It’s not the first time that Shin Megami Tensei can be played on the go, but this incarnation of the beloved JRPG franchise brings something even more portable to the table. SMT Dx2 is a mobile game available for iOS and Android, which allows you to play a lighter version of the Shin Megami Tensei formula whenever you like.
The thing with Dx2 is that it runs in the same vein as other SMT games, with the core gameplay intact, but none of the excellence of SMT games. It has the formula right. You collect demons, use them as your party members, and you progress through the story by beating other demons. But all aspects of the formula has been watered down to the point that it’s so similar to a mainline Shin Megami Tensei game but just comes just a bit short.
The strongest suit of all Shin Megami Tensei games is their story. The series’s strong gameplay is complemented well by the well-woven plots, perfect story-telling, and deep, compelling, relatable characters. Dx2’s central plot, although serviceable, suffers from the format that the game is presented in. As a mobile game, the story is presented in chapters. You use up energy to play chapters, which regenerates over time. A good chunk of the game can be played without running out of energy, but the story loses its momentum when you start running out of it. However, even without the energy problems, the story still has problems with its pacing. It’s presented through conversations between the characters, the Liberators, as they try to fight against the influence of another organization, the Acolytes. Since the game focuses much into the battles between demons, there had to be made an excuse all the time just for these battles to happen. As such, battles happen too frequently in the game and feels too shoehorned into the story’s progression. It doesn’t help that the short bouts of story we get is told through the perspective of bland characters. Most of the time, the story is skippable and nothing of importance will be missed.
Where Dx2 shines is in the battles, which thankfully the game doesn’t have a shortage of. The demons are rendered in beautifully animated 3D models, with completely animated battle sequences. The battles play out in turns, with either you or your enemy’s party taking actions first. This setup allows the faster team between the two parties to completely annihilate the other without much resistance. As it is with other SMT games, you may also exploit the elemental weaknesses of the demons, allowing you to get extra turns. However, the battle system has also been streamlined for more casual play. For example, light and dark magic damages opponents, instead of having a small chance of instantly killing them. Nevertheless, the game is fun to play, and is wonderful to watch.
Another thing that the game captured from the main series of SMT is the wonderful soundtrack. The music matches the battle sequences well, and the sound effects during the battle makes it the more lively and animated. Demons have voices and do grunts and screams while fighting, which is a nice touch. The game’s sound quality is high and gets me to play with the volume on even when playing during commute.
The social aspects of the Dx2 as a mobile game is just enough to encourage players to join up with their friends, but it does not intrude into the gameplay. There’s a very good motivation to add more friends though, as you could include their support demon as the fifth member of your party. There’s also a PVP mode in the game to pit your own party against other players’, but for me it’s just more fun to play the singleplayer modes.
Outside of the story, players could fuse their demons for stronger ones, summon demons through gacha drop, and strengthen demons through power-ups and equipments. Separate modes, the Aura Gate, Demon Buster and the Hell’s Park, further extend the gameplay experience with additional content. These two modes provide additional challenge outside of the main storyline, with rewards that enables you to summon stronger demons, or to give your existing demons even more power.
There are more than 170 demons to collect in the game, which you could acquire in a variety of ways. The most straightforward way is to summon them through gacha drops, wherein some of the demons can only be obtained this way. Some demons might initiate a conversation during battle, and you may get them to join your party if you’re successful. Finally, fusing demons together lets you get even stronger demons for you to use.
As for its technical requirements, I play the game with a Samsung J7 Prime 2, a midrange budget phone. Even with the relatively strong power and graphics capabilities of my phone, the game runs with minor framerate issues at low settings. I forced the game to run on high graphics settings, nd although it’s still playable, the framerate issues became too noticeable. Thankfully, the game still looks wonderful at low graphics settings.
Shin Megami Tensei Dx2: Liberation is a fun distraction that is easy to pick up and leave anytime. Microtransactions exist in the game, and although the game is a bit too pushy sometimes in selling you items for real-life currency, they’re entirely unnecessary to experience the game in the fullest. Overall, Dx2 is Shin Megami Tensei lite. It doesn’t have the depth that SMT is known for, but it still is a beautiful game worth any RPG fan’s time and effort.
