Video Game Review: Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey Redux/ Deep Strange Journey: Back into the Black hole!

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 Of all the SMT games that deserve a remake and rerelease for modern consoles this one is a personal delight. I wasn't always a fan of the Megami Tensei games, hell I never really heard of them till my brother got a used copy of Persona 4 for the PS2. So I decided "eh why not", gave it a try and the rest as they say is that. Now while I learned more about Persona I learned inevitably about the franchise that Persona spun off from, the Megami Tensei series. But this was before SMT 3 and the other PS2 games were on the PSN store so I decided to go with a rather obscure spin off that surprisingly didn't get a sequel.

 So I went to my local Gamestop I think, picked up a used copy and thus Strange Journey became my very first non Persona SMT game and BOY was it a different breed compared to Persona 4. From the setting to the story and the Pokemon esc demon recruiting mechanic, bone grinding difficulty, morally system and multiple endings Strange Journey was a breath of fresh air in the same way Persona 4 was when I first played it. But enough of my reminiscing I'll give a general recap of the game but for this rerelease you really should go in cold. Unlike the Persona series past Eternal Punishment were we play as anime trope #245, the transfer student; we're playing as a United Nations special ops solder who has been assigned to a strike team that has been sent to investigate a mysterious space which has materialized in the South Pole that threatens to swallow the entire world. Once they get inside they find that there's no way to contact the outside world and they can't get out the same way they came in.

 So for this game we've been essentially banished to the Black hole.

 They penetrate the blag ole called the Schwarzwelt and being an SMT game there's demons all over the place and they want to escape and rip every humans face off. Though personally I can't tell which is worse the demons or being trolled to death by the Gatekeeper. Before they find out for themselves the crews of all the strike teams ships all receive a vision from an unknown source, and with it the Demon Summoning Program is uploaded to their special combat suits called Demonicas that allow them to communicate with and control demons. So with their new demons our protagonist and the crew of the Red Sprite must venture into the heart of the Schwarzwelt and destroy it to save Earth. However there are several factions who want to use the Schwarzwelt for their own purposes, including the Three Wise Men, a mysterious blond girl, a black haired, black winged angel named Mastema, the Mothers of the Schwarzwelt and now for the 3DS remake; a mysterious woman called Alex as well as Zeus and Demeter, maybe.

 Regarding the characters I won't go into too much detail as usual. Even though this is a remake of a 9 year old game I really want you to experience it for yourselves and avoid spoilers, so only names and basic characterization will be detailed here.

First is our protagoinist. There's nothing about him when you start. The only unique thing about him is his nationality depending on which version you're playing. If you're playing the English release he's from the US and the Japanese version he's from Japan. He really is nothing more then a player avatar.

Next is the Captain of the Red Sprite Commander Gore.  He dies within the first hour of the game. That's all I can say for now. Also yes he is clearly named after Al Gore. But he is important to the story I'm being super duper cereal.

Now we have the AI of the Red Sprite, Arthur. After Commander Gore dies Arthur is made the new commander of the Red Sprite. Though Arthur the Crew of the Red Sprite receives the Demon Summoning Program.

Following up is Jimenez, the Chaos partner of our story. A private contractor from the US he's the only member of the Blue Jet to survive the crash and subsequent attack by the resident demons. He's not afraid to speak his mind though is rather pessimistic and confrontational, though he is on friendly terms with his personal Demon Bugaboo and the Protagonist. 

On to our law aligned partner Zelenin. She's a scientist from Russia and is a survivor from the third ship, the Elve. And after she survived her time in Sector Bootes, let's just say she's not all that willing to use the DSP anytime soon. That is until she encounters Mastema.

Mastema, also known as Mansemat, is an angel of persecution and hostility as cited from the literature of Israel's Second Temple Period. In this regard, he is also similar to Satan, who held more or less the same portfolio in other books of the period. Mastema is said to be the angel that unleashed the ten plagues of Egypt and attempted to kill Moses. In this game he's an angel supposedly sent by God to investigate the Schwarzwelt but seems to be following his own agenda. While he claims to be following the orders of God Jiminez correctly doesn't trust the guy as far as he can throw him. Though he does help the crew of the Red Sprite they do keep this angel at arms length.

Last and the newest character in this remake is Alex. All I know about her is that she has her own AI George and she wants to kill me badly for some reason.

 Gameplay wise you'll be navigating the various dungeons, referred to as sectors in this game by a first person perspective with a map on the bottom screen that fills out as you progress through the level. Basically if you've played Etrian Odyssey or Persona Q Shadow of the Labyrinth you'll be familiar with how it all works. But unless you get to recruiting demons and getting new and better equipment you'll be stomped on rather quickly. You'll get new weapons by bringing back Forma that you collect from Demons (though negotiation, defeating them or as a reward for leveling up.) Some forma can only be found in specific sectors or as rewards for side-quests, again much like Persona Q.

 But you won't be able to survive on new equipment alone, every good solder does need trustworthy squad-mates after all, and luckily for you these demons will always work for you, provided you know what their price is. A major factor in recruiting demons in this game is dependent on your moral alignment. By default you'll be neutral-neutral, but as you answer certain dialogue routes you'll sway between the Chaos and Law alignment. If you're lawful then Chaos demons will be harder to negotiate with and the opposite is true too so if you're looking to draft a new demon you better be on the same page ya hear? However there's three conditions where you cannot recruit demons, if the demon is an Unknown, the moons phase is full (unless you have a certain sub-app equipped) and if the demons' secondary alignment is Dark so you'll have to fuse those particular demons or get really lucky and run into them during the full moon with the aforementioned sub-app.

 Or you could just summon a demon by imputing a password, you can find the Passwords for all demons by checking out the SMT Wiki. The music is a radical departure from most of the Megaten series. Once again Shouji Meguro was the composer for this game so surprise, surprise despite the tone it fits this game like a glove. While most of the games I've played that he worked on have gone for a rock, synth and pop style depending on which game it is Strange Journey is much more serious and dire. Apparently he was told to compose it like if it were a movie so he went for a military orchestration with Gregorian chanting, drums and violins.

 Which makes sense for a joint military operation to save the world, the clock is ticking closer to doomsday so it's all business and it really stresses the dire and serious tone of the setting. So all in all when Strange Journey Redux comes out be sure to pick it up. If you're only familiar with the Megaten franchise through Persona this may be what gets you to check out the other areas of the franchise like I did. They're all still great games, made by the same company so equip your Demonica and get out into the field to kick some demon ass! Rip and tear, rip and tear, rip and tear their guts!

Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey Redux/Deep Strange Journey is owned by Atlus, Sega and Lancarse.
Atmosfear is owned by J.W. Spear & Sons, Mattel and Flying Bark Productions.