Customer Ratings & Reviews

This is only my second SMT game I've beat (after SMT 3) and I thoroughly enjoyed it for the obvious: battle system, fusions, music, and world. SMT games never fail to deliver with nailing the atmosphere in their games. I was surprisingly impressed with the platforming elements in this game and it's kind of necessary since you can find treasures hidden all over the maps. The only slight I have is against the story. The story is probably the weakest element of the game which is unfortunate because I like some of the characters.

[Employee of bestbuy] Average is being generous for this game. The steelbook is beautiful, but this game is a lackluster shallow grind.

Beautiful game and hours of gameplay. Its a grinders dream

I don’t have a big history with the Shin Megami Tensei series. I’ve played the opening hours of IV on my 2DS and enjoyed it, but the high level of difficulty and lack of “truly” easy options in past games has always deterred me from diving in and staying committed. The Persona series has captivated me in past years, however, due to the heavier emphasis on character interactions, story, and the inclusion of easier difficulty options. Fast forward to SMT V’s release and I pulled the trigger entirely due to the fact that there would be not only an easy option, but an optional patched download for a safety option. Knowing I could always resort to the safety difficulty if it began to become too daunting, I was confident this would be “the one”. And… it was. I played the first 10 or so hours on easy/casual and easy immediately drawn in to the wonderfully weird/dark world of Da’at. The story, while admittedly very light and the characters had me interested from the beginning and kept me wanting to see what would happen the rest of the way through. The exploration, combat, menu navigation, and Quest system was some of the best I’ve experienced in a JRPG in a long time. Everything flows together so well, is quick and easy to navigate, the movement and light-platforming made running around the semi-open worlds a blast — in addition to there being hidden items and NPC’s to discover around nearly every corner. Dialogue was interesting and fun. The graphics were gorgeous and the color vibrancy and vast and unique environments kept everything feeling fun and exhilarating to discover. And the soundtrack. Oh the soundtrack… one of the best, by far, I’ve heard in a LONG time. It fit the atmosphere and mood, cutscenes, combat, and exploration SO well. Every track was expertly composed and hauntingly beautiful to very hype. I switched over to safety mode after those initial 10 hours and never regretted it. It allowed me to freely enjoy exploring the world, fulfill side quests, fight bosses, and enjoy the combat system at my leisure and didn’t detract one bit from my enjoyment of the game — in fact, it made me enjoy it more fully and to completion (which can’t be said for IV or other games in the series that I found to just be too consistently challenging). Overall, whether you’re like me and want to enjoy the game without a challenge, or want to go in and prove your metal by raising the difficulty, if you enjoy JRPG’s, like darker stories, have enjoyed past SMT or Persona titles, or like post apocalyptic worlds, this game couldn’t be recommended more.

Good JRPG with good graphics for Switch. Load times aren't bad at all. Framer ate can take a hit sometimes, but I never found it to ruin the experience. This one can get a bit grind heavy due to the trash monsters low levels that quickly taper off in XP value, but battles are fun. The fusion system is addicting and keeps pulling you in to keep going for a better demon. I haven't finished it yet so I can't comment on the late story, but it seems standard faire for SMT....nothing groundbreaking, but decent. I will say that those looking for another Persona game should not look here. This is not a game focused on personal relationships and more stylized presentation. This is more 'hardcore' JRPG with a more serious tone and focus on the combat strategy and demon collecting.

Shin Megami Tensei V (Nintendo Switch) What an incredible experience. This is the first time I actually get a game on release day and play through it exclusively until done. A massive upgrade from the previous entries. Great story, pretty good characters (kinda 2D unfortunately), incredible selection of demons/gods/angels to collect/fuse. Graphics were almost unbelievable for a switch game, to see how far the series has gone, game looks absolutely gorgeous. Even in handheld the game performed excellent and still looked phenomenal, definately worth the wait (game was announced back in 2017!) However with all the improvements, i wish they wouldve kept some of the mechanics from SMT 3/4, demon fusion skill selection shouldve been kept. and they kind of watered down the alignment paths to the point that you get to select the path you want to follow at the end of the game instead of having your actions actually affect the outcome of the game. All in all, i give this a 9/10, one of my favorite in the Switch for sure, definately recommend!

Really cool game. Mature story, addicting gameplay and good difficulty.

This is such a great turn-based role playing game. If you are a fan of Pokémon but are tired of the Pokémon formula it is worth giving this series a try. I still prefer SMT IV and IV Apocalypse on the 3DS to this game, but it is still fantastic. It does require a good bit of grinding at times, but it's a really fun time.

One of the best games I have ever played. The story is amazing.

A great entry in the series. The combat is really fun and challenging, the game just all around feels great!

A great monster collecting game that challenges your strategic thinking. The story can get kinda dark, and intense so a warning on that front. It is unlike any other jrpg at the same time.

Excellent game! I started playing the Shin Megami Tensei series years ago when Persona 3 came out. Love both series. Also love whenever I can snag a steelbook for my collection.

SMT5 is a great game. There are a lot of cool things in it. I can't say that its amazing, but its definitely really fun. I just wish that the character dialogue for finding an item was "YOUNG MAN"

I picked this up with little experience with SMT but played Persona 5. I honestly love this game, it’s got a great story and I love the character designs and the music.

Best jrpg of the year !!! Love the music and it really looks great for a switch game and it's my game of the year

I love this game. Combat and grinding can get repetitive, but the combat and the demon fusing are still the best parts of the game.

Fun but hard JRPG. Graphics are top notch for switch, and the combat is super fun. With plenty of places to explore.

As someone who has played SMT 3 and 4 and many of Atlus' other spinoff games of the SMT franchise, I can confidently say this is one of the best SMT games Atlus' has produced. The 3d models of all the angels and demons throughout the game are visually stunning. I played this game from launch in November all the way to mid-January and couldn't put it down, and after playing through all 4 endings of the game I easily went over 150 hours of gameplay.

this is an excellent jrpg. must buy for any switch owners. this is a great way to get into the series.

Finally, a Shin Megami Tensei game on home console -- the 1st on a console since the PS2. On top of that, it's the 1st SMT game since 2013, and that was only confined to a handheld (SMT 4 on 3DS). I see some reviews say that this is like Persona without the heart. I beg to differ. This IS like Persona but with a much darker mature heart. I prefer the darker edge of the Shin Megami Tensei games to its younger sibling spin off, the Persona series. The Persona games were born of SMT, and created solely to be a bit lighter of heart, in hopes of being more popularized. I prefer the "destroyed Tokyo" in comparison to a school setting, Where Persona focuses on Social Links, this focuses on Alignment, and if this is anything like SMT4, it will not be easy to get the "Neutral" ending. Same demons. Same ways to create new ones. Same spells. Different setting. Shin Megami Tensei = “Goddess Reincarnation." -aka- Revive the Goddess. Lastly, for those intimidated by the difficulty of the SMT games, the remaster of SMT3 and this 5th one have a downloadable "Easy" difficulty, which makes the game a bit more manageable to RPG newcomers. That's another + in my book.