The world of Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga is one of endless war, where race, religion and nationality mean nothing and where soldiers fight not for nations or politics, but for release from their cannibalistic urges. However, despite this savage setting, Digital Devil Saga might just be the most empowering of developer Atlus‘ many RPGs. While only modestly successful upon release, the duology remains one of the most brilliantly original RPGs ever made. It’s not a classic like Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne or as influential as Persona, but it’s still an incredibly meaningful work of science-fiction.
With gameplay best described as a “Greatest Hits” of developer Atlus’ mechanics and a story that strikes the balance between personal drama and apocalyptic horror, DDS is the rare kind of RPG that achieves maturity without sacrificing depth. Beginning in the Junkyard, a lifeless warzone where tribes of emotionless soldiers battle for supremacy, the game’s characters succumb to a mysterious virus after the appearance of a mysterious girl named Sera. This infects them with demonic alter egos, which can only be held at bay by devouring other beings. Worse still, this plague blights its victims with something even more frightening than a taste for living flesh: human emotions.
This hunger manifests as a critical game mechanic. Digital Devil Saga reuses Nocturne‘s press-turn battle system, but also introduces “Hunt” skills to devour weakened foes with. Starving characters may lose turns or go berserk from hunger, but those who feed can upgrade their abilities faster. It’s a particularly dark take on character progression, but it makes sense for the story. Plus, the freedom to change abilities in-between battles is a welcome quality-of-life feature that allows more freedom of experimentation than Nocturne without defanging the game. In fact, DDS is home to some of Shin Megami Tensei‘s most infamous boss fights.
Mirroring the player’s gradual growth, each character achieves demonhood early, but their emotions develop gradually throughout the story. For instance, the sniper Argilla’s first feeling is empathy, leading to a struggle to reconcile her newfound compassion with the physical need to consume others. Meanwhile, the tactician Gale takes far longer to awaken, but when he does, his feelings result in an explosive outburst. In the hands of lesser developers, this setup would seem bleak at best and tastelessly edgy at worst. However, Atlus surprisingly leads the game in the opposite direction.
Because DDS begins with its characters at their lowest, scrappiest points, they can only ever get better. The Junkyard’s warriors begin with a violent, objectivist code of ethics that demands the weak submit to the strong. However, as their emotions develop, DDS‘s heroes start to question this mentality, accepting the harshness of their world while seeking an escape from it. The result is a game with such a well-developed cast that a once-violent thug can make an uplifting friendship speech without a single line sounding out-of-character.
On top of its great setting, DDS also benefits from writing that was ahead of its time. Much of it critiques toxic masculinity long before that idea was fully codified though the bruiser Heat, who first awakens to rage. This makes him incapable of expression without violence, which in turn makes his feelings towards Sera appear more dangerous than they truly are, creating tension with his friends. However, while DDS condemns Heat’s behavior, it also recognizes that he never had the chance to be anything but a brute, something that resonates with Sera’s own feelings of powerlessness. Without excusing toxic masculinity, DDS make the hopeful case that such men can be redeemed if they make the effort.
On the topic of gender, DDS sets itself apart from other RPGs by having a predominantly female cast of villains. While most of the lesser bosses are male, there’s no doubt that women run this world — and their methods can be every bit as brutal as those of their male counterparts. In fact, it’s arguably because of the extremes these women go to that the world is so divided between two ideologies that spiritually descend from SMT‘s classic Law and Chaos alignments.
Jenna Angel, the closest thing the games have to a main antagonist, is a classic evil mastermind. Believing that human society has effectively ended, she embraces demonhood, welcoming the end of the old world as a new one takes its place. Opposing her is a more conservative faction led by Madame Cuvier. Seeking to preserve what remains of humanity, she attempts to use her monolithic wealth to keep law and order, regulating food and using loyal demons to control the rest. While they aren’t as well-developed as the heroes, their arguments aren’t entirely without merit in the apocalyptic world of DDS, making the party’s need to find a third solution feel all the more pressing.
While its villains aren’t as well-developed as those from other Atlus games, DDS‘ story has a great sense of pace and escalation. The war for the Junkyard starts simple, but grows more dangerous as its mysteries are revealed. By the time of the second game, all bets are off. The world is unfamiliar, long-time loyalties are broken and the story’s existential anxieties have exploded into full-blown cosmic horror. Yet, despite this constant terror, the protagonists are constantly rising to the challenge of earning one of SMT‘s few truly hopeful conclusions.
Digital Devil Saga will probably never be as popular as Nocturne or Persona, but it’s still an excellent work of sci-fi that’s more than worthy of a modern port. While its dark tone and aesthetic aren’t for everyone, those hungry for an RPG about something other than destined teenagers should look no further. It would certainly be a shame for an experience this unique to remain overlooked. After all, what other game starts with a boss fight against an armless pyrokinetic zebra?
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