Atlus has released ‘News Report Vol 2’ for Shin Megami Tensei V which highlights new characters and mechanics first seen in the Bethel Trailer released last week.

Shin Megami Tensei V’s New Characters

Three New Characters Have been Added to Shin Megami Tensei V’s character page

Shohei Yakumo

A demon hunter whose motives are unknown but seemingly opposes the government organization Bethel and works with Nuwa. He describes himself as one who “hunts all demons”.

A lot of people thought this guy would be connected to Raidou Kuzunoha at first but that seems to not be the case. I’d still maintain that he seem to be a sort of rival character similar to Dante/Raidou in Nocturne who may turn ally depending on what route you take.

Nuwa

A Chinese goddess who has been working with Yakumo since he was young towards a certain goal. She seems to oppose Bethel. The first time we meet Nuwa is her strutting over a room full of angel corpses before attacking the protagonist.

She is a ‘lady’ demon who are traditionally chaos-aligned. In Chinese myths, she created humans and animals which reminds me of the chaos-aligned Mother faction on SMT Strange Journey. Perhaps she’ll have similar goals to them but that is yet to be seen. She also has a brother/husband called Fuxi and considering SMT’s theme of reincarnated gods, I wouldn’t be surprised if Yakumo has some connection to him considering they’ve known each other since he was young.

Abdiel

Bethel’s Angel Commander. Needless to say, she is a law-aligned character and firmly devoted to God.

Abdiel in myths is actually male but here portrayed as female, similar to how Gabriel is portrayed in SMT. In Paradise Lost, He condemns Satan for his revolt against God and later smites him and Arioch. Previous trailers have shown the protagonist reading Paradise Lost and there is a seeming confrontation between her angels and Lucifer in front of Tokyo Tower where the latter seemingly dies. Perhaps, her role in this game will parallel the one in Paradise lost.

We’ve also got new HD renders of Sophia, the woman that runs the Cathedral of Shadows, and Rougarou a french werewolf.

Shin Megami Tensei V’s characters are certainly well and will likely lead to some interesting turns in the game.

New Gameplay

In terms of New gameplay mechanics when exploring SMT’s world of the Daat, players will find ‘essences’. These are spiritual entities that have the power of demons within them. Each is unique to a demon and they can be fused with the protagonist for new skills and abilities. They basically sound like this game’s version of Magatama.

The protagonist can also find a resource called ‘Glory’ through fulfilling certain conditions. Glory can be used to learn “Miracles,” powerful abilities which in certain conditions can alter reality.

Shin Megami Tensei V will be available for Nintendo Switch on November 12th.

Shin Megami Tensei V

Publisher: Atlus

Developer: Atlus

Release Date: 2021-11-11

Nintendo Switch

The ambitions of god and humans clash amidst the horror of a dying world. Neither human nor demon, the newly-forged Nahobino and his friends must decide what is worth saving... and prepare to sacrifice everything in its name. In a world without its Creator, which path will you choose?