Fans of Shin Megami Tensei rejoice! Originally released in Japan, Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2 finally has made its way to The States offering up the beauty of a franchise many have come to know over their gaming lives. Those who love the battle/collecting elements of the Persona franchise or the complexities of other Shin Megami Tensei games will no doubt be awed by what is offered in Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2. Do you love JRPGs and love SMT? Then you’re no doubt going to love and adore Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2.

Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2 aims to deliver a true SMT experience to your mobile device. Summon demons and level up your team to fight against the mysterious Dx2 acolytes to keep Japan safe from an ongoing threat no one but you and a few chosen others can see. Fuse demons together to create stronger allies and even ally yourself with others online allowing them to lend aid when a battle becomes too tough. Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2 plays a lot like the Persona series as well as other SMT classics which should allow fans to feel a sense of normality as they go further into this lengthy mobile title. Even if you’re new to the world of SMT, Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2 offers up plenty of JRPG goodness and will be a mobile title you’ll find hard to put down once you pour some time into it.

One day, you were walking along the streets of Akihabara when a phone app appears suddenly on your phone. Without warning, you find yourself being told that this app allows you to summon demons and to aid a group called the Liberators in a war going on behind the scenes of the public. Gather your courage and awaken your Devil Downloader power to train demons and make them into strong allies to keep yourself alive and to save Japan from the evil that is Dx2. Welcome, summoner, to the world that is Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2. The life you once knew has now ended…

Since the early days of handheld gaming, a rather niche JRPG series existed called Shin Megami Tensei. Lasting since the early days of the Game Boy, the Shin Megami Tensei lineage has grown into numerous titles such as Shin Megami Tensei: Persona. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey—which just had an updated version come out recently—and the list goes on. However, Shin Megami Tensei—which is sometimes shortened to SMT—hasn’t really been a mobile title until now. Last week—as of writing this article—SMT has finally broken forth on the western mobile landscape in the form of Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2. We have already poured some decent amount of time into Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2 and have enough to formulate our thoughts on whether this mobile title can live up to some of the best SMT titles out there in the gaming world. Welcome to our review of Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2 for the Android!

Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2 starts off like most SMT titles do. Players learn their character—in this case you can choose between a male avatar or a female one—has become a new warrior in an unseen war called a Devil Downloader. Immediately following this event, you are tasked with joining the Liberators who are fighting against corrupt Devil Downloaders called Dx2. For fans of the long running franchise, Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2 hits all the right notes for an epic beginning but does it do enough with gameplay to want to continue this shadow war as a newly minted Liberator? The short answer is a resounding yes.

At its core, Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2 is like the Persona series or other SMT games. Players summon demons akin to the Pokemon series—yes we know many hate that comparison but it’s the easiest to link to—and train/fuse them to make the ultimate demon team. All of your usual SMT concepts are here in Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2. Players will have the ability to fuse demons together to create stronger ones, you can talk to enemy demons when the chance arises to make them into your potential team members and you will do plenty of turn based combat to take down enemies via element affinities and other classic SMT themes. Even if you’ve never touched a single SMT title in your life—which you should rectify as SMT games are some of the best RPGs ever made—there are plenty of tutorials to help guide you into becoming the ultimate Liberator warrior.

Now we have made it obvious that classic themes of the SMT games are within Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2, how does that formulate into a mobile game? Simply put, Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2 plays almost like other mobile games of its nature. Players have a stamina bar that allows them only a set amount of continuous time—though we never ran out of stamina to be honest—and will do battle against other enemies in battles of increasing difficulty as you go through the several chapter story mode. There are even other events such as the Aura Gate which allows players to engage in first person dungeon crawling to take down enemies in teams of two—when usually your party is only one main character and 4 demons—to take down bosses as you make your way further down a 50-floor dungeon. Just like other mobile games though, if grinding isn’t your thing, there are a plethora of in-game purchases—using real money—to help you summon stronger demons and increase levels quicker than grinding. We do think the prices of these in-game purchases are a bit steep, but with mobile titles being more and more competitive and trying for longevity, it makes sense why Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2 is like this.

In terms of some of the other mobile themes for Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2, there are some rather cool ideas to make this title feel like an MMORPG without actually being one. During combat, players will occasionally be supported—or be asked for support—by using their demon’s MP to lend aid. You could always go with a free Cheer attack that helps boost up stats but you’ll gain more side bonuses if you shell out MP to assist a fellow player in need of a demon attack. There’s also an AR mode to Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2 that allows players to explore their own environments to find demons—we won’t say what game this mirrors to avoid any rude comments—which is kind of fun but equally feels tacked on. Also similar to other mobile titles, Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2 features a summoning gacha game of sorts but this element makes sense ultimately so we can’t nor will complain about it.

Finally, one of the most impressive elements of Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2—as if there isn’t already a huge amount of impressive things in this game—is the graphics/music/voice acting. Clearly, Sega—who developed and published Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2—poured some money into the visuals. Demons and settings look sharp and even the character designs and movement when on screen look akin to a full fledged SMT title. Even the music—which we loved, by the way—hits all the right notes we expect from our Shin Megami Tensei franchise. Voice acting works well to creating unique characters that feel anime-like but equally realistic at times.

The Shin Megami Tensei series has had some success on handheld gaming for quite some time so we’re not too surprised that Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2 works wonderfully on mobile devices. The awesome demon capturing/fighting mechanics we’ve seen in other titles like the Persona series doesn’t lose much stride being put into a cellphone title with only minor gripes here and there. Thanks to a lengthy story mode, tons of challenges such as the Aura Gate and numerous events that already seem planed for Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2, we can easily see us playing this for hundreds of hours without ever growing bored. We do hope to see some more demon variants in the future and look forward to seeing if Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2 can truly make this amazing mobile game work for a while into the future. If you consider yourself a true SMT fan and have been wanting a new title to play then you have no excuse no to download this completely free title. We give Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2 a full recommendation to download it as soon as possible so you can join others in becoming the liberator you were meant to be.

Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2 was a game we were quite hyped for and luckily our hype was well received. Thanks to some truly high levels of production value and gameplay focus, Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2 feels like a SMT game and that will truly appeal to all RPG fans and SMT fans in general. We hope there will be further updates that add more demons to the already large compendium and equally want to see if Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2 can be a long running mobile title going into the future. However, as it is now, Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2 is a must download for Android or iOS owners and you won’t regret a single MB that goes into this large title. Are you currently playing Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2 yourself? Tell us if you agree with our review and your thoughts on the game in the comments below. Remember to keep stuck to our hive for even more game reviews curtsey of us here at Honey’s Anime.