Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey

An expedition enters the Schwarzwelt, a strange region spreading from Antarctica, and finds demons waiting inside. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey puts the player in a first-person dungeon crawl where the next enemy may become a recruit.

Negotiation and fusion help build the party needed for another dangerous sector. The original Nintendo DS adventure gives its science-fiction expedition the familiar problem of deciding which demons to trust.

Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

A corridor leads toward another encounter with a demon. The player can fight, but conversation may offer a different result.

Recruiting demons expands the available party. Fusion turns that collection into another set of possibilities before the next battle.

Turn-based combat rewards attention to the enemy’s weaknesses. Exploring and rebuilding the party keep feeding into each other.

Graphics

The first-person view keeps attention on the passage ahead and the demons facing the team. The expedition’s equipment gives the presentation a science-fiction frame around its supernatural encounters.

Story

The Schwarzwelt threatens the world from Antarctica. An international expedition travels inside to investigate it.

The player follows a soldier who discovers that the strange region contains demons. Surviving the mission means learning how to deal with them.

Choices also draw the protagonist toward different alignments. The expedition’s immediate dangers leave room for disagreements about what should happen next.

Overall Experience

Strange Journey suits a player who likes building a party as much as exploring with it. A useful recruit can change the plan for the next stretch of dungeon.

Negotiation gives encounters a purpose beyond collecting experience. Fusion offers another reason to keep examining the roster.

This entry covers the original Nintendo DS game. Strange Journey Redux is a later Nintendo 3DS revision, with its own additions and release history.