(Trimmed version – see full review at https://www.backloggd.com/u/thechewieone/review/1866063/ )

When Devil Survivor 2 got a re-release via Record Breaker, the player was given the option to play the original campaign (with the new gameplay updates) or just head straight to the new content. I was pleasantly surprised that Atlus took this route with Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance as well, because it does allow one to choose the campaign of their preference from the get-go.

Shin Megami Tensei V is a game with a lot of fascinating concepts but ultimately riddled with poor execution. There were quite a few cutscenes that genuinely felt like filler, just to pad the experience. The characters had no real personality to them; honestly, it was shocking that prior entries from the Super Famicom era had more compelling character arcs than a modern entry with decades of experience behind them. SMTV not only gets a much-needed overhaul narratively, but escaping the shackles of Nintendo Switch exclusivity allows it to finally look and run at higher fidelity.

The marketing, despite its overwhelming nature, for this game was a bit misleading. While you do technically get a new game, I think the term "remix" is a better fit here because this is still Shin Megami Tensei V to the core, but with a few twists and changes. You will be roaming the same dunes, exploring the same ruins, looting dozens of vending machines, fighting for survival, and raising an army of demons, fairies, and deities hailing from different mythologies.

However, certain aspects of the plot and character arcs will play out differently than what the returning player would expect. I was a bit sour at first upon booting up Vengeance, but by the end of Da'at Shinagawa, which serves as the second major region of the game, the plot will head in a different direction. You will be surprised. You will explore new landmarks, meet new characters, and witness major scenes in a different light than what you were expecting.

The inclusion of Yoko Hiromine, a seemingly scrapped character from the original game and now exclusive to the Canon of Vengeance route, just adds so much depth to this world and its denizens. Her presence alone makes the other main characters crawl out of their comfort zones, which allows for some very tense conflict. I cannot understate how well she feels at home in this game. She fits like a glove, and prior remarks made by the developers during pre-release interviews confirm that she was always meant to be in the original game as well.

The characters that were primarily alignment representatives with predetermined roles in the original SMTV—Law Hero, Chaos Hero, and Heroine—have changed significantly in order to break away from the norms and standards established by the earlier games. They were formerly high school students who had to abandon their old lives in order to defend Tokyo, but now you view them as valuable allies in the emerging conflict against the inevitable demonic pandemic. It genuinely does wonders when you aren't trying to copy your homework (Nocturne, in this case) without recognizing why the minimalist approach worked so well for that game.

There are points in the game when they can join your party temporarily. This was a feature in the original game with Tao, but never to this extent. They can also participate in seemingly never-ending random encounters, with their fighting style somewhat mirroring their alignment. This does feel like a callback to some of the older games, but their inclusion in combat can seriously turn the tides in your favor. They can also use items during battles, providing both offensive and defensive support when their combat prowess wouldn't excel against a new threat. Your demonic allies can use combat items as well once you unlock the required Miracle, but being able to do so with human allies added an extra layer of strategy for these earlier encounters.

Cutscenes that previously amounted to filler now offer actual exposition and character development. Yoko and Tao take up the mantle of this campaign's Chaos and Law representatives; both ladies offering their unique perspective on how the world should be reborn if one were to claim the throne.

Like in the original Shin Megami Tensei, they accompany you for a large portion of the journey. During certain side quests that have multiple ways to conclude (finishing them contributes towards either Law or Chaos), their views clash, but in a polite, diplomatic way. As wildly different and extremist their perspectives may seem, never once does the game try to force them down the players' throats. This forces the player to give some thought to how they approach these side quests, because unlike the original SMTV, your choices do matter here, and you can't just effortlessly pick the preferred ending you want at the finale.

For what it's worth, they really took player feedback to heart and made a lot of adjustments for the story and characters in Vengeance. We are far from the days of vanilla SMTV, and frankly, I am glad they have decided to try something fresh instead of regurgitating older concepts from the previous games. Whether one is satisfied with this approach is purely subjective; for me, this felt like Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse, but done much more professionally and interestingly.

The gameplay loop of the original wasn't an aspect that needed an overhaul; outside of the frequently mentioned problem with level scaling (which meant that you had a near zero chance against enemies that you were a few levels below), it has been fixed. I, personally, never had an issue with this, since I've done as many of the side quests as possible, and even by the end, I was still constantly getting gospels that allow one to level up the MC outside of combat. I can only think of maybe an encounter or two where I felt a bit underleveled, but with careful planning and party building, nothing is impossible, and this feeling is among some of the most rewarding things in any Megaten game, period.

Your demonic companions now have natural passive abilities, which will likely drive the player to frequently change their party composition. On top of that, a slew of new Magatsuhi abilities have been introduced, including some that require a specific group of demons to be present in your party. Depending on the player's preference, this can feel a bit limited or underused, but it's still a nice addition because Omagatoki: Critical in the original game was just too good not to use all the time and gives other Magatsuhi skills the chance to shine and to be used more occasionally.

The new additions in Vengeance are too many to detail separately, but every aspect of the game has been revitalized: exploration, combat, fusion, user interface, and so on. The Demon Haunt is a great addition, not only because it allows you to take photos of your demons but also because they can reward you with gifts for their frequent involvement in combat. These vary from simple consumables to major power-ups for the demons, such as stat and efficiency boosts or learning a brand new skill. In fact, Aogami basically grants the protagonist free level-ups after major events in the story. I really hope this feature will return in future titles, because it gives you a cool incentive to just chill for a bit and bond with your companions more.

And my god, the music. It was already outstanding in vanilla SMTV, but Ryota Kozuka just went even more ballistic here. To think that the Mara boss fight is quite possibly one of the most memorable tracks in the franchise's history, and shockingly, it's only been used once. Funnily enough, Mara is not even a mandatory boss fight. The music track itself is surreal as hell—think of a mixture of 90's jungle and hard techno with industrial and noise.

With that said, I'm glad Shin Megami Tensei V got a second chance and that the fans finally got a glimpse of the true nature of this game.