Play Order
0 / 8 playedEight mainline games in release order.
About Shin Megami Tensei
Shin Megami Tensei began on Super Famicom in 1992 with demon fusion and alignment choices in a ruined Tokyo. SMT II from 1994 widened that world, Nocturne from 2003 brought press turn combat, Strange Journey from 2009 moved to Antarctica, and IV and Apocalypse from 2013 and 2016 refined it on 3DS. V from 2021 and Vengeance from 2024 form the current peak on Switch and modern platforms.
Play in release order, but new players can start at Nocturne HD, IV or Vengeance without losing plot. Each mainline story resets its cast, so order is about mechanics rather than lore. Persona and other spinoffs sit outside this list.
Good to know
Skip the spinoffs here: If, Nine, Imagine, Devil Summoner and Persona are separate lines. Strange Journey Redux from 2017 is the version to buy over the 2009 DS original. Vengeance is the definitive V with two routes, Canon of Creation and Canon of Vengeance, so owners of V should move straight to it.
