Atlus never lets us down with their re-releases, and Vengeance was fortunately not an outlier, as it brings back everything they did right originally, but in an even flashier and more enjoyable way.

With a bigger cast of demons, new mechanics and lots of new story content, Vengeance lets you choose between experiencing the original story or jumping straight up into the new timeline. While still far from perfect, the new story fixes a lot of issues from the original, giving characters a lot more personality through small interactions, more story relevance and, more importantly, a role as actual party members. While it seems small, this makes a huge difference in the long run, as you’ll actually care for them whenever shit hits the fan. The Qadistu puts a new plan into motion, and the Nahobino gets a new form that goes even harder than its original drip. What do they feed their designers? Those guys just can’t miss!

Demons are also even more alive with the Demon Haunts and the enhanced negotiation mechanics, where you can see even more of their personalities through dialogues and special interactions. They also have team skills, only usable when certain Demons are present on the field. I’m a sucker for story-gameplay integration, and special attacks such as the Cu Chulainn - Scathach are a full course meal for me. This also brings more viability for diverse Demons, who might eventually find their ways into your party sooner or later.

One could argue that one of its main selling points - the high difficulty - has been affected. I wouldn’t say that giving you more options to deal with an already difficult situation is a bad decision, though, as wipes are still the easiest thing to happen, even in normal encounters. And I dare you to say the game’s numerous endgame battles, such as high-leveled Virtual Battles (rematches against buffed story encounters), the numerous Superbosses (Shiva, Demi-Fiend, True Masakado and Satan) and the overly punishing Godborn mode (All enemies are lvl 150, no exceptions) are anything but formidable challenges. The base game is already long and difficult enough, but you can easily dump a hundred more hours while trying not to get your ass kicked in those fights.

Vengeance brought the true potential of SMT V to existence, reminding us once more why this was Atlus’ main series back in the day. And it still goes hard today. While I still enjoy Persona more for a series of reasons, I’m even more excited for future SMT titles in general and, of course, any other IP they present us in the future, such as Metaphor.

Atlus never lets us down with their re-releases, and Vengeance was fortunately not an outlier, as it brings back everything they did right originally, but in an even flashier and more enjoyable way.

With a bigger cast of demons, new mechanics and lots of new story content, Vengeance lets you choose between experiencing the original story or jumping straight up into the new timeline. While still far from perfect, the new story fixes a lot of issues from the original, giving characters a lot more personality through small interactions, more story relevance and, more importantly, a role as actual party members. While it seems small, this makes a huge difference in the long run, as you’ll actually care for them whenever shit hits the fan. The Qadistu puts a new plan into motion, and the Nahobino gets a new form that goes even harder than its original drip. What do they feed their designers? Those guys just can’t miss!

Demons are also even more alive with the Demon Haunts and the enhanced negotiation mechanics, where you can see even more of their personalities through dialogues and special interactions. They also have team skills, only usable when certain Demons are present on the field. I’m a sucker for story-gameplay integration, and special attacks such as the Cu Chulainn - Scathach are a full course meal for me. This also brings more viability for diverse Demons, who might eventually find their ways into your party sooner or later.

One could argue that one of its main selling points - the high difficulty - has been affected. I wouldn’t say that giving you more options to deal with an already difficult situation is a bad decision, though, as wipes are still the easiest thing to happen, even in normal encounters. And I dare you to say the game’s numerous endgame battles, such as high-leveled Virtual Battles (rematches against buffed story encounters), the numerous Superbosses (Shiva, Demi-Fiend, True Masakado and Satan) and the overly punishing Godborn mode (All enemies are lvl 150, no exceptions) are anything but formidable challenges. The base game is already long and difficult enough, but you can easily dump a hundred more hours while trying not to get your ass kicked in those fights.

Vengeance brought the true potential of SMT V to existence, reminding us once more why this was Atlus’ main series back in the day. And it still goes hard today. While I still enjoy Persona more for a series of reasons, I’m even more excited for future SMT titles in general and, of course, any other IP they present us in the future, such as Metaphor.