One of the worst SMT games, worst Megaten games I've ever played. Do not buy this at full price or you'll be doing a disservice to your wallet.

Story
This story sucks ass. This isn't even in comparison to Persona, I dislike most persona stories. This is in comparison to previous SMT games, to SMT 2 and SJ. It only barely beats out IV because at least this game is mostly original (not fully though, Atlus doesn't do original stories anymore) compared to IV where 80% of the plot and premise were just lifted from SMT 1/2. Not that this game does anything interesting with its new ideas of course.

Rant aside, the story tries to be minimalistic like le epic Nocturne but worse. In Nocturne you were stranded in an unfamiliar broken world with no real way to keep in touch with your friends so it made sense that you didn't see them that much. In SMT V you can literally go back to modern Tokyo whenever you want(not a spoiler it's in the beginning hours of the game + trailers), you and your friends have functioning Comms systems in the Netherworld and you're part of the same Demon Fighting organisation, there is literally no reason to go 15+ hours without characters and story(yes this actually happens halfway through the game). Add lazily written characters and reveals, side quests that contradict the rules the main story sets up(lookin at you Bull God/Demeter quest chain) and multiple plot convenience/stupidity moments and you have yourself one of the worst SMT stories to date

Characters
Disappointing. Every character except Dazai is paper thin. This is because the story barely exists so you barely ever see any of these characters besides Dazai, and when you do see him he spouts the same lines about his inferiority complex over and over and over and over again. He has a cool dynamic with Abdiel though so that + his minor development make him the best character easily. They fumble the ball hard with him at the end though, shit is mad fucking goofy. Yuzuru and Miyazu are an enigma because if you remove them from the game, 98% of it would be the exact same. The tiny bit of relevance Miyazu has to the story is relegated to a side quest that is easily missable. Tao is a blantantly undercooked reference to Yuko from Nocturne as well as Megami Tensei in general. Sahori had good ideas but were badly executed. Yakumo is cool because he's the first asshole neutral rep but you hardly see him so it doesn't matter + his motives and his actions are contradictory.

Onto the Godly side. They did jack shit with Zeus, Odin, Vasuki, Hayataro and Nuwa. At least Khonsu has a side quest chain that is somehow more interesting than the main plot, the other characters get jack shit. The other gods get nothing, Hayataro joins your party on chaos but the mf is level 40 when you're level 80(this is because Hayataro was a remnant of a mount system that was planned to be in the game), Nuwa exists purely for sex appeal. It's a common thread in this game how female characters don't have agency of their own and only exist to further the goals of their male counterparts. One exception is Amanozako who exists to continue the Atlus propoganda of getting their customers into pedophilia. Imagine a toddler like figure repeatedly telling you that you're her soulmate. That's all Amanozako does. It's disgusting

Gameplay
Game is very fun. Love the new animations for the skills, love the unique skills, love the variety in builds you can do(ailment builds on MC are viable now).

Exploration is a mixed bag, I love the verticality in some areas and the platforming but since the MC can only climb special blocks that are lazily tacked onto the world, platforming options can feel a bit limited. I'm impressed with how much jumping you can do to get to things without using the blocks. Some areas can be pretty garbage with this verticality though like area 3 and some parts of area 4. Area 3 felt like a huge puzzle that I didn't mind doing at first but return trips for quests and Miman got annoying + since flying enemies always aggro you, you're pretty much always being chased by something.

Abscesses are a cool idea but not executed well. The result is a fuckin Assassin's Creed tier map where you have to go clear out the viewpoints (abscesses) in order to clear the map and figure out how to get to your goal

Game consists of 4 areas and 2 dungeons, I'd rank em like this

4>1>2>D1>3>D2

Music
Great music as always by Kozuka but I can't help but feel it's not as impressive or memorable as IV's. There are a lot of good tracks like Bethel representative, "Humans, demons and..." and the full moon/new moon mix of the World of Shadows theme but I think the problem is a lack of consistency in terms of style. There are a lot of different genres in this ost and while that isn't necessarily a bad thing, it means this game doesn't really have a strong musical identity.

Visuals
I emulated this game and it looked pretty nice honestly. Cutscenes had some god tier direction, lots of really cool moments. I took lots of screenshots

Conclusion
Good gameplay, good music, horrendous story and characters. People who've only played Nocturne and IV will tell you that this is how SMT has always been. Do not listen to them. SMT can be much more than this and it's actually pathetic that SMT games from 1994 and 2009 are still owning modern Atlus writing.