4/5 ★ – statlerpat's review of Shin Megami Tensei V.

Game 1/? In 2022 Platform: Nintendo Switch Spoilers at the end. Bending my own rules a bit here. I’ve actually been playing this since launch day, so roughly 50% of my progress on this was in 2021. I love everything Atlus puts out, and this was no exception. The game feels good to play, but I did find a few points that felt like a slog. I’ve seen some other posters online complaining about the story, and my only complaint is I wish there was more going on to enjoy. What starts with a solid foundation ends up fizzling, and I honestly can't even remember any of the side characters names except Dazai. As a positive, the story's theming is well handled and executed to razor precision to create a real sense of dread (major thanks to the A+++ soundtrack). I also hate to draw comparisons to Persona (something I've oddly found as a point of contention for some users on the MegaTen subreddit), but Persona is just so damn stylish that the maps in this game boiling down to different color variations of sand found me trying to rush the story over exploring. SPOILERS: I went with the Destroy the Throne route. Tsukuyomi looks like BirdPerson.