Reviews from

in the past


My favorite SMT game overall. Loved the atmosphere of the Vortex World/warped Tokyo and discovering each new distorted landmark. This game has bosses galore and thanks to the Press turn system, they are the game's biggest highlights. Nocturne has the best sidequest out of all SMT games through the Amala Labyrinth and its Five Kalpas. Dungeon crawling is right up my alley; not straightforward like IV, nor repetitive and tedious like SJ. Game's surprisingly funny too. Really great JRPG.

Interesting gameplay but the characters are so edgy and the story is convoluted mess.

The presentation is superb—Shoji Meguro paired with some of the best aged graphics on the system. The story is enticing while never bogging you down with cutscenes, and the press turn system is a nice evolution from previous installments.

Evasion stacking is so broken that boss difficulty is a decision tree reading: does this boss have Dekunda Yes - hard No - easy

SMT Nocturne is probably one of the higher peaks and best example that the old guard/staff of the Shin Megami Tensei series is capable of. Minimalist writing, dark brooding atmosphere, hard unrelenting JRPG combat, great dungeon design, absurd humor, and great replay value. Those coming to this game expecting a typical JRPG should be in for a surprise. How it handles the story and development in the game is probably my favorite part. Its usage of biblical/eastern symbols, mythologies, and cryptic writing is somewhat compelling and unique in its own way. Play this game if you want to punch god and have a mystical, occult experience.

Absolute behemoth of a game, can't wait to go back shirtless and punch everything in sight.


great game but the skill inheritance system sucks HARD

The start of Press Turn combat. While not my favorite SMT game, it still has really good gameplay, and strong atmosphere. The issues I have with it are how demon fusion is pretty tedious if you want to get even a few skills that you want, the story and characters are basically nothing, and a physical build for the main character is so much more viable than magic that it's hardly even a choice as to how you build your character

this demifiend is pretty cool

It has great atmosphere, gameplay, music and is visually stunning. The boss battles are fantastic and very tense. The dungeons though... I found most of them pretty bad. Lots of dead ends and rooms with nothing in them or maze's with bad gimmicks. Coupling this with the high encounter rate made some of them tedious to get through.

Pretty much the blueprint for any SMT game that is good.
The atmosphere, setting, dungeons, combat, demons, design and art direction, ost. This game does it all and it's a very unique and intense experience, but also fun as hell, pretty much second to none in the whole SMT franchise. One of the few things you could argue are kinda weak or maybe even bad is the story and characters, but it does it's best with what is has, and the minimalist approach to how the story is portraid and approached is also a charm, leaving you a bit confused and uncertain is part of the ride of going through the vortex world and the labyrinth of amala.
One of the very best RPG's i ever played.

This was a fun game, not the best megaton game I've played so far, but not the worst. The dungeons seemed to drag on a bit in some parts, and some of the bosses seemed to be a bit too powerful for their level. However the game was an overall good experience.

Writing: 4/5
Gameplay: 4/5
Art Design & Visuals: 4/5
Voices & Sounds: 4/5
Atmosphere & Immersion: 4/5

Still the gold standard for a JRPG many years on.

It's often punishingly cruel (looking at you, Matador), but the cruelty always comes with a point — Matador is a tough lesson about (de)buffing and Focus, both of which are necessary skills for the entire rest of the game — and nothing's quite as satisfying as a tough Nocturne fight. There aren't a lot of other RPGs — to this day, even — that require much in the way of thought to random encounters, but Nocturne makes tactics a necessity for nearly all of the game — it does drop off in difficulty late-game but that's true of most every SMT.

The game's characters are still fantastic as well — pretty much everyone save some of the Manikins is enjoyably mercurial at best and deeply cruel at the worst — very much appropriate for one of the best-designed apocalypses from any media. Yuko's failures of ambition, Chiaki's descent into abject cruelty, and Futomimi's arc — all of it is incredible stuff and striking to this day.

Aside from all that it's clear proof that a good sense of aesthetics can prevent a game from feeling dated — the game is stunning to look at despite being over 15 years old. Kazuma Kaneko's work on demon design is fantastic, and the environmental design is stellar across the board — even the caves (a traditional RPG design stumbling point) are well-designed — no small feat. Good stuff all around!

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne is a tough-as-nails JRPG where strategy and party composition matters way more than raw power or grinding.

The gameplay is quick and satisfying, using the Press Turn system to let you exploit the turn order by hitting the enemies' weaknesses and quickly turn the tides of battle in your favor - the thing is, those same enemies can do the same to you.
That's not to say that the gameplay is the only strong positive about this game. The story, albeit minimalistic, is interesting and deep. The lonely atmosphere that permeates throughout the entire playthrough is immersive, and, for a PS2 game, graphics and aesthetics are at a high - like a true videogame critic would say, "they aged like a fine wine".

However, even incredible games can have negatives. Nocturne has random encounters that, in many dungeons, are way too frequent and annoying. Many of the endings are also very lackluster, which in comparison to the actual really good endings, just end up making the developers look lazy. Lastly, and this is just my own opinion, some of the later dungeons are very masochistic, and I ended up using a guide to traverse through them just to avoid a huge headache.

At the end of the day, Nocturne is still a must-play for anyone who's bored of the typical easy, "just nuke the enemies" JRPGs and want to immerse themselves in a, albeit post-apocalyptic, very beautiful world.

The game that set the foundation for modern MegaTen game play. And it was a great game for it's time. However it was quickly out done with every subsequent PS2 and and 3DS MegaTen game that came out afterwords. Making it not as enjoyable as the rest.

The very definition of “rejecting one more god”

What a game. It'll kick your teeth in and bring you back for more. A mesmerizing experience. Labyrinth of Amala sucks though, but it has some of the best bosses.

Good game that introduced the press turn system. You're friends are assholes, Dante is here and is cool af as always, only 2 good endings, all the other reason endings suck. Punch God in the face. Become Lucy's general yada yada.

literal, muito foda. diriaq é um dos melhores jrpgsq eu já joguei no ps2. e n é tão dificil quanto as pessoas dizem.

this game has some pretty bad difficulty balancing problems but its still a solid rpg. the music and environmental design are mega hits and the team building in this game is really fun.

Good game, light on story
exploration is huge but its not too compelling
too reliant on RNG for difficulty but other than that its all good


plots a bit silly but i like it, also the style and presentation is way too my style holy shit

this is what pretentious dudes are talking about when they say games are art

Eu não sou o maior enjoyer de JRPGs, mas é inegável dizer que o jogo é magnífico em questões de gameplay. Quanto a história, eu acho ela muito bem feita sem contar o design completamente chaddest.

the progenitor of my favourite turn-based combat system this shit's fun as hell. also those vibes, god dammm