Shin Megami Tensei 5 is getting the Persona 5 Royal treatment, with an all-new Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance edition that’s out in June. It features a new story path, an improved battle system, new areas, and more, as you’d expect from Atlus’ history of definitive editions. What’s more, while SMT 5 was a Switch exclusive when it came out in 2021, the new Vengeance edition will be heading to PC and other consoles, too. Do I have time for another enormous JRPG? Probably not, but I’ll admit that it’s got me very interested indeed.
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance – Announce Trailer | NSW, PS4/5, Xbox Series One, X|S, Steam, PC
If you’re unfamiliar with Shin Megami Tensei, it’s what gave birth to the Persona series. SMT 5 is very much about teenagers in Tokyo fighting off demons, except it’s more of a traditional dungeon crawler than Persona. Where hanging out with pals is a major focus of Persona, SMT 5 is heavier on combat and the min-maxing of your demon army.
In the original Shin Megami Tensei 5, players would take the Canon Of Creation story path because, well, that was the only path available. But with Vengeance, there’s going to be a brand new story path called, naturally, the Canon Of Vengeance. It’s here where you’ll encounter new characters, a new cohort of demons called the Qadištu (likelihood of them being nicer than the rest is slim), a new dungeon, and a new map to rummage around in.
Besides new story updates, overall improvements have been made to SMT 5’s original battle system, demon-merging, and field exploration. There aren’t any concrete details on these tweaks, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they take inspiration from Royal’s improvements to the original Persona 5. Royal didn’t change Persona 5’s turn-based core, but it did make some undercooked systems more impactful (firearms, for one) and introduced exploding enemies to fight off repetition.
Matthew (RPS in peace) reviewed Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne HD Remaster for us (SMT 3’s definitive edition equivalent), which should give you a better idea of how the series plays and compares to Persona.
Shin Megami Tensei: Vengeance is set to release for PC on June 21st, as well as your Xboxes, PlayStations, and Nintendo Switches – the same day as Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree, it turns out.
