupied a skill slot on your demons, and so were problematic in the same way that HM skills on Pokemon in the older Pokemon games often were: not only were these skills replacing something doubtlessly more useful in battle, one often felt compelled to carry around demons in their active party that they weren't excited about in order to increase their negotiation success rate. SMT V's system isn't a burden on the player, so such skills aren't needed to make them less of a pain in the butt.

There's also an interesting, if somewhat underdeveloped, mechanic in this game where demons that flank you on the field will actually demand you pay them money if you don't want them to spend an entire turn attacking your defenseless party. Presumably this is more useful on Hard mode, where demon mobs are more likely to wipe your party in a single turn, but mostly playing on Normal difficulty, I never felt any particular need to utilize said mechanic. The player will also be able to unlock miracles as the game goes on that allow them to expand their possible conversation options, such as being able to demand money or essences from cornered demons that are pleading with you to spare their lives.

All of this contributes, frankly, toward making SMT V probably the best monster-collecting JRPG I've ever played (judged purely on that dimension of the gameplay, at least), giving the demon-collecting gameplay loop an addictive quality unmatched by not only the game's contemporaries, but also by previous entries in the self-same series. Numerous comparisons have been made to Pokemon in the past, but this is probably the first entry in the series that honestly feels primarily defined by that aspect of the game design.

All of this naturally leads, I think, into the part where I discuss the mechanics and balancing in this game, as there's a lot to cover.

Probably the first major alteration in this game is the Leyline Fount system, which has been used to integrate various key features into one easy-to-access hub. In previous games, health restoration facilities, shops, the Cathedral of Shadows, save points, etc. were all typically separate facilities that needed to be accessed individually. But SMT V has unified these various services via the use of Leyline Founts, large, glowing portals, typically dotted around the game's various maps, that are described as "points where the Earth's energy overflows." These seem to allow entry into different dimensions, which allows the game to adopt unusual presentations for its facilities. The Cathedral of Shadows, for example, is now The World of Shadows, overseen by a giant, vaguely vampiric woman named Sophia. This realm is all blacks, dark blues, and shadows (and, while it takes entirely too long to play out without skipping through it, the demon fusing process is now this gorgeous, elaborate process involving gothic organ recitals; very fun). The game's item 'shop' is situated in a large, gold-filled horde, overseen by a fascinatingly giddy entity named Gustave. In addition to selling you items, he is also the character who rewards you for finding his Miman underlings, giving access to fantastic rewards every time the player finds sets of five Miman.

The use of these points to save the game, combined with the complete lack of auto-saving, means SMT V has reverted back to an old-school, PS2-esque system for saving player progress, which is a massive change of pace from the 3DS game, which allowed the player to save their game anywhere. While obviously less convenient to the player, this allows the game, as with Nocturne, to tactically space out save points in order to force the player to play more carefully, lest they be wiped out before being able to save their progress. This will all sound similar to players who have played the Dark Souls games, before, and, like those games, it also fast-travel between Leyline Founts, which is utterly necessary given the massive environments in this game. One concession is made in the name of user-friendliness, though, and it's a big one: at pretty much any point in time, pressing the left button will allow the player to warp back to the last Leyline Fount they visited. This makes it where the player can retreat and heal or save their game at any point in time, although the benefits of this will have to be weighed against losing progress toward finding the next Leyline Fount when first exploring a new area.

Atlus hasn't, by any means, re-invented the wheel when it comes to the battle system in this game. It's still very much the iconic press-turn combat system that they first introduced to the world in SMT III: Nocturne back in 2003. Or, rather, based on the updated version of that system that featured in 2016's SMT IV: Apocalypse, which made demons more unique by giving them affinities toward certain types of skills based on their race. There have been some notable alterations to it that change how it plays, though. The MOST notable change in the game comes via the way they've changed support skills. In previous games, buffs and debuffs were party-wide spells that could be layered on up to three times. Once they were applied, the only they thing that could alter them were other support spells that weakened or negated the effects outright. In SMT V, however, they've been wildly nerfed to put them in line with how support skills work in Persona games: by default, the beginning support skills only target one party member, and last only three turns unless applied. I imagine the intention was to help balance out the dramatic impact these skills had on the gameplay, since, in games like SMT III, a large chunk of the challenge could be removed outright if the enemy didn't possess skills that removed the effects of these skills. If nothing else, late-game demons frequently learn party-wise buff and debuff skills, also much like in the Persona games.

In terms of changes to long-standing aspects of the series that I'm not quite on-board with, it's also worth mentioning that Atlus has, for some reason, nerfed the concentrate/charge skills in this particular entry. Previously, using charge before a physical attack, or concentrate before a magic attack, caused the subsequent skill to do 2.5x its normal damage. It was a risk/reward element, you didn't do damage for one turn and then committed to using an attack skill the next, but, for your patience, it did extra damage. Now, concentrate/charge only causes the skill following them to do 1.8x damage at full affinity, which is... worse than if you just used the same move twice. I suppose the intention is to use them in conjunction with MP-costly abilities, but reducing their strategic effectiveness is baffling to me, as they're hardly worth wasting one of your demons' precious skill slots on now.

It also bears mentioning that this game appears to incorporate more aggressive level scaling of damage taken and received than in previous SMT games, which has the unfortunate side effect of making leveling itself a more important element than in previous games. Given the tactical, build-based nature of the combat in these games (versus the 'big number = better' approach most JRPGs adopt when it comes to increasing the difficulty of battles, where players can grind to increase their level and damage output), low-level runs have been a staple for hardcore fans of these games, relying almost solely on manipulation of the nuanced mechanics to carry them through difficult boss battles. While that can still technically happen here, the effects of being underleveled appear to be far more pronounced, to the point where the game actually does almost require grinding in spots where level requirements abruptly sky-rocket.

On the plus side, an alteration I'm actually a huge fan of is giving several demons neat, race-specific skills that can't be inherited by other types of demons. These skills tend to be more powerful than generic equivalent skills that can be transmitted through the fusion process. They also have really neat unique animations. It's another way that Atlus has combated the image of demons as ultimately being disposable, as certain race-specific skills are good enough that you might want to hold onto certain demons for longer than you would otherwise.

Factoring into this are another set of race-specific skills that tie into the game's new gimmick, the Magatsuhi Gauge. A resource called Magatsuhi will accumulate as you battle demons (Magatsuhi orbs can also be found in the environments) and, when when the gauge containing it fills up, you'll be able to use special abilities for a single turn. The default one that Nahobino has access to is a skill that makes it where all of your attacks register as critical hits for one term, but as you play through the game and complete side-quests, you'll gain talismans for specific types of demons that unlock custom Magatsuhi skills for all demons contained within that category. They aren't necessarily needed to win the game or even do well in battle, but they have a variety of different effects and add that little bit of depth to combat in this game. Also, as usual with SMT, enemies will also have access to the Magatsuhi gauge, so you'll want to watch out for elemental super-moves when triggered by a boss.

And, speaking of which, the bosses in this game are mostly great. This is pretty typical for SMT, which has become infamous for its brutal bosses, and this game is no exception. You know you're playing SMT when the very first boss you encounter within the first ten hours of the game is brutal, terrifying, and looks like he'd be a mid-to-late-game boss in any other JRPG property. Although, as the game goes on, the impact of these fights somewhat lessen thanks to the game's overtly generous approach to combat items. As you progress through the game, you'll quickly find that you're able to keep stock of an enormous supply of spyglasses and elemental dampeners. Spyglasses are one-use consumables that tells you the weaknesses, resistances, and move sets of enemies you're facing. Dampeners are items that can be used to nullify the effects of elemental skills for a single turn. The ease of access of these items make the integration of boss Magatsuhi super-moves somewhat problematic, as oftentimes bosses only have access to one elemental skill that can hit an entire party, and they almost always opt for these skills when blowing their Magatsuhi gauge, so it becomes a simple thing to trivialize these attacks by using a spyglass to divine a boss' skillset, and then select the appropriate elemental damepener when he triggers his skill, which prevents your party from taking any damage and loses him a turn. This is particularly pronounced given a powerful early game miracle gives players the ability to allow their demons to use items, which is... perhaps a little too easily exploitable. This is only really an issue with boss fights, though, and, on the game's harder difficulty, it can often be scary when a mini-boss or powerful enemy mob triggers their own Magatsuhi gauges.

Thankfully, the hard mode (which I started on and chickened out of after the second boss whipped me into humility) is rather fair in SMT V. Previous games sometimes introduced aggravating changes in hard mode that jacked up prices for items and re-summoning demons from the compendium, lowered xp gain from battles, etc., but this game doesn't bother with such cheap tricks. It simply makes an already challenging experience that little bit more dangerous, to the point where I even felt kind of apprehensive fighting normal scrub mobs in the wasteland. This omnipresent fear of death won't appeal to everyone (and, indeed, eventually wore me out), but it's a nice compliment to the atmosphere of this game, which sees you attempting to survive for hours on end in deadly, demon-filled hellscapes.

No discussion of the mechanics in this game would be complete without mentioning essences, though, which are the most convenient method yet for customizing your protagonist's skillset and now can even be used to customize your demons. A demon's essence is like an imprint of their essential abilities, and they can be used to allow demons to easily inherit powerful skills and even elemental resistances that, again, makes them more valuable for longer durations. Essences can also be used to customize what your Nahobino is resistant to, like the magatama in Nocturne. While I prefer SMT IV's method of demon skill transference thematically, it can't be denied that this is far more flexibility in terms of build variety than has ever been allowed in previous SMT titles.

Presentation-wise, the game is something of a mixed bag. Shin Megami Tensei V is easily Atlus' most technically and visually demanding game to date. It's arguably the first game they've ever made that doesn't feel like it could have been made to run on a Playstation 2. That seems like damning praise, but its attention to detail, sometimes dense environments, particle effects, and the general scope of the whole affair makes it feel like a distinctly modern game in a way that Atlus games haven't really even attempted before now. And, as a Nintendo Switch exclusive, it's really pushing the little guy. On some level, that's readily apparent when you play the game, as it sometimes feels less like an experience optimized for the mobile chipset and more like one of those downgraded ports of demanding PS4 games. This is most noticeable in terms of the resolution and textures on the character models themselves, as, during the game's elaborate and beautiful demon fusion sequences, the framerate will briefly slow to a crawl and the models, while extremely detailed, will look slightly fuzzy. You'll also notice this distinct fuzziness on character models in the menu screen when it zooms in.

Framerate in general is also... not terrible, but not great, either. While gameplay mostly feels fluid, it's pretty much always running under 30fps. Thankfully, for the most part, this mediocre framerate is also a fairly stable one, so it doesn't impact the user experience too much. As with most ambitious games running on less powerful systems, though, there are absolutely chokepoints the player will encounter on occasion. One mid-game dungeon, in particular, is much denser with details and particle effects than the open world environments, leading to a much choppier level of performance throughout. Certain zones in this game also hit the Switch harder than others, but the third zone, in particular, seeing some rather sharp drops throughout.

This shouldn't give the reader the impression that this game runs poorly on the hardware, though. While it's undeniable that the game isn't running at its full potential on the hardware, it's still an impressively well-optimized exclusive on Nintendo's frankly weak system, turning out some of the best visuals I've seen in a third-party title. Load times, another area where Switch titles often struggle, are also impressively short after the game has initially booted, with load times between fast-travel points being particularly snappy.

Of course, none of the game's visual fidelity (or lack thereof) would matter without solid art design, and this is yet another area where SMT V excels. Character models, use of color, etc. are vibrant and evocative, conveying a potent sense of mood in any given scenario the player encounters throughout the game. In fact, the wastes of Da'at are often dripping with atmosphere. Atlus also does a good job of using color and re-arranged environmental geography to create some extremely distinct environments with very similar assets. It does a much better job than Nocturne, in this regard, where so much of the game felt like it was composed of interchangeable caves and vaguely sinister red-tinted dungeons.

The UI design is also fantastic, and possibly my favorite in the entire series. The battle interface, featuring cards that sit on the right side of the screen and show information and portraits of the characters and demons they represent, is directly lifted from the controversial Atlus/Nintendo crossover title Tokyo Mirage Sessions, and however people feel about that game, little criticism has ever been levied at its clean interface, which is put to effective use here, telling the player everything they need to know (and highlighting what they don't know) with easy-to-see symbols and bright colors. Additionally, the game features a detailed in-game map that unlocks gradually as the player clears out obstacles across the map (yes, it's very Ubisoft-esque in that respect, but I liked that the game made these obstacles unique mini-bosses instead of towers, or some variant thereof) that also minimizes any frustration associated with navigation or quest location tracking. It's all very, very polished.

I also want to briefly call attention to the absolutely superb sound design and music in this game. SMT V is, simply put, a treat for the ears. Returning composer Ryota Kozuka, who also did the absolutely phenomenal OSTs for the SMT IV duology on the 3DS, turns in some of his best work here. The pieces hit a variety of moods, from creepy ambience to blood-boiling, hard-rocking battle themes, but it almost all has a very grungy, crunchy sound to it that I really love. I'll link a few pieces below. The wastes of Da'at achieve a large portion of their atmosphere not just from the music, but also from the distant growls, chirps, and unearthly squeals of demons around you. It can actually be quite unnerving with headphones on.

Shin Megami Tensei V is one of the best JRPGs released in 2021. It is also, unfortunately, probably not the game that's going to help mainline SMT pierce the thick bubble of mainstream awareness. It's a game that goes above-and-beyond in so many ways, but also features annoying flaws that don't need to be there, and a complete lack of regard for narrative development or character depth that will prevent many players from being able to connect with the experience like they should. With that said, if a lot of this review sounds harsh, or like complaining, it's only because of my own love for the property and the sky-high expectations I had for it, which it still (mostly) fulfilled. As a deep, addictive monster-collector with fantastic music, engaging combat, and endlessly entertaining exploration and collect-a-thon mechanics, it's an easy recommendation for anyone who is looking for more of a 'gameplay first' sort of experience.

8/10

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Metroid Fusion

Game Boy Advance (2002), played on Nintendo 3DS

In space no one can hear you scream

Following the release of 1994’s transcendent Super Metroid, Samus Aran was rewarded with a trip to a cryogenics lab (she was told she was going to the dentist), before finding herself unceremoniously hurled in cold storage alongside Pit, Popo and Nana. While long intervals between releases were not exactly unusual for Nintendo in those days, given that five torturous years separated The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening and Ocarina of Time, in Samus’ case a whole console generation passed by before someone finally remembered to put the bounty hunter on defrost. With power suit reactivated, morph ball polished, and a newfound aversion to frost, her interminable absence at last ended with the launch of 2002’s Metroid Fusion and Metroid Prime. To get one new Metroid game would have been cause for celebration enough: to get two was surely a sign of the impending rapture. Released within a day of each other in North America (Europe and Japan did not see Metroid Prime until the following spring), Nintendo perhaps viewed Prime as more of a wildcard, given that it was developed by a Western studio and ambitiously dragged the series into 3D and a first-person perspective. The comparatively conservative Fusion was the insurance: a Japanese-made, Yoshio Sakamoto directed effort more in keeping with earlier 2D entries. Fusion has since become a somewhat overlooked title, playing second-fiddle to Super Metroid, and existing in Metroid Prime’s formidable, though inflexible shadow. Nonetheless, it arguably has its own unique appeal, and sympathetically updates the classic gameplay formula with a few tricks of its own. It is also no less important to Samus’ story, and is referred to as Metroid 4 in the opening splash screen, signifying its integral status within the series’ canon.

Fusion’s plot revolves around the enigmatic X parasite: recently discovered amorphous blobs of floating jelly that were originally native to planet SR388, the setting of Metroid II. It was on that sojourn that Samus merrily extinguished the parasite’s only natural predator: the Metroid. Tsk tsk. Naturally, without the Metroid to control them, the X population has since ballooned, and thanks to an uncanny ability to clone and destroy any organism they wish, as well as the means to replicate at will, they are quite deadly. Despite the X posing a worrying threat to the galaxy, humans thought it would a hoot to study them, and so they’re taken to the Biologic Space Laboratories (BSL) station for further analysis. It is here that the entirety of the game takes place, rather than the labyrinthine planets of previous Metroid adventures. Different sections of the BSL are designed to replicate different biomes of SR388, so that the parasite can be studied in an environment closer to their natural habitat. Throughout the course of her adventure Samus will travel through grassy caves, flooded rooms and lava pits, with the disparate biomes tied together with an industrial aesthetic. Freezers are a particular terror, as the severe cold causes rapid damage to the bounty hunter, at least until she obtains a power up for her suit.

Samus finds herself near-death after being infected by the X in the opening scene, and is only saved by being injected with DNA from the self-same baby Metroid she spared in Metroid II. While this treatment renders her immune to further attacks from the parasite, in a somewhat horrific Palpatine twist, she is left scarred and deformed, with parts of her power suit permanently fused to her flesh. Although unnecessary, this exposes Samus’ vulnerability and frailty for the first time. Inevitably, the attack also causes her to once again lose access to all of her abilities, but I applaud Nintendo’s skill at finding new ways for this to happen.

Fusion is not a story-heavy game by any means, yet compared to its predecessors marks a surprising presentational shift for the series. At its core the basic Metroid formula and gameplay hook of obtaining new abilities in order to progress is intact, although a significantly tighter narrative framework shepherds the player along as the plot unfolds. Although level design is solid, the BSL is broken up into smaller sections and deliberate gameplay chunks that were perhaps designed to better suit handheld play. As a result Fusion strays a little from the typical Metroid structure by presenting the player with fewer opportunities to explore and discover the path forward on their own. At times this rigid handholding feels jarring, scratching away some of the wonder that typifies Metroid games both old and new. Yet when everything comes together, the snappy pacing, sharp focus and a fraught, horror-influenced atmosphere creates something new and compelling. Interestingly, it also forms something of a counterbalance to the lengthier, twistier Prime.

While older titles would simply launch Samus onto an inhospitable world, bid adieu with a chuckle, and leave the player to get on with it, Fusion is keen to explain exactly what the player needs to do and why. We read some of Samus’ thoughts and fears as she rides the elevators of the space station, adding depth to her character. Then there is her creepy ship AI: a constant, verbose, and progressively manipulative presence that hangs over the bounty hunter and menacingly barks orders. The AI repeatedly tells her she is too weak to face the SA-X, informs her where she’s allowed to go and when, and admonishes her when she disobeys orders. It’s unclear why Samus is so subservient, particularly as she is the strongest bounty hunter in the galaxy, and it’s therefore not something I’m entirely comfortable with. It soon becomes clear that she isn’t being told the whole story, and later in the game the reins are ripped off, forcing a newly rebellious Samus to go off the beaten path for a little while in order to proceed. Paradoxically, it feels almost unsettling to not have her overbearing gatekeeper telling her what to do. This is a strange observation, given my earlier criticism of the handholding, but is perhaps indicative of how effective the game’s storytelling and atmosphere are. Certain plot elements are taken forward to Other M, for better or worse, such as Samus’ backstory and relationship with her former commanding officer, Adam Malkovich, and the game is a direct prequel to the recently released Metroid Dread.

What is most surprising is how effectively Fusion builds horror, bringing the game closer to one of the franchise’s original influences: Alien. As Samus explores the BSL, she is stalked by her own menacing X clone, the SA-X. It’s seen in a few fraught set-pieces creeping the dark halls around the bounty hunter, seeking its prey with its sinister torch. In a later sequence, if it sees or hears Samus it will attack relentlessly, culminating in tense escape sequences through the station. The combination of clever visual and sound design further contribute to the claustrophobic, isolated atmosphere.

Saxamaphone

Fusion is a visual treat, with stunning pixel art and beautiful animations, transparencies and other effects amplifying the atmosphere and bringing the game to life. Parallax scrolling is also used to great effect, enhancing the scale of the space station. The music is a decent effort, and is effective at building atmosphere. The experience is underpinned by the taut, eerie tunes that accompany Samus as she explores the abandoned corridors of the station.

Samus’ gradually recovered arsenal is in keeping with other games, comprising missiles, the morph ball and bombs. All are needed to progress through the BSL, although access to different coloured doors is now gradually unlocked via security rooms, rather than separate weapons. Other doors remain locked until certain plot milestones are reached. New gameplay features such as climbing up walls and overhead monkey bars add pleasing variety to environmental traversal. While the linearity is one thing, 100% item completion can only be attained after defeating the final boss, as most of the BSL is closed off once the player passes the unmarked point of no return. This is a particular disappointment, and there’s little incentive to go back and retrieve everything.

The bullet-sponge bosses are among the most difficult in the entire series. Relentless attack patterns carve off substantial amounts of Samus’ health meter, and battles are further complicated by the limited field of view, which fails to adequately display the area around her. This is a result of being designed around the GBA’s tiny, low-res screen, but it occasionally makes it tricky to ascertain where some bosses are in relation to Samus, and thus it can be difficult to avoid certain attacks or know where to aim. Most battles are a war of attrition, and simply rely on shooting as many missiles in a boss’ direction as possible. Once slain, a giant X parasite is exposed, which must then be blown to smithereens. It’s a relief to finally defeat the scoundrels and claim their bounty, but not necessarily satisfying.

This delightful foe took a whole morning to vanquish

Aesthetically pleasing, mechanically solid and with tight controls, Metroid Fusion is an overall rewarding experience, and valuable as a prequel to Metroid Dread. Yet it is the horror elements and plot that are the surprise draw, particularly given this is a series that has long regarded story as a distraction. Enhanced by a more deliberate, controlled structure that feeds into the horror, yet simultaneously held back by its handholding and more piecemeal level design, I am ultimately left somewhat ambivalent.