HomeReviewsShin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster
Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne HD Remaster reviewSympathy for the devils
Sympathy for the devils
My favourite description of theShin Megami Tenseigames is that they’re everything the religious right accused Pokémon of being in the late 90s. Back then parents fretted that Pikachu was secretly conscripting children into Satan’s army, what with the paranormal tinge of its bestiary and the presence of ‘undead’ Ghost types. When, as we all know, the only Pokémon you need to watch your kids around is Mr Mime.PowerfulOperation Yewtree energy.
All the while Shin Megami Tensei was doing its thing in Japan, actively encouraging you to negotiate with a snake with the head of a dog in order to secure your rule in post-apocalyptic hellscapes. Pikachu was just a diversion! Well played, The Devil, well played.
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster - Announcement Trailer | Nintendo Switch & PlayStation 4Watch on YouTube
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster - Announcement Trailer | Nintendo Switch & PlayStation 4
In my head I’d always seen SMT games as the stern brother to Persona, stripping out the socialising portion to double down on dungeon-crawling. If you forgive my borked show chronology SMT is the Fraiser to Persona’s Cheers: enough familiar faces to make the connection, but with more of an intellectual bent and less after hours camaraderie.
That idea roughly holds up. After the bulging scope ofPersona 5, Nocturne has a laser-like focus. A brief bit of scene setting introduces the five main characters, before one triggers the end of the world and turns Tokyo into a battle for the civilisation that will rise from the ashes. After this you’re rarely subjected to more than two minutes of cutscenes at a time, shifting the focus onto navigating the remains of famous Tokyo landmarks on the world map, descending into dungeons below and stopping for a random battle encounter every 20 steps. It’s a 3DJRPGfrom 2003, in other words, although the addition of an enemy proximity meter at least lets you steel yourself before the next drubbing.
Of course, the flipside is that all this goes for the enemy, too. It’s very possible for even a pitiful slime pile to get the drop on you and ride those extra turns to your extinction. As a result, Nocturne has a reputation for being difficult, but that stems more from poor in-game tutorials and stat screens that could explain themselves better. Handily, the time since 2003 has allowed for ample wikis to fill in the gaps, but that could have been folded into the remaster to considerable effect. Instead its one nod to newcomers is a new ‘merciful’ difficulty mode that is such a pushover it guts everything interesting about the combat.
And that’s indicative of the whole: a remaster that takes a characterful, if clearly old game, and doesn’t quite give it the love needed to hold its head high in 2021. After Sega’s amazing PC run - launchingYakuza 0and Persona 4 at £15 earned a big thumbs up - this feels like wanton gouging, and for a game that is more interesting than essential. Maybe the devil made them do it. Either way, it’s a shame.
