NintendObs Thinks: I'm addicted to Shin Megami Tensei V.
Welcome to "Megaten of the Wild."
I have to come clean about this. At time of writing my game file shows 45:59 hours of play time in a little more than a week. I don’t know where I found them. In the bathroom, during breaks, when I go to sleep, when I wake up, when I’m awake… If it weren’t for my younger cousin miraculously fixing my left Joy-Con, after it broke onto my Switch when hitting a hard floor and couldn’t physically connect to it anymore, I probably would have had a panic attack. I mean, before anything else I really should give her the shoutout: I’m currently screenless, so playing essentially in tabletop mode was okay, but once I realized the Joy-Con’s battery would have no way to recharge… Long story short, I don’t know how she did it, but she saved me, saved my wallet, and it sure was a blast listening to her enjoying that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in handheld mode on the very system she recovered. (“Génie !! Génie !!”)
Shin Megami Tensei V is… something else. This is the third game this year that has me glued so hard, and by the way none of them are specifically made by Nintendo — to put an emphasis on the quality other developers bring on Nintendo Switch. First it was Neo The World Ends with You, then Metroid Dread, and now this: a Japanese RPG experience complete in every aspect, battle, exploration, customization, so that each of these can have you continue your play session with no end in sight, for there’s always something else seamingly quick that you can do right here and now to ameliorate your experience. In a sense, though these are completely different games, it’s kind of like Animal Crossing. And also, though with invisible walls appreciated since this isn’t what the title ultimately aims to be, it’s kind of like The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild.
But there is a huge disclaimer that needs to be stated. Though none of the Demons (monsters if you will) are scary per se — even the one that technically looks like a giant spider doesn’t trigger my fear somehow — the approach the game and franchise have towards mythology, religion, sensuality and the nude is voluntarily meant to appear blasphemous. The Shin Megami Tensei series with its collectable creatures known has Demons reunits fantasies from the world over, some better known and some quite nearly obscure, into a fight between good and evil where angels and demons collide just the same as Greek gods and Egyptian deities, Celtic heroes and Philippine aberrations. This time, Shin Megami Tensei V takes this global concept into its story, where even though Tokyo is always at the center, the scope of its narrative truly becomes international.