Shin Megami Tensei 5has seemingly been cooking for a long time. It was announced after the Switch was released in 2017. More astoundingly the last numbered sequel,Shin Megami Tensei 4, was a 2013 release for the3DS. Thankfully fans have had spinoffs and re-releases in-between to tide them over.
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The other good news is thatthis lengthy RPGis finally here and it is getting relatively high scores across the board. Every release in this franchise seems to come with a double-edged sword though. A lot has changed inShin Megami Tensei 5to make it one of the best and most accessible entries in the series, but some things hold it back. Fans can hold out hope that these issues can be fixed with future patches or DLC drops.
6Saves Need a Big Upgrade
It’s hard to find a game nowadays without an auto-save feature.Shin Megami Tensei 5says hello. There are only two options to save in the game. The main way is through set points on the map and then there are chapter breaks.
It would be great to seeShin Megami Tensei 5add in two additional save features. The first one should be auto-saving. The second would open up the possibility to save anywhere. This is an open-world game after all. Allowing players to save at will is almost a guarantee. It shouldmake side questingmore inviting.
5Allow Players To Change Hard Difficulty
There are four difficulties in the game: Safety, Casual, Normal, and Hard. Safety must be downloaded from the eShop but it’s free so there are no additional fees to worry about. It, Casual, and Normal levels can be changed at any point while not in combat. This makesShin Megami Tensei 5themost accessible entryin the series to date.
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If players choose Hard then they will be stuck on that difficulty until the end ofShin Megami Tensei 5. That seems a bit unfair. It would be more convenient if any difficulty could be changed whenever the player wants. It’s weird to single Hard out.
4Subtitles And Text Speed
There is no way to turn subtitles off in the cutscenes. This feature is included in most modern games butShin Megami Tensei 5is sadly behind on this as well like the auto-saves. This is especially odd because players can take away text boxes whenever they want during normal dialogue. This is a nice way to drink in the scenery or look at cool figuressuch as bosses.
Discussing the story brings up another small issue. There is also no way to entirely skip a text-based conversation. They can be fast-forwarded through, which is great, but they cannot be skipped. Finally, the text has an auto-play feature that allows players to just sit back and watch a scene play out. However, there are long pauses in-between each text box which can make the conversation flow feel unnatural. Hopefully, that process can be sped up.
3Group Enemies For Bonus EXP
Enemies are all over the place inShin Megami Tensei 5. Sometimes they can be grouped in five or more bunches. The odd thing about this is that there is no way to group battles.
Neo: The World Ends With Youisanother Switch RPGfrom 2021 that actually does do that. The more enemies that are grouped in a chain of battles then the more experience points are gained. It’s a great way to grind in the game.Shin Megami Tensei 5seems like it is set up to have a system like this but it is sadly missing. That’s what patches are for.
2Add A Tactical Menu To Auto-Battle
Auto-battle is one of the nicest features inShin Megami Tensei 5. It speeds up combat and allows players to sit back and watch the fight play itself. This is only recommended for enemies that are significantly weaker than the current team. That’s because the AI will only use melee attacks.
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The problem with that is the limitation. There is no way to individually program what each character does during combat. Yetanother Switch RPG,Super Robot Wars 30, included auto-battle into its gameplay. However, players can at least tweak AI in that game such as having a character focus on attacking or defending.Shin Megami Tensei 5should also have something like that for auto-battle.
1More Demons And Character Creation
The design of the human characters, as wellas the demons, are some of the best this series has seen yet. Unfortunately, there are some setbacks with that praise. First, the main hero is silent. Players can’t even customize what they look like from genders to preset visuals. If the developers don’t want to allow the main character to talk then it would at least be nice if they could inject some personality into the hero.
Demons have a similar creative issue.Shin Megami Tensei 5introduces about ten new demons to the series. The vast majority of enemies are old. They are classics that fans adore but change is also good. This is something for the developers to keep in mind for DLC or the next game. They should look at thePokemonseries for inspiration. That franchise would be dead if they only updated their generations with a handful of new creatures.
Shin Megami Tensei 5was released on August 06, 2025, and is available onSwitchexclusively.
