This ain’t Pokémon: Shin Megami Tensei IV’s demonic dedication to the old school will kill you (review)

The first thing you absolutely must do in Shin Megami Tensei IV is save. Save often and before you venture through any strange doors. You’re just a trainee samurai in the Eastern Kingdom of Mikado tasked with wiping out the demons infesting an underground cavern known as Naraku. It’s only natural that not all “prentices” make it out of training alive, and you need to accept that you’re going to die — and die often.

Shin Megami Tensei IV is different than the popular Persona and Devil Survivor off-shoots of this long-running series. It is colder, older, and not at all concerned with you boosting your social links. No, the world you find in SMT4 is crawling with hungry demons that you have to somehow convince to fight at your side long enough to fulfill your samurai duty. While it does adhere to classic role-playing gameplay found in many older Shin Megami Tensei titles, SMT4 embraces the Nintendo 3DS’s signature features and a third-person perspective to hopefully entice newer players to give it a go.