Shin Megami Tensei V is Officially in Development

A new 4Gamer interview with Shin Megami Tensei V Produder Kazuyuki Yamai officially confirms that development on the game is finally, fully underway, along with more details on how the terrifying adventure game will work. The interview is entirely in Japanese, but translations from other sites have provided a pretty clear explanation on some of the newest information.

With full production underway, Atlus has been continuously beefing up the staff's numbers, according to Yamai. The volume of staff working on the game apparently helped Atlus feel comfortable enough to confirm development, which is a relief, given that back in December, Yamai noted that the game had just barely made it out of the storyboard phase. Yamai says that "three times the amount of effort" is being put into developing the game's new demons, thanks to this team. Notably, Atlus wants to create a lot of new demons, so there's likely plenty of work ahead for the game before it's ready for an official release date.

Yamai said that Atlus wants to make a big deal out of this release, as it will be the first major console release for the series in a long time -- and what's more, as a Switch exclusive, there's a little bit of room for more creativity thanks to its handheld capabilities. Ultimately, he said, the goal would be to make a title versatile enough to play as a handheld game and a console game. Yamai mentioned the experience of enjoying a demon fusion while laying down, so it looks like convenience is going to play a big part in this one.

Shin Megami Tensei is the primary franchise behind other games like the Persona series, which kind of works as a spin-off, and was actually given the Shin Megami Tensei prefix when it first floated over to the states. But, Shin Megami Tensei is certainly its own series, and fans of the franchise can attest that it takes on something of a darker, more realistic setting than most of the spin-off games do.

There is no set release date as of yet for Shin Megami Tensei V, but it has been confirmed as a Nintendo Switch exclusive.

Hat tip to Gematsu.