Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster launches in North America this spring, developer Atlus announced today. It will be available on May 25 for PlayStation 4, Switch, and Steam, almost seven months after its Japanese release. Those who purchase the Digital Deluxe Edition will be able to play four days earlier on May 21.
The cult-classic PlayStation 2 role-playing game follows a normal Japanese high school student as he’s suddenly thrust into a war between heaven and hell in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo. Much like Atlus’ more widely popular Persona series, battles revolve around befriending, raising, and ultimately fusing a litany of demons composed of mythological figures from history and folklore. Think American Gods but with very little of Neil Gaiman’s sentimentality.
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster updates the 17-year-old game with remastered 3D models and backgrounds as well as the introduction of new difficulty settings to make things tougher or easier, depending on your own proclivities. Following in the footsteps of the original’s “Director’s Cut” and “Maniax Chronicle” revisions, Dante from the Devil May Cry series and Devil Summoner’s Raidou Kuzunoha will make appearances, the former in the main game and the latter by way of downloadable content.
Unlike Persona, whose recent games typically favor social-interaction gameplay over hardcore dungeon-crawling, proper Shin Megami Tensei games are known for offering a healthy challenge to even the most diehard min-maxers. That said, the style and atmosphere is more than worth a little frustration. As a one-time player of the original, I can’t wait to hop back into the shoes of the Demi-fiend myself.