Despite releasing numerous enhanced ports in the form of the likes of Persona 5 Royal and Catherine: Full Body, beloved JRPG developer and publisher Atlus has never released a pure remaster of any of its classic games. This is about to change with the upcoming release of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne HD Remaster on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, which is slated to release on October 29th, 2020 in Japan and some time in spring 2021 in North America and Europe.
While western Shin Megami Tensei fans will have to wait a bit longer after the Japanese release to experience this remaster, here is a breakdown of what to expect from Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne HD Remaster.
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne is the third main entry in Atlus’ long-running Shin Megami Tensei series, the series that spawned major spin-off titles like the Persona and Devil Survivor series. While titles like Shin Megami Tensei 4 are beloved by fans, Nocturne is generally believed to be the best of the mainline Shin Megami Tensei titles, as it introduced the iconic press-turn gameplay system and featured a unique art style that defined the visual style for the rest of the series. The game is also remembered for its infamously punishing difficulty.
The game takes place in a modern day post-apocalyptic Tokyo, in which the player’s silent protagonist is transformed into a Demi-fiend by a cult attempting to trigger a cataclysmic event known as “Conception,” which will recreate the world as the cult envisions it. As the player travels through the post-apocalyptic Tokyo they encounter and recruit demons to fight alongside them.
As Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne was first released on the PlayStation 2 in 2003, the first major change the remaster will bring to the game is an increase in the game’s resolution, bringing it from its 480p output on the PS2 to a HD output on the Nintendo Switch, likely at 720p in handheld mode and 1080p while docked, with the PlayStation 4 Pro version even possibly outputting resolutions as high as 4K. Atlus has not yet commented on the game’s exact resolution outputs.
Secondly, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne HD Remaster will address the game’s much criticized difficulty, introducing a brand new “Merciful” difficulty mode, however this will only be available as a free day-1 DLC download. This difficulty mode is intended to bring newer fans into the series with more approachable balancing in the game’s combat.
Finally, the last major addition revealed for the remaster so far is the introduction of both Japanese and English voice acting to Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. The original PlayStation 2 game featured little-to-no voice acting out of small noises made by demons when recruiting, the English dub was first previewed in the game’s reveal trailer, and the Japanese voice track has been previewed in multiple Japanese trailers. Given Atlus’s commitment to dual-audio support following Persona 5, it is expected that the remaster will ship with both voice track options in the west.
Fans of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne will already know that the game has been re-released multiple times since its initial Japanese launch in February 2003. The version that many fans are familiar with is not even the first release of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. As the game’s first release outside of Japan was based on the 2004 director’s cut release, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne Maniax, it featured an extra dungeon and also Dante from Capcom’s Devil May Cry franchise as an optional boss fight and recruitable party member.
Following the release of the Maniax edition, Atlus decided to re-release Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne once again in 2008 as Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne Maniax Chronicle Edition. a part of the Japanese limited edition of Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon. This version replaced Dante with the Devil Summoner protagonist Raidou Kuzunoha and was considered canon to the story of the game it was included with.
Atlus announced that the Nocturne HD Remaster would be based off the Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne Maniax Chronicle Edition, which was met with mixed reception amongst fans. While some fans were excited to see that the remaster would feature the previously un-localized Raidou Kuzunoha storyline, many were disappointed to see that Capcom’s Dante would not be returning. That is until Atlus announced that it will be releasing Dante as part of a paid DLC pack titled “Maniax Pack,” which will replace Raidou with Dante.
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne HD Remaster releases for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 on October 29th 2020 in Japan, with a western release planned for Spring 2021.
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