Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne

 PlayStation 2
User Score
6.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 399 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 252 out of 399
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 399
  3. Negative: 135 out of 399
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  1. Rox22
    Nov 7, 2013
    8
    Absolutely brilliant game. Some of the best fun I had on the PS2. This game is like a demonic version of Pokemon *lol* Not to mention the brilliant cameo by DMC's Dante.

    But I will say the game's narrative felt a bit barren, almost non-existent. But still, the action is great, and experimenting with fusions to get the best creatures and move sets really make this game stand out.    Absolutely brilliant game. Some of the best fun I had on the PS2. This game is like a demonic version of Pokemon *lol* Not to mention the brilliant cameo by DMC's Dante.

    But I will say the game's narrative felt a bit barren, almost non-existent. But still, the action is great, and experimenting with fusions to get the best creatures and move sets really make this game stand out.

    Overall: Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne is a really different kind of game that seems tailor made for Pokemon fans who are looking for something a bit more mature.    … Expand
  2. SnowDay
    Jan 20, 2015
    10
    I don't always review a game with a perfect score, but when I do I love to submerge myself in the sinister atmosphere of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne.
  3. Lognaros
    Sep 29, 2017
    10
    The best rpg of all time, i play a lot of games this year, but nothing can surpass this master piece.
    if you want to play a best game of megaten saga this is yo're game, in the past i was very impressive with persona, but this game show me the true, persona 4 is a normal game, and don't have anything especial, but for this game i meet nocturne, all was worth.
  4. PlutoniumTiger
    Aug 25, 2010
    10
    Completely unrivaled in story, depth, replayability and totally original. Absolutely amazing - there still hasn't been anything quite like it in over half a Decade.
  5. josippekic
    Mar 18, 2015
    9
    Original, bizarre, sometimes even frightful storyline quietly engulfs you into the demonic world of SMT:Nocturne. Once it does, you're about to lost minimum 100 hours.
  6. JosephJ
    Aug 12, 2009
    10
    Simply the greatest RPG for the PS2. Unrivalled depth, unique story-telling and wonderful stylised visuals, not to mention a superb musical score all encompassed in a huge and challenging adventure for the more mature gamer.
  7. TechnologoDoom
    Aug 2, 2011
    8
    So much about SMT:Nocturne is stellar that it's difficult to hold it's weaknesses against it. As is, it's still one of the best PS2 era games in terms of what it has to offer contemporary players new to the series. It certainly does feel like it drags for long periods, despite the fantastic aspects and moments of sheer brilliance peppered throughout. If you don't mind a little drudgery,So much about SMT:Nocturne is stellar that it's difficult to hold it's weaknesses against it. As is, it's still one of the best PS2 era games in terms of what it has to offer contemporary players new to the series. It certainly does feel like it drags for long periods, despite the fantastic aspects and moments of sheer brilliance peppered throughout. If you don't mind a little drudgery, and if your inner demon is screaming, go ahead and pick it up.… Expand
  8. Adonteon
    Dec 1, 2018
    10
    The only real downside is that we never a sequel to this style of Shin Megami Tensei game. I wish they take from the Persona variant and revisit this style.
  9. Simoncino
    Mar 14, 2020
    10
    heh, pretty cool... but pretty hard too!
    feel free to try out smt nocturne! :)
  10. MazinroboX2
    Aug 13, 2016
    9
    Extremely good! Its depth and characters are amazing, and battle mechanics are very good, if you are clever and attack your opponent's weaknesses you earn turns, so you can actually win some of them without getting touched! Also demons are very good, fusing them is very fun although getting the attacks you want might need many tries and you can use multiple different strategies with them.Extremely good! Its depth and characters are amazing, and battle mechanics are very good, if you are clever and attack your opponent's weaknesses you earn turns, so you can actually win some of them without getting touched! Also demons are very good, fusing them is very fun although getting the attacks you want might need many tries and you can use multiple different strategies with them.

    Dungeons are good as well but some of them can prove to be very annoying, with multiple paths and traps on the way. Also there are some enemies with attacks that one shot your characters, so you can easily lose progress and get furious.

    But positives outweigh the negatives heavily! This game doesn't disappoint, you may need to use a walkthrough at some points, but that does not matter.    … Expand
  11. Asterite
    Jul 23, 2020
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The best SMT game in my opinion, One more god rejected, even god fears you. Enough said.… Expand
  12. lidwang
    Jan 8, 2022
    8
    A great experience. The art style is amazing, the ambient and music feel so opressive and agressive that is impossible to feel calm at any moment. And the world you explore is fascinating. Unfortunately this is accompanied by a clunky story and okay gamplay. Battling with demons can be fun but sometimes it moves so slow it gets really tedious, although the bosses are great. The reasonA great experience. The art style is amazing, the ambient and music feel so opressive and agressive that is impossible to feel calm at any moment. And the world you explore is fascinating. Unfortunately this is accompanied by a clunky story and okay gamplay. Battling with demons can be fun but sometimes it moves so slow it gets really tedious, although the bosses are great. The reason heroes are stupidly bland and you don't care about any of them. But besides that it's still is ine of the best jrpgs for the ps2.… Expand
  13. RonsPies
    Jul 20, 2020
    9
    ONE MORE GOD REJECTED -- One of the most unrelenting, unforgiving JRPGs of all time, but also one with an incredibly unique and heavy tone. The themes portrayed in Nocturne are truly spectacular and worth playing for alone, to be honest. A very special game, if an unfair one at times. Bring on the HD Remaster!
  14. Wagneru
    Dec 4, 2016
    10
    This is one of the best RPG games ever made, now is a classic, if you like RPG play it, the atmosphere is awsome, the battle system, the way i got allies, everything is really very good.
  15. death12123
    Dec 18, 2019
    10
    One of the best RPGs you can get to date. The atmosphere, soundtrack and gameplay are all perfect and can be challenging. Possibly some of the best boss fights in the series and overall can make you better at all RPGs.
  16. VidyaBum
    Sep 26, 2015
    8
    What a shame that the level design and general design in this game are so poor, because everything else is amazing.

    The atmosphere is great despite the somewhat cheap graphics, the environments are always another variation of concrete, sewer concrete, building concrete, hangar concrete, yet every place looks different enough that you can recognise it in a glance. The music is damn    What a shame that the level design and general design in this game are so poor, because everything else is amazing.

    The atmosphere is great despite the somewhat cheap graphics, the environments are always another variation of concrete, sewer concrete, building concrete, hangar concrete, yet every place looks different enough that you can recognise it in a glance.

    The music is damn good especially in fights, the story is just excellent and although the characters pretty much only exist as plot devices, they do their job just fine.

    Lastly and unlike the Persona series, the gameplay is fantastic, it's Pokemon done intelligently, with good variety, great possibilities at every fight, a challenge that is about something else than just grinding, and in general it's just very, very very fun for both base foes and bosses.

    This game would be a 10/10 dark RPG if it weren't for its level design and general design.

    While visually the level design ranges from ok to see to plain boring, the level design in a gameplay sense is horrible. I have played Nocturne for some 25h now and I've enjoyed every fight, every boss, everything. Yet I always feel like the game's trying to make me quit enjoying myself with all its damned fetch quests and imprecise directions, which aren't helped by a fairly poor map system.

    Let me walk you through it:

    -You go through a very labyrinthic dungeon where you have to try almost all the corridors and doors to find the boss
    -During the whole dungeon, you are constantly harassed by enemies
    -Because the map is unclear, you'll often explore an area, not find the boss, and then check the map to see if you have any blank spots, and retry every part of the map that doesn't seem to have found an ending, because the map never shows whether an area has been unexplored or if it's a wall and you can't explore further
    -Every dungeon save for the first one has a ton of empty rooms and dead ends

    So it makes dungeon exploring veeeeeeeery tedious. Because the fighting is fun it's ok to be attacked all the time, but when you get overleveled and the enemies offer no threat, or when you've been bumbling around from dead end to dead end for over an hour and you just want it to end, the high encounter rate is aggravating to dungeons that are almost always about finding a key, or a room, or a boss, that finally allows you to move forward.

    And that's just half of it.

    The other half is the world searching. Very very often, maybe every single time after you've finished a dungeon, the game will tell you nothing. Some people offer help and directions, but they don't always do because you won't have lit all the flags you need to. And that's the painful part: when the flags aren't clear, you will be searching every nook and cranny of every area that might have allow you to go forward.

    It's my main reason for putting the game down repeatedly. The tedious dungeons I can deal with even though they get long, but throwing me out on a big, mapless, post-apocalyptic world with no idea where anything is and having to search for the proper person to meet or thing to do is incredibly bad design. I'm constantly trying to get the thing to just move on or find out where I'm supposed to go, directions are always vague, usually a name and a general location to aim towards. The absence of a map and a world literally cut into pieces certainly make it worse.

    In short I really like Nocturne, it's a fun dark RPG with a great gameplay, spirit, atmosphere and tunes, but I cannot overlook just how off-putting the game can get if I'm not using a guide on where to go.    … Expand
  17. SexyTractorDsco
    Nov 20, 2018
    10
    The best entry point into the Megami Tensei series. One of the best JRPGs out there and still holds up to this day.
  18. thehoohgames
    Aug 7, 2019
    10
    One of the hardest and most pleasant to play RPG's ever made. This game deserves more attention.
  19. LadyLarunai
    Dec 3, 2019
    9
    Great game, the story is fantastic making you care about the main characters, the music never gets old, the controls can be a little clunky at times but the combat is smooth and the game never makes it too difficult to understand and never makes things so easy it gets boring.
  20. HitoshuraDF
    Apr 20, 2018
    10
    One of the best RPG games i have ever played
    Great atmosphere and gameplay, this game is why i'm so interested in playing SMT franchise
  21. VendonJura
    Jul 22, 2019
    10
    Shin Megami Tensei Lucifer's Call is an amazing RPG game that I had the chance to play. It is a hard game but it makes allot of fun to play. You can catch demons same as Pokemon and train them, fuse them and much more you even can find the demon Dante from Devil may cry which is epic. This game has to be replayed on PS4 or PC. Hope it will be possible oneday.
  22. EevieRoseAmalee
    Nov 29, 2018
    10
    This is a brilliant game. Very fun game back on the PS2 back in the day that I played coincide with my Final Fantasy. This game is like the demonic version of Final Fantasy.
  23. FateXTenebris
    Nov 30, 2018
    10
    Absolutely stunning game for it's time and worthy of being classified as one of the best Jrpgs of all time right up there with Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Darker in tone than it's more lighthearted cousin Persona series, it creates a chilling atmosphere with an alignment system that will keep you coming back for more. It's innovative press-turn combat system paired with demonAbsolutely stunning game for it's time and worthy of being classified as one of the best Jrpgs of all time right up there with Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Darker in tone than it's more lighthearted cousin Persona series, it creates a chilling atmosphere with an alignment system that will keep you coming back for more. It's innovative press-turn combat system paired with demon interactions makes it feel like a darker version of Pokemon going through a rebellious teen phase. Graphics can be a little muddy sometimes, but when you look at the package at full value, you will find a strange sense of charm there. The soundtrack ranges from the deep atmospheric rock of the map theme to the straight up pleasure that is the town battle theme. All-in-all there is something here for any Jrpg fan to make themselves feel right at home.… Expand
  24. WakeUpJeff
    Jun 8, 2020
    10
    Don't be scared away from this game just because people say it's hard. In reality, it's a game that's only challenging because of how strongly it encourages you to think about every new encounter. If you can put the effort into devising and putting together clever strategies, you'll certainly be able to make it through to the end. Also don't approach the game expecting it to be storyDon't be scared away from this game just because people say it's hard. In reality, it's a game that's only challenging because of how strongly it encourages you to think about every new encounter. If you can put the effort into devising and putting together clever strategies, you'll certainly be able to make it through to the end. Also don't approach the game expecting it to be story based. The story present is very effective at what it tries to convey, but i should make it clear that, while it is the star of the show in it's own right, the focus is still on the gameplay.… Expand
  25. shootingstars99
    Aug 13, 2019
    8
    A neat SMT game, and a nice break from the high school angst fest which is Persona. The plot seems loosely based on the book of Revelation in the Bible, and has many religious undertones from many major religions in it's dialogue, enemies and environment. It was dark, empty and eerie feeling, which is pretty unique compared to the formulaic, "spikey haired boy with sword and healer girlA neat SMT game, and a nice break from the high school angst fest which is Persona. The plot seems loosely based on the book of Revelation in the Bible, and has many religious undertones from many major religions in it's dialogue, enemies and environment. It was dark, empty and eerie feeling, which is pretty unique compared to the formulaic, "spikey haired boy with sword and healer girl head off to fight a bad guy that is identified at the beginning of the game". The plot is more driven by the situation rather than the characters, so I understand why it isn't an instant hit with the droves of Persona fans. The combat is mostly standard turn based fare, which if it ain't broke, don't fix it. It's a unique experience on the PS2, not the best RPG on the console, but a top 10 contender for sure.… Expand
  26. CleopatrainCali
    Jul 16, 2019
    10
    Masterpiece. That is the only word that comes to mind when I think of Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne. The best RPG of all time.
  27. tenacious_K
    Oct 24, 2019
    9
    A criminally overlooked game on one of the greatest consoles. At the time this was released it received an MA rating, and back in 2004 this meant you'd see gore and/or profane dialog, however this earned it by means of being a truly mature game with adult themes without the above mentioned reasons for receiving the MA rating. At the time I was truly impressed with how smart of a gameA criminally overlooked game on one of the greatest consoles. At the time this was released it received an MA rating, and back in 2004 this meant you'd see gore and/or profane dialog, however this earned it by means of being a truly mature game with adult themes without the above mentioned reasons for receiving the MA rating. At the time I was truly impressed with how smart of a game this was (at first, knowing nothing about the series at the time, I thought this was some Pokemon knockoff) and was impressed with how you can make meaningful decisions which would have a lasting impact on your experience. The battle system may seem slow by today's standards however it involves though and preparation, your charter (a typical silent protagonist) can be customized to adjust what he is strong and weak against, and your party is made up or daemons you have recruited, making party selection matter as for example you may be in an area where enemies are constantly using zio (an electric based spell) but you can customize everything in your party to work with that. As for recruiting daemons, it is far more complicated than throwing a ball at them, you initiate a dialog with the desired daemon then, assuming your character is at the appropriate level, you will have to answer a series of at times hilarious and always ridiculous questions from them, there seems to be no right or wrong answer you can give them as their responses differ each time and this makes for a interesting player decisions, should I lend this daemon the item their asking for and risk them just walking away (which they sometimes will) or not and attempt to intimidate them into joining my party. These layers can make recruitment a process and to add on to that you have fusion. As stated before this is not Pokemon, you are not going to keep the first daemon you recruited till the end of the game, instead you're going to more than likely fuse it with another daemon to get one that is more powerful. Fusion is rather fun and you keep a record of all the daemons you have recruited and for a cost you can recall these daemons when needed, which is especially useful for the fusion process. The world in which you find these daemons is huge, especially by 2004 standards, the over world map is kind of bland but this is forgiven with the usage of real life locations in interesting ways, traveling around the waste land of Tokyo and seeing how the city is re-purposed is a treat. The story is what really earned this game it's now overly mentioned MA rating, and if nothing else it has balls. Within 20 minutes into the game you witness the end of the world, your character forcibly transformed into a half daemon, and even literally make a deal with the devil. As for the graphics, to me they're ageless. Much like Zelda: Wind Waker the cell shaded graphics still hold up today and will more than likely continue to hold up in the years to come. The music outside of battle may be the low point, but that battle music is really good, I'm kinda embarrassed to admit that when getting into a boss battle I still get reved up for the fight by that music, so that definitely gets a pass. To this day I'll still on occasion boot up the PS3 (I purchased it again when it was digitally re-released on the console as a PS2 classic) and find a new ending or how some small dialog choice will effect the game, making the game still perfect in my eyes.… Expand
  28. Ghost7100
    Nov 2, 2019
    10
    Art style & story & soundtrack are unrivaled, & most importantly the gameplay which is fantastic, the gameplay mechanics are excellent & leveling up just feels right & it gets really addicting & it's at times very challenging but fair (except for a certain boss fight that is kinda of **** & it's one of the game's few flaws) & the level design is sometimes really annoying & it's way tooArt style & story & soundtrack are unrivaled, & most importantly the gameplay which is fantastic, the gameplay mechanics are excellent & leveling up just feels right & it gets really addicting & it's at times very challenging but fair (except for a certain boss fight that is kinda of **** & it's one of the game's few flaws) & the level design is sometimes really annoying & it's way too cryptic at times, although the good things about it outweighs the bad by quite a lot & it's easily one of my favorite jrpgs, it's a must play!… Expand
  29. Cafe_8bits
    Aug 26, 2020
    10
    One of the most unique and crazy experiences i had with JRPGs. Probably one of the most challenging games i ever played.
    Its not for everyone, but its a masterpiece. Its dungeons are amazing, the atmosphere, the plot, endings, game systems, everything.
  30. brunoscheibel
    Jan 18, 2020
    9
    I'm a big fan of the MegaTen series, and this game was one of the few i didn't already finished.
    Well, i't was a hell of a ride, the game exceeded everything i thought, the story is incredible, i really like the theme of wandering the destroyed Tokyo while learning about the reasons of the few humans alive.
    The gameplay is the classic megaten press turn style, a formula that succeeded in    I'm a big fan of the MegaTen series, and this game was one of the few i didn't already finished.
    Well, i't was a hell of a ride, the game exceeded everything i thought, the story is incredible, i really like the theme of wandering the destroyed Tokyo while learning about the reasons of the few humans alive.
    The gameplay is the classic megaten press turn style, a formula that succeeded in most games of the saga, and this one isn't a exception.
    For me the best thing on this game and in the megaten series as a whole are obviously the demons, each having an inspiration from a mythology, religion, folklore or story, the incredible designs made by Kazuma Kaneko really flash out in this game.

    It's in fact a necessary game to play if you are a JRPG fan like me, don't let it pass through your radar, you surely will be impressed by the sheer amount of things and stories to unfold here.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

37
#37 Best PS2 Game of 2004
17
#17 Most Discussed PS2 Game of 2004
8
#8 Most Shared PS2 Game of 2004

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
82

Generally favorable reviews - based on 42 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 36 out of 42
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 42
  3. Negative: 0 out of 42
  1. BonusStage
    89
    One of the best and most refreshing console RPGs to come out in years, and is definitely a worthy candidate for RPG of the year.
    Read full review
  2. GameSpy
    70
    Most of the gameplay aspects are solid, the graphics are beautiful, and the quest is long. However, the relative lack of narrative elements prevented me from truly enjoying the wonderfully bizarre world Atlus has created.
    Read full review
  3. G4 TV
    100
    Behind the cool art and bizarre story is a fun, addictive and challenging RPG with great gameplay systems and a lot more variety and choice than most of today’s, cinema-heavy RPGs. Games rarely stray this far off the beaten path and actually work out so well, making Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne a must for the adventurous RPG fan.
    Read full review
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