Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster Reviews
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster is a great way to experience one of the best JRPGs of the turn of the century. However, the remastering work leaves a lot to be desired.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster brings back one of the most celebrated and beloved entries from the Megami Tensei franchise nearly 20 years after its original debut. The original Nocturne was a heck of a JRPG in its time, and Atlus has now upgraded it with higher-resolution widescreen visuals, richer vocal tracks, and some much-appreciated quality of life upgrades. Unfortunately, it also misses some areas of the game that equally needed touching up (such as the controls and camera), and it's hard not to feel like the game deserved a full remake rather than just a remaster.
For fans of the series or those who are already in love with Nocturne, this won’t be a problem. But for newcomers looking to get into the series, I must warn you that there is a pretty high barrier to entry here. Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne is still the best of the bunch, and if you’re willing to put in the time to learn its various mechanics, you’ll get a lot out of it. The problem is, that’s a pretty big if.
SMT III Nocturne HD is one of the hardest games in the Shin Megami Tensei series, which is no small boast, considering how challenging the other entries can be. The remaster could have been improved with some extra QoL features to make the game less frustrating, but the core experience is still great on its own. Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster is difficult but rewarding, and its strategic combat system, legions of demon allies, engaging story, and its unique world make it worth coming back to after all of these years.
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster is a good restoration work, which is made stronger by its most solid premise: the starting game, the original Nocturne of 2004, was and remains a masterpiece in the J-RPG group to which many modern works are still inspired today.
Review in Italian | Read full review
When you set aside the little performance issues on Nintendo Switch and the lack of some quality-of-life additions, Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster is still an excellent dungeon crawler with tons of demons to experiment with and several different endings for hardcore players to find. The game feels like it's dragging on sometimes by so heavily emphasizing gameplay over story, but when the gameplay is this solid and with the world renewed in HD, it's not much of a complaint. This is quite the appetizer from Atlus as the wait for Shin Megami Tensei V continues.
Shin Megami Tensei III HD Remaster is indisputably the best way to play this RPG classic, but it's also rather clear that this nearly two-decade-old game is showing its age. An interesting story, enjoyable combat system, and engaging demon recruitment and fusion mechanics make Shin Megami Tensei III well worth your time, but the dated visuals, poor quality music, and occasionally unforgiving mechanics are hold it back from being excellent. We'd give this a recommendation to both longtime fans and newcomers, but with the caveat that you might want to wait for a sale before snapping this up.
SMT 3 Nocturne HD Remaster is a trip down nostalgia lane, one new and returning players will sink hours into for the full experience. Whether you stick to the main story or chase down every side quest in pursuit of power, you won't be disappointed.
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne: HD Remaster is an oddly self-aware remaster that does its best to make itself approachable for everyone by remedying most of its flaws. The new difficulty, new skill inheritance options and fully voiced dialogue all help to make the game feel modern and approachable for new audiences. It's just a shame that, for a HD remaster, it's not as visually impressive as it could be.
Though running around in circles and fighting battle after battle with samey demons can be more yawn than yay, Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne is a classic that anyone who values the genre should check out, even if it’s merely to delve into the roots of this complicated, intriguing universe.
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne is a fantastic RPG, but its remaster does the bare minimum to get a passing grade compared to other modern remasters of classics.
Nocturne isn’t just a classic to be admired from afar; it is “required reading” for any RPG fan and a modern-day masterpiece. This was true before Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster existed, but this version makes it easier and smoother than ever to experience. The journey you undertake as the Demi-Fiend is one you don’t want to miss and certainly one you will never forget.
Even with my gripe with this release, this is still the best version of Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, and so that within itself is a recommendation to play the game.
An underwhelming port of a cult classic.
SMT3 Nocturne HD Remaster realises that the less time we can spend with the cobwebs of the past by opting into the new Merciful difficulty, the more time we can enjoy this world and its story anew.
If you can adapt to its ruthless approach, Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster is a retro JRPG that’s worth revisiting. However, the remastering doesn’t go far enough, leaving PS2 quirks intact.
Nocturne's PS2 origins are obvious, but players who can get past the intense difficulty curve and barebones plot will find a great RPG that rewards mastery of its combat systems.
Nocturne was, and still is, one of the best JRPGs coming from Atlus's vault, and surely one to be played by younger gamers. This remaster is not without little faults, but a series of QOL improvements make it palatable even for complete newcomers.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD draws players into an interesting world with deep combat and interesting monsters, while some aspects like late-game combat do leave a bit to be desired. Even 18 years later SMT 3 earns what praise it's been given.