Atlus Confirms Shin Megami Tensei IV For NA This Summer
In what is very good news for JRPG fans, Atlus has announced through their Atlus Faithful emailer that Shin Megami Tensei IV will be out on 3DS in North America this summer! With Final Fantasy becoming less about actual gameplay and more about either pretty visuals or shallow nostalgia grabs, Shin Megami Tensei (and spinoffs like the popular Persona series) is slowly emerging as the flag-bearer for JRPG fans who want some substance in the games they play.
In SMTIV, you play a modern-day samurai who defends the Eastern Kingdom of Mikado. You’ll fight demons (over 400 of them this time), but many demons can be recruited as allies. As is traditional, to create stronger demons, you can fuse them together.
SMTIV is the first sequel to the main numbered series since 2003’s SMTIII: Nocturne (2004/2005 in NA/EU) on PS2. 2009’s SMT: Strange Journey for DS was almost considered SMTIV, but since it did not occur in Japan, it was left unnumbered, yet still kept in the main, non-spinoff series. SMTIV has had numerous developers within Atlus contributing, with members who worked on Nocturne, Strange Journey, the SMT: Devil Summoners: Soul Hackers remake (out on April 16), and even Persona.
I had a feeling this would happen, but you never know with Japanese games these days: sometimes they’re just waiting to make an announcement, and sometimes they’re hoping you’ll just forget about the game so they don’t have to awkwardly explain why they don’t want to localize it. Atlus is often quiet on anticipated games, but it’s good to know this is getting an English release.
There isn’t much on it yet, but you can visit the game’s official site here.