The seemingly more dire yet somehow more lighthearted follow up to Devil Survivor, DS2 is a mixed bag. Mechanically and game design-wise, it's much more solid than the first game, with expanded skill options, much improved demon types, and a much larger cast that are more available to use giving you much more interesting and flexible party compositions throughout the game. The story on the other hand is much more lighthearted and often takes the premise as a farce at many times, which can be a dividing factor for people. It is decently funny at times, but I do feel the overall narrative is weaker. Still, there's a lot to like here and it's a good companion to DS Overclocked if you wanted a more polished version of the tactical gameplay present there. Record Breaker ups the bonuses in the transition to the 3DS hardware by giving a whole extra story mode to play, which is very nice.

Great title that doesn't quite match up to the original. First major issue is that getting the true ending is borderline impossible without a guide. Second issue is that characters feel more one note and anime-tropey compared to the first game, even if they're still likable. Third issue is that the added content doesn't change depending on ending like the first game, just assuming you got the true ending.
Gameplay wise, however, the game is great. It's basically the same as 1 but with more moves, demons and characters to mess around with, making team building super fun. The story, while not matching up to the original game, is a unique premise detailing a more capitalism vs communism narrative instead of the usual SMT God v Lucifer one, and explores the concept well.
Overall, while not as good as the original, it's still a great sequel you should check out

Pretty good. The story, though derivative of Shonen anime, in particular Neon Genesis Evangelion, the plot is still enjoyable. The characters range from mediocre and nonsubstantial to genuinely enjoyable and rather humorous. The plot also establishes higher stakes by making you save all of your potential party members from certain death, as well as showing that unlike the first game, where the conflict was contained to a single city, this game's conflict is on a global scale. This game took the good but flawed combat of its predecessor and buffed out some of the kinks, such as creating a more balanced difficulty curb and keeping physical skills useful throughout the entire adventure, as opposed to them being outclassed by magic skills in the first game.

The visuals are on par with the original, as is the soundtrack, though some may prefer the electric guitars of devil survivor one to the synth waves of devil survivor two.

Over all, the reason I'm not giving this game a five star rating is because it could have benefitted from receiving a port to personal computers or the Nintendo switch so that the presentation wouldn't be held back by the limitations of the Nintendo Dual Screen.

Pretty game, good OST, story and gameplay felt good for about 50% of it.

Everything looked so interesting, the post-apocalyptic setting, the demons (as always, thank you SMT), the characters and their conflicts... Up to the half of it. After that, I could notice how things mostly felt surface-level in the story department, it almost felt offensive. Not to say there was no development, because they managed to write some pretty interesting things, but it mostly falls flat for me. Without spoilers, the ending stretch is the biggest offender. By some SMT-Fallout fusion, you get to pick your faction by simple choice, not with some hidden requirements like some other SMT titles. Oh and the choice is pretty interesting, some good stakes and sides... that end up being extremely shallow, underdeveloped, with some endings shafted for others, which disappointed me immensely after getting excited for its concept. After dropping the game at the 90% mark, I went to youtube to watch the cutscenes that led up to the ending, and I couldn't stand how boring and stall-y it was. Unbelievable, considering what we had in the start, the game's general themes and my next point.

The gameplay. I love SRPGs and was excited for a SMT in that style, but it wasn't satisfactory. I can see how this is all very personal, but the strategy is not in the grid/map gameplay and decision-making, it's in the demon fusion and character builds mostly. I hated it. Sometimes I had to spend HOURS fusing stuff, and it made me feel like dying, so I dropped it. The challenges the game presented felt boring to tackle (not because I was too strong, mind you), I just wanted it to end.

Maybe I should have played the first DeSu (they say the story is better) or just give up on SMT altogether considering how I hated the fusion in this one.
All in all, this is the game that felt the most like a SHARP downward slope in my enjoyment in the last years. Just played the main campaign, not the brand-new Tetragrammaton bullshit or whatever it was called.

Gameplay's still good. I'm leading with that because I just wanna get that out there before I say just how awful of a downgrade this game is from the first Devil Survivor, and that if you only care about gameplay, this is still a good game.

Unfortunately I loved DeSu1's story, and to see its themes not followed up on for the sake of some of the most generic anime shlock of all time is frankly depressing. Characters range from the most annoying tropes in existence personified to the dizzying heights of "this one's fun, actually", but mostly inhabit various ranges of mediocrity. The story's just some Evangelion ripoff, not to hate on Eva but it's not a good Evangelion ripoff. I dropped this game at the last phase of the final boss, that's how little I cared. Allegedly, the 3DS remake's new chapter actually improves the game a lot, but at that point, I just didn't care to try it.

I enjoyed it, but the story isn't gripping me as hard as the first one was. It is nice that the game deviated from the usual Law VS Chaos endings. The cast of characters is amazing as well. Otome, Fumi, Makoto, and Yamato are the best characters.

Persona 4's influence is all over this game. Goofy moments and fanservice everywhere. If you're into that, that's cool. I just didn't find it appropriate for the game's setting. I did enjoy it a lot, though.

My other major complaint is that the characters have personalities that are inconsistent with their alliances. A character will start to understand someone with views that are opposing theirs, then they will all of a sudden regress for the sake of the plot. Then they realize that going to extremes for their beliefs is wrong after you beat them up??? Very silly, it makes the story leave a lot to be desired. Still has some amazing moments though.

Triangulum did not have this problem. It was very enjoyable and I'm not gonna complain about more video game. Those endings hit the feelers hard

There is just 1 word to describe the ultimate strength of Devil Survivor 2. Variety. Just one listen to the OST and you will come across calm music to contemplate your options, upbeat yet stressful music for fights, sad & creepy music to reflect tragedy and revelation, goofy and odd music for having fun, or hopeful songs to raise your and the cast's spirit. With the characters, you will come across people ranging from charming hardcore meritocratic demagogues to justice-loving rebels to people who just want their lives back. In the combat, you will receive a constant drip-feed of new enemies, new allies, new abilities, new win scenarios, bosses that completely frazzle your pre-conceived notions, and more. This is my most replayed game and it is because every playthrough offers something new, exciting, and fun to try. This is some of the peak gaming as a whole can reach.


Personal Note/Devil Survivor 1 comparisons: I will grant that Devil Survivor 1 is much more grounded in its story and weaves a more emotionally compelling experience (it is also a bit harder but just in the way of "damage number bigger and more enemies resist physical"). But with all that drama comes exhaustion and being frozen up over choices. Devil Survivor 2 is my most replayed game because it gives me more freedom, it provides more ups rather than just downs, and the build diversity and achievement system is also more forgiving which makes it more tempting to just do "one more playthrough" (as I just finished my 4th playthrough and still want to 100% the game & get the other endings.)

It's ok, but a definite step down from the first title in writing. The story is excessively slow in the first few days, and while I enjoy the scenario and endings, it's hard to slog through the beginning to get to that point again. Characters are all worse, very tropey, very annoying, outside of a select few which shine. The extra content, the Trianglulum campaign is better all around and is the length of a whole new Devil Survivor title, but suffers from sharing the same cast. It's still good though on merit of its gameplay, but it could have been a whole of a lot better.

I think compared to DeSu1's story, it's not that impactful but I still liked it regardless so it's a mixed bag for me. I loved and hated some of the characters, but generally I think character writing is ok.

Gameplay wise this sequel is a massive improvement with the race ability upgrades and some boss balancing that made it much better. DeSu 1 had infamous, massive difficulty spikes and the bosses will destroy you if you don't have specific demon team combos such as flight or phantasm with how huge boss ranges can be. I still dont like how mana is a precious resource, but it didn't become a huge problem in the end so it's alright for the challenge. I still love demon fusion with this game because you can create the most op and broken demons possible such as an all reflect demon I had that could only be damaged by almighty and wind skills.

Great sequel. Not perfect, but is a massive improvement gameplay-wise compared to the first DeSu.