Yesterday’s Nintendo Direct Mini was a welcome surprise for a lot of people, barring those who were expecting titanic reveals possibly involving Breath of the Wild’s sequel, or something to commemorate Super Mario’s 35th anniversary. For Atlus fans though, and more importantly Shin Megami Tensei loyalists, it was a Direct to remember as we got confirmation of not only one, but two very important games in the series coming to the Switch.
Besides the fanfare and hype for the first official teaser for Shin Megami Tensei V, a game that was one of the main selling points for the Switch when it was first announced, Atlus also dropped a bomb in the form of an HD Remaster for Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, one of the most popular entries in the Megami Tensei series. Check out a trailer for Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster below.
The Shin Megami Tensei series is considered the starting point for what is now Atlus’ best known subseries, Persona. As such, it features a ton of the same themes and gameplay designs found in the latter. Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne was considered the breakthrough for the series thanks to its choice thematic elements and unforgiving, yet very rewarding gameplay. Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne features – like almost all other Atlus JRPG titles – an unnamed protagonist who is suddenly transformed into a half-demon hybrid called a Demi-fiend following a global event known as Conception. This apocalyptic event gave birth to a desolate world filled with demons raging war with one another as well as the Reasons, who are powerful beings who seek to take advantage of the birthed chaos to remake the world in their own images.
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster is a direct remaster of Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Maniax Chronicle Edition, a version of the game that features Raidou Kuzunoha the XIV from the Devil Summoner series, another of Atlus’ subseries for Megami Tensei. Checking out the trailer we see that the new remaster also features vastly improved graphics and gameplay, as well as voiced event scenes which can be turned off and an additional “Merciful” difficulty for those that may be put off by its rather steep challenge curve.
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster is set to be released in Japan for the PlayStation 4 and Switch on October 29. It will see a worldwide release for the same platforms in Spring 2021.
