Cognition Dissemination: Atlus Remains Committed to the Bit

One of the most notable announcements from last week’s actually-quite-solid Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase was Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance. This wasn’t an entirely surprising one thanks to the game being rated in Korea a little more than 24 hours before the showcase. It also wasn’t a surprise because… come on; we are talking about Atlus here.

The game will arrive with a brand-new campaign, which will helpfully be selectable right from the menu screen before starting the game. The campaign will be similar to the original title for the first 50 percent, through with some added features, only to diverge afterward. This is an answer to fan criticism of the original game, where director Shigeo Komori acknowledged how several players enjoyed the first half of the campaign but were less impressed with the rest. 40 new demons and a bunch of other nifty features will be added. Intriguingly, every demon will have their own unique skill to distinguish themselves from others, and some will presumably receive combination attacks.

On the other hand, it’s very much not a surprise that we’ve reached this point. The existence of SMTV: Vengeance is proof that Atlus is steadfastly and hilariously committed to the bit. Or bits, really; there’s more than one here, but the singular “bit” worked better in the title.

This is the newest updated port of a game from Atlus with a new story in which a Hot New Lady character is central to it — a “waifu” if you will. That specific lady is Yoko Hiromine. Not much is known about her outside how she’ll join the party with Nahobino, at least temporarily, and use magic. She also wears a schoolgirl uniform, one notably different from the other Jouin High School students, and has a hairstyle eerily reminiscent of Maken X/Shao protagonist Kei Sagami’s.

It’s difficult for me not to laugh at how Atlus has maintained this trend of releasing updated versions of prior games with new female character to rope in a certain audience for so long, as shown through this massive image. (Ignore the Troy Baker to Matt Mercer trope, which isn’t even accurate for two of those.) The trend dates back all the way back to Trauma Center: Second Opinion in 2006, an updated port of DS release Trauma Center: Under the Knife for Wii, which added fellow protagonist Naomi Kimishima alongside Derek Stiles’ original quest. It continued with Persona 3 FES and Metis in 2007. Atlus has since maintained the trend with the likes of Marie (Persona 4 Golden), Kasumi Yoshizawa (Persona 5 Royal), and Rin (Catherine: Full Body). The trend came for MegaTen with Alex in Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux. It was bound to return, and here we are.

To be fair, Atlus has occasionally done this with the guys too. You could argue that this trend started with a man. Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne (the remaster of which I finished prior to this announcement; yes, it’s still great) was the first actual Atlus title to get an updated version with new content in the form of the Maniax edition, which infamously added Dante from the Devil May Cry™ series in 2004. This one is rarely acknowledged because the original SMTIII didn’t release in the United States; the first SMTIII version to be localized was indeed the Maniax edition on PlayStation 2. Takuto Maruki in Persona 5 Royal also counts, alongside Kasumi.

But it’s clear who the priorities are here. Atlus wants to sell these new ports, and they know exactly how to lure in the audience to double dip. Vengeance is proof that the company is determined to continue the bit. If anyone figured that Atlus would perhaps put these plans on ice in favor of expansions, this was a sweet reminder to the contrary. The fact that SMTV is coming to multiple platforms this time, platforms that will actually run the damned game, is just a bonus considering how well the original title sold on Switch.

Vengeance is in fact including new “waifus,” plural, as the new antagonists of the new content are a series of female demons known as the “Qaditsu.” They’re led by Lilith, as redesigned by current series demon artist Masayuki Doi. She looks fine, though I’m going to miss the David Bowie-style pompadour Kazuma Kaneko gave her. The other demons have yet to be identified, but undoubtedly will before release. The game is also, very importantly, adding a Jack Frost that strongly resembles Nahobino known as Nahobiho.

This trend of Atlus providing enhanced versions for all their games is clearly sticking around. I don’t blame anyone who purchases Persona 3 Reload now, since there’s no precedent for Atlus providing such a remake from the ground up. It’s anyone’s guess as to whether it will get an enhanced version, tough you damn-well know who they’ll add if they go through with it. Anyone who buys the initial version of Metaphor: ReFantazio, however, is a gigantic sucker.

(To note: I won’t say whether I’ll be that sucker.)

We’ll see the extent of Yoko’s contributions to SMTV: Vengeance when it arrives on June 21st. She’ll presumably add something to the story, considering it sounds like a do-over from the way the development staffers are describing it.