Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey (2009). Play online

Summary

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey (often just called Strange Journey) makes full use of the DS’s two screens, showing the 3D labyrinth of the Schwarzwelt on top while a constantly updating 2‑D map lives below. As you navigate pits, shifting floors, and lethal tiles, the upgradeable Demonica suit opens sealed doors and reveals hidden pathways, encouraging careful exploration.

Combat follows a derivative of the series’ famous Press Turn system, now dubbed the Demon Co‑op System, where allied demons can chain into weak‑point attacks for unblockable damage. Over 300 demons drawn from global mythologies can be negotiated with—bribed, scared, or recruited—and later fused to inherit their parents’ skills, all while two alignment axes (light/neutral/dark and law/neutral/chaos) and an eight‑phase Moon Cycle shape demon behavior. Fusion codes let friends exchange creations, and Shoji Meguro’s soundtrack blends militaristic brass, Gregorian chant, and ambient minimalism to underscore the sci‑fi trek.

Storyline

Strange Journey is set in the early 21st‑century Antarctic region, where an atomic collapse at the South Pole creates the Schwarzwelt, a black void that devours anything and threatens Earth.
The UN forms a task force and sends the amphibious ship Red Sprite, crewed by a nameless operative, Commander Gore, soldier Jimenez, scientist Zelenin, AI Arthur, angel Mastema, mother goddess Mem Aleph, and Lucifer’s avatar Louisa Ferre.
After entering the Schwarzwelt the other vessels are lost, Gore dies, and Arthur takes command. The crew learns Mem Aleph birthed the void to punish humanity, while Mastema seeks a divine utopia. Cosmic Eggs can reshape reality when fused with the void’s core.
Players choose Law, Chaos, or Neutral. Law allies with Zelenin and Mastema, defeats Jimenez and Mem Aleph, and creates an ordered world that removes free will. Chaos sides with Jimenez and Mem Aleph, defeats the others, and forms a primal coexistence of humans and demons. Neutral rejects both, follows Gore’s plan to destroy the Schwarzwelt, and escapes as Arthur sacrifices himself, though the void may return if humanity repeats its sins.