Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor
2009
- role-playing (rpg)
- strategy
- tactical
- visual novel
- horror
- single player
The story
Tokyo is in full lockdown, the government's swift, coldblooded response to a surprise demon invasion. Trapped within the sprawling metropolis is the city's helpless populace, forced to turn on each other in order to survive. A mysterious piece of technology, the COMP, falls into the hands of you and your peers. This device allows you to form contracts, forcing demons to serve you in battle against the otherworldly creatures. There are others with COMPs, so-called demon tamers, who seek to use the demons to satisfy their own whims-be they for justice, peace, or power-in the chaos that was once downtown Tokyo. Where did the demons come from? Why did they appear? Who created the COMPs, and what is their purpose? These questions must soon be answered, for if you fail to solve the mystery, much more is at stake than your own lives.
What it’s like
Hand-drawn anime portraits sit over a muted blue-grey Tokyo, its night streets washed in cold neon and the white glow of phone screens. Battles play out on a clean, tactical grid under synth pulses and sharp, rock-tinged themes, giving way to near silence during the long, text-heavy conversations between chapters. The city feels emptied and paranoid, with barricades, deserted intersections and a sky that hangs heavy with dread. The vibe is tense, urban and melancholy, best suited to a late-night session in a quiet room, where one tight fight at a time can absorb a whole evening. Pacing alternates between slow visual-novel exchanges and brisk turn-based combat, with a ticking calendar that forces hard choices. Its people are ordinary students and adults pushed toward suspicion and loyalty, and their bonds strain as allies turn on each other. Violence is frequent but stylised, with demons dispatched in bursts of bright effects and gore restrained, though characters die suddenly and grimly, and cult and occult themes carry real unease. It suits players who enjoy strategy and bleak, morally complicated stories, not those seeking gentle fare.
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