Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner - Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army review

Shin Megami Tensei has always stood out from the role-playing pack. While the typical RPG is firmly rooted in swords 'n sorcery, Megaten (as the cool kids abbreviate it) gives us stories that take place in dystopian present-day worlds. The art style, environments, and character designs of Megaten are dark and hauntingly beautiful, as opposed to the sunny fields and feather-haired heroes we've come to expect from Square Enix. Oh yeah, and there are demons. Megaten always has lots of devils, monsters and assorted beasties, culled from pretty much every religion and mythology out there. Some are friendly and cute, some are wicked and nasty. Most of them fit somewhere in between.

Still, as Devil Summoner shows, developer Atlus is willing to break with their own conventions to deliver a new game experience. Rather than a straightforward turn-based RPG, Devil Summoner is the unholy offspring of an adventure game and an action-RPG, set in a time and place that's underrepresented in the gaming world - 1920's Japan.

As Kuzunoha Raidou the 14th - the latest in a long lineage of Devil Summoners - your job is to ensure harmony between the Dark Realm and the human world. You go about doing this by working for a paranormal detective agency, solving mysteries and disturbances with the help of legions of demons at your beck and call. After handling a few cases, it becomes obvious that something far more sinister than your typical ghost hunt is afoot.