SMT V refines the excellent Press Turn combat traditional to the series, along with a more open overworld to navigate rather than standard dungeons. It largely pulls off this direction with well designed areas that are dense and rewarding to explore.

The demons were the highlight. I loved all the new battle animations and that they were actually visible in the overworld, which made it easier to figure out when to fight or avoid them. Fusion never got old as always, and the writing for negotiations was really entertaining too.

Though the story itself is pretty… bad. The characters weren’t compelling, and the dialogue felt static most of the time. The presentation for cutscenes was also pretty weak, not helped by the performance. And speaking of which, it doesn’t run particularly well. For the most part it’s okay with keeping to 30 FPS, but there’s some areas with a lot of drops. It’s never unplayable, but the hardware doesn’t do it any favors.

Despite the issues it has though, I enjoyed it overall. The combat’s top notch, the exploration’s well executed and addicting, the music’s solid, and it’s a bit more accessible than past entries while still being very challenging