After just two weeks, Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance enters Steam's highest-rated JRPG chart

Jun. 29, 2024



SMT 5 still has a long way to go before it catches up to Persona at the top of the charts

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Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance, the juicy mega-re-release for (obviously) Shin Megami Tensei 5, has already wormed its way into Steam’s best-rated Japanese role-playing games chart a mere two weeks after its launch.

For those not in the ShinPersonaHackers camp, Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance practically bolts on an entire second campaign called the Canon of Vengeance, in addition to the base game’s Canon of Creation storyline, as well as new demons to fight/recruit, new dungeons, new characters, and several other major tweaks to progression and the turn-based combat.

With so much new newness added to the landmark game, it’s no surprise to hear that it’s now one of best-rated JRPGs on Steam. Sitting at an’Overwhelming Positive’score based on almost 2,500 user reviews, Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance is now the storefront’s twelfth high-rated game in the subgenre’scharts, beating both classics (Final Fantasy 9) and newbie heavyweights (Yakuza: Like A Dragon) alike.

The only JRPGs with better ratings are this year’s Granblue Fantasy Relink, classic remake Star Ocean The Second Story R, Astlibra Revision, The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, Final Fantasy 14 and the OG Final Fantasy 7, HD-2D pioneer Octopath Traveler 2, Nier Automata, and a trio of bangers at the top of the list: Persona 3 Reload, Persona 5 Royal, and Persona 4 Golden - which are all, funnily enough, Shin Megami Tensei spin-offs.

The mammoth re-release isn’t just a critical hit, though.Vengeance sold a whopping 500,000 copies in three days alone, which means it’s actually inching closer to the big sales numbers that its more popular spin-off series Persona normally manages. Total Shin Megami Tensei 5 sales numbers sit at a comfortable 1.6 million.

Shin Megami Tensei 5 director echoes FromSoftware’s stance on hard games: “Our intent was never to make things difficult for difficulty’s sake.”

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Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that’s vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he’ll soon forget.

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