This review contains spoilers
Out of the 10 or so games in the Megaten franchise I have played, none have given me the frustration from the dungeon design, the crushing difficulty of its combat, nor the weirdest fusion system I've experienced thus far. These reasons are exactly why this is one of my favorite games in the entire series, and maybe one of my favorite games of all time.
I'll start with the combat. This game has a more unique approach to combat, with nothing like Press Turn or One More from SMT and Persona respectively, but rather striking a weakness (and ONLY a weakness, criticals don't do anything but slight extra damage) will cause all demons of matching alignment to attack the enemy, ignoring resistances and defense to make your attack deal double (or more) what it usually would. Because of this, team composition matters MUCH more in this game, you can't just slap a rag tag team of any demon like you would in other mainlines.
For example, in my playthrough I decided to go with Chaos (because I like the color red). The demons in Chaos lean much more on the physical side, while also boasting a lot of special fusion demons. This makes some bosses, like Maya, a boss weak to Gun, an absolute cake walk with the right team, while making something like Asura, a physical resisting boss that randomly gives your party members an incurable ailment that causes them to attack the boss OR you randomly for 3 turns, the bane of my existence.
However, that is not a complaint. The opposite actually, I think it shows how amazing the boss design in this game is. Each boss requires a different set up to get through it, you can't just drag the same group of demons into every fight and wipe the floor, it doesn't work that way. You basically have to make a unique team for each fight (beyond the first few easy sectors), causing you to experiment with new demons and team layouts. It also forces you to mess with Demon Sources, this game's main fusion gimmick.
Demon Sources are little stones you get after fully "analyzing" a demon, which means either fighting them in random enchounters or using them in battle until they're fully analyzed. Each demon has a unique source, however the sources usually don't match up with the demon's moves, usually replacing one or two of them. This can be both detrimental and a blessing, as demons can both give you shit moves or give you surprisingly great moves for the time you get them at. It also selects one random move from the demon and puts it on the source, which is almost always a good thing. I do have a few issues with D-sources and fusion, and that comes down to the RNG in both of them. Like the original Nocturne, moves are selected at random during skill inheritence. I can forgive it more here since the sources can mostly circumvent this issue, however sometimes you'll just get unlucky and a skill will be lost. In fusion, demons can only inherit some move types, but if you have to many it won't always bring over the skills, even of the same type, that you want. The D-sources also have an aspect of RNG, with demons giving them to you. You're always garunteed to get the source after they're anaylzed, however if you want the same source twice you'll have to use the source you already got and level up the demon until you get lucky. I didn't have a problem with it during my playthrough, however I can 100% see it getting really annoying as at some point it becomes an absolute crawl to level up. Because of these problems, I ended up using some demons for like 60% of the game, which really goes against the whole point of constantly fusing. However since this game is more about making specific teams for specific bosses, the 60% team was used mostly for random encounters, since they were basically useless in boss fights.
The biggest and probably most contentious thing about this game is the dungeon design. A first person, grid based layout of monstrous size, full of classic SMT bullshit like pitfalls, damage floors, dark rooms, teleport mazes, invisible doors and literally having to clip out of bounds. And guess what? It's super fucking fun. This game has some of the most immersive dungeons I've gone through. Each trap I fell for made me want to push on even further, and being sent back to the beginning of a long maze made me want to explore even more. This game is able to masterfully blend the modern design of JRPGs with old classic design in a way that makes it feel fun. Side tangent, but very often I see people bring up that games can have "outdated mechanics", which I disagree with. Any mechanic can work in the modern age, it just matters how you use it, and this game is proof of it. Anyways, back to the main point, each fight along the way felt very satisfying as I got exp, analyze levels, materials, items, and especially macca, and the combat in this game just feels very satisfying. Each dungeon also has a unique look and feel to it, even Grus. The only problem I had with it is that sometimes it would send you back a little too far. I remember right at the end of the garden part of Eridanus, there's a bunch of pitfalls. Most of them were fine as they only set you back a little, however a sizable amount sent you ALL the way back to the beginning, and it took a good 3 minutes for each one, which was painful as someone who was trying to mostly fill up each map. Overall this was probably my favorite aspect of the game and I can't wait to replay one day and go through the Womb of Grief.
There's also the story. The story is good. Like most SMT games it doesn't have a huge standout on story, it's mostly all about the gameplay which I respect. Even then, the story was able to keep me engaged the entire time. This is the only mainline game to take place outside of Tokyo, featuring a cast from multiple different countries (the 3 main characters has an American, Hispanic, and Russian) all going to an anomaly in Antarctica called the Schwarzwelt. Immediately this game caught my attention because of it's incredibly unique environment. The characters are also good, but still not done as well as SMT 4. In 4, you can watch as Jonathan and Walter's beliefs slowly take hold of them and split the group further and further until the eventual split and fusions they undergo. It felt closer to Nocturne, where you barely see the characters and they randomly become crazy and transformed offscreen. This game is more of an inbetween of the two. You still watch Jiminez and Zelenin slowly corrupt overtime, but their jumps into the extremes feel out of no where, especially Zelenin. I also didn't do Alex's stuff so I have no clue what she's like. Overall the characters are good just not the best in the series.
One final note will be about the changes in Redux. I'd say overall the changes are good and make the game more enjoyable while still mostly maintaining the difficulty of the original. One objective downside I can say is the artstyle change. I don't hate it as much as other people do, but it certainly was a bad choice and removes some of the charm the game had. There's also the Womb of Grief. I went through three spheres of it and it was pretty fun, however I can't comment on the rest since I didn't realize it would lock me out after killing Alex. The new demon designs by Doi, however, are great. And no I will not comment on Demeter. There's also a bunch of smaller quality of life improvements that, just make the game more fun and less annoying while still staying challenging.
Overall, this game is amazing. While I certainly wouldn't recommend it to newcomers, once you have some SMT experience under your belt I would 100% recommend checking this game out. It's a little slow in the beginning but after the first sector or two it begins to pick up in enjoyment. If you're looking for a fun JRPG with a lot of replay value and you're able to get past some difficulty, I implore that you give this game a shot.
I'll start with the combat. This game has a more unique approach to combat, with nothing like Press Turn or One More from SMT and Persona respectively, but rather striking a weakness (and ONLY a weakness, criticals don't do anything but slight extra damage) will cause all demons of matching alignment to attack the enemy, ignoring resistances and defense to make your attack deal double (or more) what it usually would. Because of this, team composition matters MUCH more in this game, you can't just slap a rag tag team of any demon like you would in other mainlines.
For example, in my playthrough I decided to go with Chaos (because I like the color red). The demons in Chaos lean much more on the physical side, while also boasting a lot of special fusion demons. This makes some bosses, like Maya, a boss weak to Gun, an absolute cake walk with the right team, while making something like Asura, a physical resisting boss that randomly gives your party members an incurable ailment that causes them to attack the boss OR you randomly for 3 turns, the bane of my existence.
However, that is not a complaint. The opposite actually, I think it shows how amazing the boss design in this game is. Each boss requires a different set up to get through it, you can't just drag the same group of demons into every fight and wipe the floor, it doesn't work that way. You basically have to make a unique team for each fight (beyond the first few easy sectors), causing you to experiment with new demons and team layouts. It also forces you to mess with Demon Sources, this game's main fusion gimmick.
Demon Sources are little stones you get after fully "analyzing" a demon, which means either fighting them in random enchounters or using them in battle until they're fully analyzed. Each demon has a unique source, however the sources usually don't match up with the demon's moves, usually replacing one or two of them. This can be both detrimental and a blessing, as demons can both give you shit moves or give you surprisingly great moves for the time you get them at. It also selects one random move from the demon and puts it on the source, which is almost always a good thing. I do have a few issues with D-sources and fusion, and that comes down to the RNG in both of them. Like the original Nocturne, moves are selected at random during skill inheritence. I can forgive it more here since the sources can mostly circumvent this issue, however sometimes you'll just get unlucky and a skill will be lost. In fusion, demons can only inherit some move types, but if you have to many it won't always bring over the skills, even of the same type, that you want. The D-sources also have an aspect of RNG, with demons giving them to you. You're always garunteed to get the source after they're anaylzed, however if you want the same source twice you'll have to use the source you already got and level up the demon until you get lucky. I didn't have a problem with it during my playthrough, however I can 100% see it getting really annoying as at some point it becomes an absolute crawl to level up. Because of these problems, I ended up using some demons for like 60% of the game, which really goes against the whole point of constantly fusing. However since this game is more about making specific teams for specific bosses, the 60% team was used mostly for random encounters, since they were basically useless in boss fights.
The biggest and probably most contentious thing about this game is the dungeon design. A first person, grid based layout of monstrous size, full of classic SMT bullshit like pitfalls, damage floors, dark rooms, teleport mazes, invisible doors and literally having to clip out of bounds. And guess what? It's super fucking fun. This game has some of the most immersive dungeons I've gone through. Each trap I fell for made me want to push on even further, and being sent back to the beginning of a long maze made me want to explore even more. This game is able to masterfully blend the modern design of JRPGs with old classic design in a way that makes it feel fun. Side tangent, but very often I see people bring up that games can have "outdated mechanics", which I disagree with. Any mechanic can work in the modern age, it just matters how you use it, and this game is proof of it. Anyways, back to the main point, each fight along the way felt very satisfying as I got exp, analyze levels, materials, items, and especially macca, and the combat in this game just feels very satisfying. Each dungeon also has a unique look and feel to it, even Grus. The only problem I had with it is that sometimes it would send you back a little too far. I remember right at the end of the garden part of Eridanus, there's a bunch of pitfalls. Most of them were fine as they only set you back a little, however a sizable amount sent you ALL the way back to the beginning, and it took a good 3 minutes for each one, which was painful as someone who was trying to mostly fill up each map. Overall this was probably my favorite aspect of the game and I can't wait to replay one day and go through the Womb of Grief.
There's also the story. The story is good. Like most SMT games it doesn't have a huge standout on story, it's mostly all about the gameplay which I respect. Even then, the story was able to keep me engaged the entire time. This is the only mainline game to take place outside of Tokyo, featuring a cast from multiple different countries (the 3 main characters has an American, Hispanic, and Russian) all going to an anomaly in Antarctica called the Schwarzwelt. Immediately this game caught my attention because of it's incredibly unique environment. The characters are also good, but still not done as well as SMT 4. In 4, you can watch as Jonathan and Walter's beliefs slowly take hold of them and split the group further and further until the eventual split and fusions they undergo. It felt closer to Nocturne, where you barely see the characters and they randomly become crazy and transformed offscreen. This game is more of an inbetween of the two. You still watch Jiminez and Zelenin slowly corrupt overtime, but their jumps into the extremes feel out of no where, especially Zelenin. I also didn't do Alex's stuff so I have no clue what she's like. Overall the characters are good just not the best in the series.
One final note will be about the changes in Redux. I'd say overall the changes are good and make the game more enjoyable while still mostly maintaining the difficulty of the original. One objective downside I can say is the artstyle change. I don't hate it as much as other people do, but it certainly was a bad choice and removes some of the charm the game had. There's also the Womb of Grief. I went through three spheres of it and it was pretty fun, however I can't comment on the rest since I didn't realize it would lock me out after killing Alex. The new demon designs by Doi, however, are great. And no I will not comment on Demeter. There's also a bunch of smaller quality of life improvements that, just make the game more fun and less annoying while still staying challenging.
Overall, this game is amazing. While I certainly wouldn't recommend it to newcomers, once you have some SMT experience under your belt I would 100% recommend checking this game out. It's a little slow in the beginning but after the first sector or two it begins to pick up in enjoyment. If you're looking for a fun JRPG with a lot of replay value and you're able to get past some difficulty, I implore that you give this game a shot.