When it comes to JRPGs, Atlus has always been content to go against the norm in the form of their Shin Megami Tensei games. Each title and spinoff always brings something different to the table, whether it’s a new mechanic, new demons to summon, a new way to take part in combat, or something more. Even the Persona titles, which have since grown into their own category, find some way to stand apart from the rest of the herd. All of these traits combine to make it one of the most respected RPG franchises in the industry.

It has been nine years since the release of a main SMT title though, the last being SMT III Nocturne, a game that can be considered a true classic, and the title that helped to push Atlus into western renown. Now, Shin Megami Tensei IV, being released as an exclusive to the 3DS, attempts to make history once again by going against the norm and changing how one plays RPGs.

In SMT IV, you play as a poor farmer boy in the land of Mikado, a world that blends together ancient European and Japanese cultures. After being recognized by a sacred tech gauntlet and recruited as a Samurai, you are then sent to the dungeon Naraku to help thin the demon herds. A mysterious entity called the Black Samurai shows up later and begins handing out books that have the effect of turning the populace into demons. Eventually, through means that I won’t spoil here, you find your way into our world, thrust into a war torn Tokyo that has been ravaged and is now infested with demons, with Hunters working to slowly reduce their numbers and find ways to survive.

The story in SMT IV covers a lot of themes some series fans may recognize. In the land of Mikado, religious oppression and class warfare are the central themes, as the lower class begins to realize that the government and nobility don’t have their best interests in mind. Meanwhile, the Monastery branch of the government begins to look shadier and shadier, assigning you tasks that make you question just what their true objectives are.

Meanwhile in Tokyo, you are confronted with two rival groups vying for control of the region. The Ashura-kai is like the mafia, using networks to establish their bases and extorting the populace for protection. The Ring of Gaea group, meanwhile, is comprised of trained martial artists who believe only the strong should survive, looking down on anyone who they feel is weak, demons and humans alike. You will quickly find that both Mikado and Tokyo, despite being vastly different environments, actually share some of the same conflicts. For example, just like the books that were handed out in Mikado, residents of Tokyo have also found ways to turn humans into demons via a small red pill.

All of these themes combine to create an overarching story where the line between what is right and what is wrong is blurred, leaving the player to make their own decision as to what is the right way to progress. This comes in the form of dialogue prompts that can affect who you align yourself with, which can result in one of several different endings for the game. In this sense, the game brings back memories of titles like Nocturne that offer similar freedom of choice, allowing you to align yourself with whoever you feel lines with your own point of view, or forge your own path.

The idea of freedom of choice also comes in how you outfit your character. True to SMT fashion, you are free to customize your protagonist however you see fit, including his stats and skills, and even his appearance in this case. While armor in IV does provide some minor stat bonuses and element resistances/weaknesses, it also changes your appearance, which grants a new level of customization to the series.

Even your gauntlet provides a bit of freedom in your customization. The AI inside your tech gauntlet, Burroughs, will periodically unlock new apps for you to mess with, which are unlocked by obtaining app points that granted when you gain a level. The number of apps you can unlock is pretty astounding. Want to be able to recruit more demons? There’s an app for that. Want to increase the amount of skills you can use? There’s an app for that too. While it’s possible to unlock all the apps, doing so will take a lot of time and maybe a bit of grinding, so it’s best to invest your points into the apps that you know you will be making good use of depending on your play style.

You also have the freedom to forgo the main story for a bit and focus on other things. You can either spend some time exploring the various dungeon areas looking for relics, which you can later turn in for cash, or you can take part in Challenge quests that net you extra rewards. While some of the challenge quests can be a bit taxing because of how vague some of the mission info is, they do provide a decent alternative for when you want to take a break from the main plot, and some of them even unlock bonuses like new armor for you to wear. I’ve got over 30 hours in this game so far, and most of that has been spent doing challenge quests and exploring Tokyo to find what all is there to see.

Of course, demon interactions also make a return in familiar SMT fashion. Players can recruit demons to their side through two methods, one of which is negotiations. Negotiations tend to be a bit more frustrating this time around though as some responses are fairly vague, and the behavior of the demons tends to be very erratic with almost every response option being a red herring that can cause the demon to attack you. Some demons also like to run away after taking a number of items from you, no matter how good talks have been going. Even worse, some prompts don’t even give you any answer to reply with, often resulting in losing negotiations without any progress being made. You do have more flexibility in what you can negotiate for, however, including items, money, or even a cease-fire, and you can bolster your rewards from successful negotiations via apps.

Fusions are the other, more reliable way to gain new demons, and are more streamlined compared to previous games. Rather than manually sorting through different fusion possibilities, the game runs a search for all possible fusions based on your chosen parameters and lists them for you. You even have the ability to choose which skills your demon inherits, with some limitations. Special demons are also in their own category and are unlocked as you progress through the game and meet their requirements. Although this kind of removes the feel of experimenting with fusions for different results, it does make the process a bit easier to manage, and you can still fuse demons into whatever kind of attacker you want them to be.

One of the most surprising changes to the game, though, is how player death is handled. For starters, you don’t automatically get a Game Over if your protagonist falls in combat. Your demons still fight in your place and can help finish the fight, though you’ll be unable to swap them out if needed. Instead, Game Over only occurs if your entire party gets wiped out. When you do bite it (and you will at some point), you are instead sent to the River Styx. There you meet Charon, who will offer to rewind time and resurrect you for a fee that can be paid in macca or 3DS Play Coins. You can also opt to start a tab that you will need to pay the next time you come through. Failure to do any of those options will result in the true Game Over. This can allow you to recover from just before you kicked the bucket in the event you get trashed from a random encounter and haven’t saved your game in a while. It’s an interesting way to ease things for those new to the series, though you will still likely want to save your game often, if only to keep from throwing money at Charon in the case of a particularly difficult boss encounter.

Of course, this doesn’t necessarily make the game easier to play through. In fact, it actually feels more challenging than previous SMT games, especially in the beginning. Enemy demons you encounter are much more aggressive, dealing a lot of damage and specifically targeting demons in your party whose weaknesses they can exploit. Attacking the enemy’s weaknesses will be the key to success even in battles where you out-level the opposition. If you’re having a really rough time, you can unlock an app on your second death that will adjust the difficulty to make things easier, allowing you to play through the game if you simply want to see the story unfold.

A lot of other common SMT aspects work their way into the game besides the above. The ability to attack enemies in the dungeon to gain an advantage in battle returns, a carry-over from Persona 3 and 4. Demons are still based on actual mythologies, with some familiar faces like Jack Frost and Cu Chulainn returning, all with highly detailed 2D portraits to represent them when they’re fighting on your side. And in classic SMT fashion, battles are fought in a first person, turn-based manner, with flashy spell effects and on-kill animations filling the screen in response to your actions.

The game even uses the 3DS to its full potential to add new features. In addition to the aforementioned method of bribing Charon with Play Coins, the game uses Streetpass to allow players to communicate with each other. You can send out a Digital Demon Service card to other players, as well as receive them in return, and you can even attach your favorite demon to your card and send them to help others out. When they return, they will give you gifts that they picked up on their travels, and even become stronger in some cases. You can also use the DDS cards you’ve acquired to perform a special devastating attack on an enemy. It creates a feeling that you really are part of a larger network of demon summoners.

All of this, combined with impressive high-res artwork, equally impressive voice acting, and dungeons that beg you to explore every nook and cranny for relics or challenge objectives, make it truly an engrossing experience. Hell, I kept forgetting that I had to write a review for this game and managed to find ways to get myself so focused in it I sometimes forgot to take notes on it, and it’s almost made me late to getting back to work at my day job when I played it during breaks.

Shin Megami Tensei IV really does have a lot to take in as far as mechanics go, and it can sometimes be a bit overwhelming if you’re not familiar with the series already, and even if you are. But it all adds to the level of depth that is available to you. The freedom to essentially play the game however you want adds a ton of possibilities to how you progress, while the modern additions make it a bit more approachable than previous entries in the SMT line. Add in promises of regular DLC releases, some of which are already available in Japan, and you have a game that can keep you busy for a good while.

The only real grey areas are the game’s initial difficulty, which is something you can overcome once you know how it works, and negotiations being a pain in the butt, which is unfortunately something you simply have to bear with. Other than those two minor gripes, it’s hard to find any glaring faults with this game, as it’s really just a well-crafted piece of work that blends in both traditional SMT mechanics as well as modern additions. This creates a title that both series veterans as well as newcomers can enjoy at an equal level. If you’re a fan of Atlus games, JRPGs, or even RPGs in general, there’s really no reason not to get this game.

Hint: If you’re having a hard time with a boss encounter, try switching in demons that can negate its attacks and limit the number of press turns they can use.

by Michael Revis