Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux Review

[This game was offered to us for free for purposes of review, a humble thank you to Atlus!]

May 15^th, 2018

Playing Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey originally on the DS was one of my many delights within the series. This not coming off of a complete fanboy mindset in the slightest. Just the style, blending together games like Wizardry, and Dungeon Master. With that first person Phantasy Star style to the combat. At first the game seemingly did not get as much praise but some good feedback, being one of those type at first was under the radar. Now a days the games popularity is of that of cult status, with plenty of folks reminding you of it whenever you bring up narrative rpgs with first person dungeon exploration. Heck games even back to Hexx, and Anvil of Dawn, have of recent are brought to a LED bright surface to the PC market after a few streamers gave it a mention. Redux takes us back to the core game but with some extra nice bonuses. Such as story altering, with a added character by the name of Alex, who plays a major key role into the game. Over thirty one extra demons were added. Japanese only voice acting was placed into this, adding some extra personality to the game. Overall this along with Shin Megami Tensei V was apart of a anniversary lasting a total of Twenty-Five years. Good going gang @ Atlus!

The story or plot in the major scheme is humanity screwed itself over with over population. The demon realm takes ear to this, and invades. A sort of self destruction of sorts. Humans then make a group of able bodied scientists and soldiers to go into the south pole by to a place by the name of Schwarzwelt. These teams, which resemble Star Trek quite a bit investigate strange disturbances in hopes to saving the earth from a unknown threat. A light alteration of the game is presented within the second bosses area is introduced, in a form of a OP Huntress Alex. Mind you I do not mind a general character added in for flavor or to enhance a existing story within reason, but it simply was more or less forced in a out of the blue moment. That did not seem to add any extra depth to its already existing story. You get knocked out, or brutalized, then revived in a area that is introduced as a way to grind level up in small clustered areas. Which is a nice add if your just farming for the right demons or EXP in general. To simply put it, it was just felt tacked on to the plot, as apposed blended in. Past hat you get your usual spread of the story, which for new players is a mix of on the field visual novel style, and light animated cut-scenes. Which do their purpose well. The story it self was not the games strong suit. Never to me was, it was the demon farming, and grinding experience points as I got stronger to take down bosses or tougher areas.

Though in Japanese, This provides a really great comparison to the upgrade from the original game, to the 3DS’es enhancements. 

The games battle system plays to older games like Phantasy Star, with dungeon/tile crawling. You move mostly with first person view, with the bottom showing you the map below. Enemies appear with a dedicator on the top right that sets from navy blue, to a flickering red then a battle entry screen. You can perform on your main character with a sword, and a gun, along with a third ability offered from your weapons mostly. Weapons show variation depending on what you craft or own from quest rewards. With the bottom screen plays a lot of key roles such as being able to adjust the map to see spots you already visited. I find a lot of the enhancements to the game very charming overall. The sharper visuals during combat are the showstopper. The upper screen on my New 3DS XL really taking advantage of the larger sprite work, with the flashy animations brightening up the dark room I am in while tackling the game head on. It is more of the same, so players coming back, will be experiencing just what they had on the original Nintendo DS. With visual upgrades, and a few tweaks here and there for the way the game moves forward. Which in this I will not be too detailed what changes, as I want that part to be saved for veterans to see it for themselves. The way the game works as like any jrpg is you progress by leveling your characters/ team members being demons of several folk lore and mythological origins. All blending together. That carrying you a total of over three hundred and fifty plus demons. With those demons returns the very useful password system. Which with a simple google search you can hunt down a decent list of demons, however be advised you need to be a certain level. So if a demon is level thirty eight, you need to be that said level or above. Each demon is slightly unique if crafted with Fusion. Which has a few ways you can go about evolving your said units, or Allied demon friends. You can acquire stones called Demon Sources. Of course you do not need these, per say, unless you want a unique passive or skill to apply to your new demon’s move set. Which I would recommend farming them up from your set of demons if you can.

The usual fray of items play a role in the game. However only the main player may cast items, and your demon summons only can cast their respective abilities and can not use items among the group, which is a bummer. The whole argument of “it adds challenge and strategy to the game!” is not valid. For me, if you have a option or a mechanic in the game in the first place, all members of the party should have a crack at tossing potions or a debuff cleanser. I found it not so much a benefit, but simply a miss-sight. One of the many things as simple as per usual for most jrpg/rpgs in general. “This game is not like other JRPGS!” But it is, it is a first person dungeon crawler. With a more fair nature to it self apposed to lets say a Wizardry (a hardcore RPG series that just simply kicks your butt hard). It does include it self among some of the best original DS title surely. With these said grievances.

The game itself can be completed in under thirty plus hours if you sit down and farm correctly and build a good solid team of demon companions, otherwise others might see a longer time spent. For me I love to take my time and just farm out demons, and gather materials with running around in dungeons with one of my sub apps called forma search. Over time you unlock and discover new sub apps, and main apps, which tie into your progress into the story, with the sub apps themselves. The sub apps and main apps all stack with one another, and become super helpful during your game play-through. Do not let the app thing confuse you, they are mostly passives granted to add you slightly. Allowing you to find demons hiding about, or loot like materials to make weapons and accessories.

In Closing:

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux is like taking a trip down memory lane, with some slight alterations in the plot. I am not in the field of spoilers for story driven games, so I will just say vaguely, it offers the good we all remember. For newer players, something memorable in terms of challenging, solid game play. The new visual enhancements to the combat is marvelous to watch every time the battle scene appears. The overhaul of the game is a eye catching classic for the future selves to look back on surely. I do have a few gripes with Alex just randomly slapped into this enhanced version of the game to try to expand the game itself. As it just felt not as gripping, or I truly feel or felt she was really that important other then eye candy for some. The demons all look pretty great with their digital enhancements for the New 3DS Xls big ole’ screen.The several different ending alluded me as I mostly played through it once, but due to what you do in terms of demons, and choices, reflects your overall status as a character. I choose Lawful, Vs neutral, or Evil.

If you want a solid and fun dungeon crawling JRPG with some good story plot, give Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux a purchase.

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