Shin Megami Tensei V

Shin Megami Tensei V is the 5th entry in the mainline series released for the Switch. This game focuses on the Nahobino, a demigod like being that is on a journey to become a God as God has been removed from the world and there are many stepping up for the position to be God.It is a fairly long game but there were some filler that could have been omitted.

This game takes a more open world direction in exploring a nuclear wasteland like Japan. Exploring this bleak and barren landscape was exciting for the most part but there were technical issues from time to time due to the vastness of the landscape.Dungeon exploration takes a backseat here. Some of them were confusing and some were tedious especially one puzzle with the windmills directing you where to go.It was just frustrating getting the timing right.

On occasion depending on where you are there is a pixie type creature that guides you looking for hidden items.The characters weren’t really that interesting or memorable something the mainline series has been notorious for. The controls were easy to pick up and use.

The graphics,art and character designs were good and the music was veryenjoyable.The DLC was particularly bad as some of it had stuff that really should have been in the game in first place. The dialogue choices for the most part impact on which route you would choose for the ending as there are multiple of them.

The combat is similar toprevious games where its turn based and sometimes you can negotiate to get enemies on your side and use them for combat, or to fuse them.New to the game is collecting essence of enemies to empower the Nahobino with certain bonuses.Throughout the game, you can enhance your character with all kinds of items,equipment and powerups to help you in combat.Of course, negotiations also depend on the moon status where depending on what time it is, enemies are either outright hostile or are willing to help you on a condition. 

There aren’t any annoying random encounters, instead enemies approach you or you can sneak up and attack them like in the newer games now. You can use matsuhagi skills which are all out like attacks when doing well in combat. You can exploit enemy weakness for an extra turn like before. Some enemies have cheap tactics and abilities that can make combat frustrating. Sometimes you can find abscesses which are demon spawn like beings that you can defeat for extra bonuses. You can take on side quests and some of them can affect the story depending on whether you choose to take part in them or not. 

Overall this as was a good entry to the series. 

It gets 4 out of 5 stars. 

It’s a pretty good game for beginners of the series whether it’s those coming from the Persona Fandom or are new to the series itself.