Fans of Persona‘s spookier cousin Shin Megami Tensei have been waiting with bated breath for news on Shin Megami Tensei V since the game’s last teaser last July, which revealed the game’s protagonist. Now, a year later, Nintendo unveiled the game’s November 11 release date along with a generous amount of story and gameplay footage to boot. There’s a lot of newfound interest in Shin Megami Tensei thanks to the success of Persona 5 and its spin-offs as well as the recent remaster of Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, which has brought in a league of new fans excited for Atlus’s gritty sci-fi apocalypse series.
There’s a lot of dazzling and cryptic content in the trailer (as well as the accompanying Japanese promotional video), so here’s a breakdown of some key elements we’ve been able to discern from both videos.
Shin Megami Tensei V is said to be the lovechild of Nocturne and SMT4, and the protagonist’s design certainly showcases that fusion. In the trailer, we see a mysterious stranger named Aogami reach out to the protagonist and fuse with him—afterwards, he’s able to fight, recruit, and raise demons, and is even capable of learning spells like Zio and Bufu (which isn’t something the protagonist can do in every SMT game). This “demi-God” form echoes the protagonist of Nocturne, the demi-fiend, who becomes half demon after being force-fed magical parasites named Magatama.
His design is much more reminiscent of the Super Sentai design elements of SMT4, though, which featured several guest artists known for their creature designs on tokusatsu franchises like Kamen Rider and The Mobile Cop Jiban. The protagonist’s design is once again done by Masayuki Doi, the character designer for Atlus’s Trauma series and a character colorer and design finisher under series mainstay Kazuma Kaneko for years. Doi was brought in during SMT4 at the request of director Kazuyuki Yamai, who serves as a producer on SMT5.
The protagonist of SMT5 further signifies a shift from the classic SMT style—he’s a lot more sleek and superhero-esque in comparison to the rough-and-tumble jury-rigged cyberpunk vibe of the heroes from early SMT games. A lot of fans were also curious as to the protagonist’s gender, thinking he may be non-binary or female because of his androgynous appearance. The official Japanese SMT5 website currently refers to him with masculine pronouns, so it seems he is meant to be male. It’d be really awesome if SMT offered a non-binary or gender-non-conforming character, but it seems like we won’t be getting that this time.
Here, the protagonist’s “race” (nomenclature used to categorize the demons in SMT like with types in Pokémon, but more by their role in the mythology they represent like “Deity” and “Beast”) is noted as “Nahobino,” which is the name of the form he’s given by Aogami. Nahobino most likely refers to the Shinto concept of nahobi-no-kami, Gods meant to purify the magatsuhi-no-kami, Gods of disaster and sin brought from the Shinto netherworld. Magatsuhi were an important concept in Nocturne, so the protagonist’s role as the Nahobino seems like a direct response to the demi-fiend and the Vortex World. A magatsuhi bar can also be seen while in combat.
The protagonist appears to use mudras in battle. Here, he’s shown using the gyan mudra just before summoning a light-based sword from his arm. This spiritual connection makes sense when you consider the protagonist’s role as the Nahobino, or a purifying God.
The trailers showed off a slew of new and familiar demons both from Masayuki Doi and Kazuma Kaneko. Pictured here is a male demon with a blonde braid and the markings of a Celtic warrior on his face. Judging by the attack he’s using, “Mac an Luin,” it can be assumed that this demon is actually Fionn mac Cumhaill. Fionn is known as the hero of the Fenian Cycle, a collection of stories and verses centered on Fionn’s exploits with his companions named the Fianna. SMT has a ton of Celtic representation—Cu Chulainn can be seen in action in the trailer—so Fionn would fill a glaring hole in the series’ representation.
Many of the franchise’s mainstay systems are back, including the series staple Press Turn system, demon fusion, and demon conversations. SMT5 displays each enemy’s weaknesses and strengths on-screen when they are targeted. Players fresh off the heels of Nocturne will be delighted that they no longer have to memorize each enemy’s affinities as they go. The minister that conducts the fusions at the Cathedral of Shadows seems to be replaced with a female character named Sophia. Some of the demons shown so far seem to be redesigns of Kaneko’s demons, including ones that resemble Angel, Archangel, and Incubus. There’s some rather freaky and indescribable ones on display, too.
A fan translation of the Japanese trailer shows us that the alternate Tokyo is known as “Da’at,” which is a Kabbalistic concept where the ten sephirot of the tree of life connect. A tree that could be the tree of life is displayed behind the game’s logo in the Japanese trailer. This is yet another connection to Nocturne, in which the ten sephirot and Da’at were represented by the Menorahs the demi-fiend collects as part of the Labyrinth of Amala questline. The Menorah symbolizing Da’at is in the possession of Dante or Raidou Kuzunoha, depending on which version of the game you’re playing.
Perhaps the coolest addition to SMT5 are the sprawling open environments, which were gestured towards in SMT4. SMT4 effectively ended random encounters with roaming encounters rendered as pixelated, stalking enemies. SMT5 places the demons directly into the environments and are to scale. The protagonist can be seen being assailed by a giant Garuda and Bishamonten, as well as being trailed by a Pyro Jack who seems to be a demon companion. The game will introduce a feature similar to Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver’s Walking Pokemon system, where a demon of your choice will trail behind you on the overworld. No word yet on whether this will have a gameplay functionality or if it’s just aesthetic, but hey, who cares! Who doesn’t want to chill with Cerberus while the skulk around post-apocalyptic Tokyo?
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