Genre: Role-Playing (RPG)
Perspective: 1st-person
Pacing: Turn-based
Setting: Cyberpunk / Dark Sci-Fi, Post-Apocalyptic
Published by: Atlus Co.
Developed by: Atlus Co.
Released: 1992
Platforms: Super Nintendo (SNES), SEGA CD / Mega-CD, Nintendo (NES)
The story begins in Kichijoji district, Tokyo. A high school student receives a Demon Summoning Program and discovers that the city is overflowing with demons. They were summoned from the Abyss by a certain Gotou, who foments a coup d'etat. In response, the United States sent an armed contingent; the clash between these two military forces would lead Tokyo to its destruction ...
Gameplay
Lead the hero through corridors and doors, and lead a team of five to battle the countless demons of Tokyo.
In addition to the hero, there are three human characters, who gain experience and spells over battles and levels gained. They can equip a sword, a gun, armor pieces. Their stats evolve as the player wishes but their spells are predetermined.
Some demons (generic term for "supernatural creatures") can be recruited and fight alongside heroes. They do not gain experience, their skills are fixed, and persuading them to join you is difficult and expensive. We must begin by entering a series of responses to their behaviors or questions and then buy their services, yet it is almost impossible to do without their help. When you have recruited two or more demons, you can merge them into a new demon.
Characters
None of Shin Megami Tensei's heroes has a predetermined name; it is the player who decides when he meets them in a dream.
- Hero: An ordinary seventeen-year-old high school student. His adventure begins when he receives a Demon Summoning Program upon awakening from a premonitory dream. The choices you make on his behalf will change his character and determine his Alignment, which changes the end of the game. He does not have magic.
- The heroine: An eighteen-year-old woman leading a Resistance movement to stop the conflict between Commander Gotou and Ambassador Thorman. She meets the hero while the latter is looking for a girl with the same name as her. The heroine is always the same alignment as the Hero and is the ally who stays with you the longest. Her life and strength are weaker by default, but her magic (mostly care and Zan) is more effective and she is more resilient to condition disorders.
- The Law Hero: A young man of seventeen who lives in respect of laws and people. He has a girlfriend, who has the same name as the heroine and will be kidnapped for it. After meeting the hero in a dream, he will see him in reality when they are arrested by the police to serve as guinea pigs. The two boys will escape and try to save the law hero's girlfriend.
- The hero Chaos: A loner of seventeen who speaks in a rather vulgar way. Persecuted by a gang of thugs, he lives only to get enough strength to take revenge. He accompanies the Hero and the Law hero to obtain this strength.
- Yuriko: A mysterious woman who closely follows the movements of the Hero and always tries to seduce him. But his tendency to abuse Heroin will break his chances in this area.
- Gotou: A charismatic commander who fights a coup with the support of powerful demons. The coup led to the intervention of the US Army commanded by Ambassador Thorman.
- Steven: A computer scientist in a wheelchair dressed in red. He is the inventor of the Demon Summoning System, designed to stem the demon invasion caused by another of his inventions, the Tokyo Net Terminal. It is based on theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.