Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Expanded Narrative Depth
Meaningful QoL Additions
Vast Performance Improvements
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is a comprehensive and masterful definitive edition that addresses nearly every grievance of the original release, layering a much-needed, character-driven narrative over its already stellar turn-based combat and vast, post-apocalyptic exploration.
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance - Launch Trailer | NSW, PS5/4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Steam, PC
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance - The Ultimate Beginning | NSW, PS5/4, Xbox Series X|S, Steam, PC
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance - An Ideal World | NSW, PS5/4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Steam, PC
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance doesn't necessarily make drastic improvements upon the 2021 original, but its new storyline and content additions are reason enough to revisit an already great RPG, or start fresh if you missed it the first time.
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance offers a lot for players, both old and new; an impressive enhanced art style, multiple story paths, and a definitive sense of the series progressing from what it once was. There may not be a ton of new things to justify purchasing the game again, but the additions that are here are excellent at keeping fans intrigued about what's going to happen next. Long-time fans will likely already know what they're getting into, as the game hasn't changed its turn-based combat and capture loops in a while. Still, those same fans have kept these games going until now, and Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is another in a long line of enjoyable titles in the long-running series.
Vengeance combines the fresh, familiar, and the fiendish into one incredible RPG.
Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance is what happens when you take a very good game, tackle every one of its flaws, and add far more content than anyone could ask for. It is a joy to play, devilishly difficult in all the right ways, and replayable to a fault - it’s proving hard to find the motivation to play anything else.
This remixed approach could be confusing to a newcomer. Luckily, Vengeance accounts for that too, and the choice of which version to pursue is presented in-game in a way that’s practically seamless. It simply feels like yet another option in a game and series full of choices that impact where the narrative goes. There isn’t special attention drawn to it, nor does it feel like an awkward attempt to replace or undermine the original. It’s just more SMT V to dive into, which for an already jam-packed RPG full of narrative agency and monster-collecting action, is more food on the table for the feast. And it was a hell of a feast to begin with.
Vengeance provides a host of additions, improvements, and quality-of-life adjustments that transform an already-great RPG into a classic.
If you’ve the acquired taste for RPGs that want to bully you, humiliate you, and laugh at the fact you call yourself a gaming masochist (we're not judging), SMT5 Vengeance is for you.
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is a stellar example of an enhanced re-release done right. Its comprehensive approach to improving the story and various gameplay systems of the original release makes for an experience that's even more engrossing than the already excellent original game. Though we were disappointed by the lack of any performance gains here, Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is still an extremely easy recommendation for any RPG fans. Some may consider SMT to be "Persona without the heart," but SMT V: V cleanly demonstrates that this old Atlus stalwart still has an abundance of fantastic gameplay and unique appeal.
The new SMT V: Vengeance demo is available now.
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A new update for Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance is now available across all platforms, adding some community-voted content to the game.
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