8.3/10 – 48 hours. Finished on 7/3/2026
An alternative telling of the original Shin Megami Tensei IV with some improvements and additions. Super solid Press Turn SMT combat, fun characters, and a reminder that perhaps I was too harsh on the original game. This builds on the strengths of that game to make a seriously solid JRPG experience. Still has some annoyances from the original like enemies spawning directly underneath you, an initially confusing fusion menu, and little diversity in passive bonus choices in the apps. The story choices are also very heavily biased towards the good ending being a straight up correct choice, forgoing the “morally grey endings across the board” of other SMT games. Additionally, not super happy with the treatment of the tragic death of a main character late in the game and being completely undone within a few hours. Would have been much more impactful to keep her dead as much as I loved her and was saddened by her death. I FELT something, and it ultimately meant nothing.
Overall I really enjoyed SMTIVA. It is absolutely rock solid and a perfect cure to the Press Turn combat itch I had. Super fun to fuse crazy demons and stack the damage on bosses one after another. The most prominent downside is just that this game doesn’t knock your socks off. It’s really good and memorable, but not anything that will make you pop off while you play.
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