In an announcement this morning, October 23, developer Atlus revealed the newest mainline entry in their seminal RPG series. Shin Megami Tensei V is coming in 2018—and it will be exclusive to the Nintendo Switch.
Questions over what the live announcement this morning would be—which included remasters of the old titles or potentially a new Persona—were put to rest as soon as the stream began. At the beginning of this year, Atlus launched 25th-anniversary event for the Shin Megami Tensei series with a logo that hinted heavily at a new major installment. When the stream kicked off with a montage of all the previous main series games and their year of release, Shin Megami Tensei V was all but confirmed.
It would have been enough just to see the first fleeting glimpses of the game—which looks beautiful in Unreal Engine 4—but the real bombshell is the Switch exclusivity for the upcoming project. With Persona living happily on Sony consoles, it looks like Atlus is set to keep Shin Megami Tensei proper with Nintendo. It certainly fits in with the legacy—the series began on the Famicom, and the last three games have been exclusive to the 3DS.
For now, that’s all we know about Shin Megami Tensei V. Look for a set release date and finalized name within the coming months.