Devil Survivor

Megami Ibunroku Devil Survivor, released in North America as Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor, is a role-playing game for the Nintendo DS developed by Career Soft.

An enhanced port was released for the 3DS on August 23, 2011, titled Devil Survivor Overclocked. A novelization was released in two parts as the Devil Survivor Novel Anthology.

Its character designs are handled by Suzuhito Yasuda of ' and ' fame. The theme song for the game is "Reset."

Day Before An End to the Ordinary
Devil Survivor is set in modern-day Tokyo. One day, the protagonist, a 17 year-old student, finds that he and his two friends, Atsuro Kihara, a computer hacker, and Yuzu Tanikawa, a spirited fighter, have been given modified electronic devices called COMPs by his older cousin Naoya. Atsuro finds that the menu for the COMPs are different from his own back home. After a thorough investigation of the COMPs received from Naoya, Atsuro accidentally activates a program that summons demons. After fending off the demons released from the COMPs, the protagonist, Yuzu, and Atsuro debate on keeping the COMPs. Though Yuzu put up a reasonable argument, they remember Naoya saying they would need them, so they decide to go look for him to get some questions answered. However Naoya tells them to go to Minato-ku Aoyama cemetery, for he said they would meet a person who would influence their future actions.

1st Day: Tokyo Lockdown
As they are exploring their purpose, an outbreak of demons occurs within Tokyo, and a large city area is quarantined by the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces, deny power, communications, and food to those trapped within it; the chaotic situation created vigilantes of those trapped who try to take it on themselves to fight the demons or even on weaker humans. The protagonist and his friends discover their COMPs allow them to summon helpful demons to fight the aggressive ones, allowing them to survive the attacks. The protagonist also finds he has the ability to see a person's "death clock", representing how many days a person will have left to live. While he uses it to help himself and his friends to change their own fate, the protagonist realizes that everyone within the quarantine will die within seven days.

2nd Day: Any Way Out
As they try to learn the mystery of the lockdown, they encounter several playable character allies: Keisuke Takagi, Atsuro's school friend who has a strong sense of justice; Midori Komaki, a cosplay idol, personifying her role in protecting the innocent from demons; Eiji Kamiya, or "Gin", the manager of a local live music bar; Tadashi Nikaido, or "Kaido", the charismatic leader of the street gang, the "Shibuya Daemons"; Mari Mochizuki, an elementary school tutor seeking the demon that killed her lover; Misaki Izuna, a military officer overseeing the quarantine; Amane Kuzuryu, the daughter of the leader of the Shomonkai, a religious cult that seems to be behind the demon outbreak; and Black Frost, a demon that helps other weaker demons from ruthless human attacks after being saved by Midori. Other allies include: Yoshino Harusawa, or Haru, a singer who believes her song was responsible for the demon outbreak; Yasuyuki Honda, a company man trapped in the quarantine while his son, outside it, is undergoing a serious operation; and Shoji, a female journalist that had been investigating the events leading to the quarantine before it started.

3rd Day: Beldr
The Japanese government had been aware of this event for years, and had enacted the PSE Law as a safeguard, which embedded remote-controlled electromagnetic devices in every consumer electronics; if the demon outbreak cannot be not stopped, the government can use these devices at the last moment to destroy all living things within the quarantine, human and demon alike.

5th Day: Revelations
Through their investigation, the protagonist and his allies find that the demon outbreak is a result of a planned battle between angels and demons, as a measure to judge the worthiness of mankind. If, after seven days, the demons are not stopped, the angels will destroy mankind. As the plot goes on, the protagonist unintentionally involves himself in the battle for the Throne of Bel, making him a target for all other demons that are in competition with him.

6th Day: The Decisive Moment
Depending on the path players take, the protagonist comes to learn that Naoya and himself are the reincarnations of the biblical Cain and Abel, respectively. Naoya worked with the Shomonkai to create the programs to summon demons to bring about this event, initially through the keyboard used by Aya, one of Haru's band members. The Shomonkai sought to bring the king of demons Belberith to the world in order for the demons to win the battle, and Naoya required the protagonist and his friends to survive long enough for this event to happen.

Numerous choices made by the player will affect his friends and allies, and there are several endings to the game, which include whether the player's goal is to simply escape the quarantine or to prevent the demon uprising. The latter can be accomplished several ways, including controlling demons as the Messiah, controlling demons as the Lord of Bel, controlling demons for humanity's sake, or erasing demons from Earth altogether.

Excluding "Desperate Escape", all endings will require the player to defeat the remaining three of the Four Devas, and Jezebel (Who is also excluded in "Silent Revolution"), as well as the demons Beelzebub, Belberith, and Babel.

Desperate Escape
The Desperate Escape ending is triggered when the player chooses to talk to Yuzu at the end of the sixth day, or if the player fails to save Haru. The player will have to defeat Gigolo, who is revealed to be the demon Loki, and finally defeat the angels who are led by Amane and Izuna. The escape succeeds, but Honda's son dies and Honda reveals that all COMP users now have free reign over the world, creating a world of chaos where the strong rule. In the Overclocked remake, the escape caused the protagonist, Yuzu, and Atsuro to be branded as fugitives, and their families are taken into custody by the SDF, leading the three to return to the lockdown.

Returning to the lockdown, the government decides to cut ties with the angels and then Metatron declares that God has forsaken humanity, leaving them to handle the demon outbreak by themselves. To clear their names, the protagonist and the party negotiate with the SDF to release their families by killing Belzaboul and Belberith and capture the Shomonkai founder. The ending depends whether you complete the side quest of restoring the barrier with the four Devas or not. If the barrier is restored, the demons are barred from entering Tokyo and the party works with the government to get rid of all of the remaining demons. If the barrier is not restored, humanity is locked in eternal war against demons.

King of Demons
King of Demons ending is triggered when you choose to talk to Naoya at the end of the sixth day. Choosing this path will cause Yuzu, Midori, and Keisuke to leave your party, but you will be joined by Naoya and Kaido. You receive word that the deadline for the government's final option has been moved up to noon; Naoya negotiates with Fushimi and successfully convinces him to move the deadline back two hours. You have to defeat Jezebel, one of Belberith's servants and is residing in Amane, by connecting a COMP to Amane's mind. After subduing the Remiel and the Shomonkai members guarding Amane and defeating Jezebel, the party proceeds to the Hills building, where they are confronted by Anael, Sariel, and Beelzebub. Following these battles, the party ascends the building and faces Belberith and Babel.

The protagonist gains the power of the King of Bel, and all over the city people are left fearing for the future as he rallies the demons to prepare for a war with God. In the Overclocked, during the eighth day, Metatron orders for everyone in the lockdown to kill the protagonist with a promise they will lift the lockdown once the King of Bel is killed. Naoya gives you two options: kill only the angels and convince people in the lockdown that the angels are the true enemies, or kill anyone who gets in their way.
 * Should the player choose the first option, the people in the lockdown will eventually realize that the angels are the threat.
 * Should the player choose the second option, the people in the lockdown will become afraid of the Protagonist, and blindly follow him out of fear.

Kingdom of Saints
Kingdom of Saints ending is triggered when you choose Amane's route at the end of the sixth day. After you've defeated the Four Devas and Belberith you summon Babel. After you've defeated it you become the King of Bel then the Messiah. In the Overclocked remake, during the eighth day you fight Honda who is crazed because his son died. His anger summons Susanoo the guardian deity of Japan.

After you've defeated Honda, Okuninushi, the creator of Japan, appears and challenges the protagonist to convince the first murderer in history, Cain, who is now reincarnated as Naoya to forgive God or he will destroy the country and rebuild it anew. In the end, the protagonist and Naoya team up to defeat Okuninushi. After that the lockdown is lifted and the protagonist will continue his duty as the Messiah, judging people for their sins and having them live pure lives out of the devotion of God. When this path is over you can fuse Metatron in the Cathedral of Shadows.

Silent Revolution
Silent Revolution ending is triggered when you talk to Atsuro at the end of the sixth day. You must defeat Naoya who will agree to change the server. You will not fight Jezebel in this route because Amane will explain that Jezebel has suddenly disappeared (implying that she either ran away, or was killed by Belberith). You will then fight Belberith and summon Babel. Defeating Babel will allow you to command it to operate based on the new server, which will allow only selected forces, such as the military, police, or government, to control the demons.

Song of Hope
Song of Hope ending is triggered when you talk to Gin at the end of the sixth day. After defeating the Four Devas and Belberith, you must protect Haru and control Atsuro so that both will reach the server and summon Babel. Defeating Babel's first form will send the demons back into the demon world, making them unusable when battling Babel's second form. If the player has succeeded in recruiting Black Frost in this ending, then Black Frost will disappear as well. The demons and angels both leave, the incident is covered up as hallucinations caused by gas leaks, and the COMPs stop working.

Early Bad Ending
Also known as the Honda false ending, this is one of six possible endings. However, it is not a true ending, more akin to a nonstandard game over — it does not allow access to New Game + mode and at the end the game acts as if the player failed a required objective.

On this route, the protagonist discovers Honda and three other civilians approaching a seemingly undefended segment of the lockdown wall, having just observed a demon slay the last SDF member guarding the wall. Upon approaching the empty space, angels appear, killing two of the civilians outright and threatening the others.

Upon seeing this, the player has three options — support the demons, support the angels, or support humanity. Picking the earlier two requires the player to attack the other side, then defeat and destroy the civilian's COMPs to prevent them from getting themselves killed. Picking the third allows the player to attack both the angels and the demons at the same time, though this strangely does not affect whether the player has a better chance at getting Naoya's or Amane's ending.

Midway through the battle, Honda and the civilian decide to take this opportunity to escape, and the player can choose to do so as well. However, immediately upon exiting the area, a strange lightning storm appears over the lockdown — the Angels have declared the lockdown a failure, and have decided to kill everyone inside. Worse still, they have declared humanity to be in default of their responsibilities as children of God, and an Angelic army flies out to enslave the world. Anyone not sufficiently subservient is killed outright, and the remainder are stripped of their free will.

The game then acts as if the player lost a battle — "Mission Failed" — and sends the player back to the load game screen.

If neither the player nor the civilians escape, the ending is averted. When this happens, SDF soldiers appear to defend the wall, and the protagonist's party (along with any surviving civilian on the scene) promptly leaves before they are attacked.

Characters

 * Protagonist - Referred to as the Hero, he is the main character of the story. His personality is shaped through the player's decisions.
 * Yuzu Tanikawa - The protagonist's childhood friend since elementary school, who struggles to deal with the strain of constant danger and wishes to run away from it all.
 * Atsuro Kihara - The protagonist's computer-savvy childhood friend. Although a genius, he hardly has a studious personality and is very gregarious. He wishes to control the demons, erasing their threat and benefiting mankind.
 * Midori Komaki - A famous and excitable cosplayer whose alias is Dolly. After receiving a COMP, she strives to save everyone from the demons, claiming that she is Magical Dolly, who administers magical punishment to demons.
 * Keisuke Takagi - Atsuro's old friend from middle school. Although he appears timid, he has a strong sense of justice and righteousness, almost to a fault when he summoned Yama, the judge of the underworld.
 * Yoshino Harusawa - Also known as Haru, she is a famous singer who was previously in the band D-VA. She appears depressed and tends to rant because of her outlook on life.
 * Mari Mochizuki - Atsuro's kind and caring tutor from middle school, who is now an elementary school nurse. She is looking for the killer who murdered her lover and teamed up with a vampire slayer named Kresnik.
 * Amane Kuzuryu - The mysterious yet charismatic maiden of the Shomonkai. She is one of the few people who can summon demons without a COMP. She shares her goals with an angel named Remiel who lives inside her.
 * Tadashi Nikaido - Known as Kaido, he is the leader of a gang called the Shibuya Daemons. Although he appears intimidating, he is known to be quite helpful. He strives for world domination and has a lingering crush on Mari.
 * Eiji Kamiya - Also known as Gin, he is the owner of a bar called "Eiji" and acts as a guardian to Haru. He used to be uncaring about life, but met Aya, the lead singer of D-VA, and cared more. Gin continues to search for Aya, who went missing.
 * Naoya - The protagonist's cousin, who lived with the protagonist until a few years before the story. He wrote the Demon Summoning Program. He wishes for the protagonist to become the King of Bel and rebel against God.
 * Yasuyuki Honda - An office worker who is trying to escape the lockdown so he can be by his son's side during his operation. He teams up with Kaido during battles.
 * Misaki Izuna - A member of a special government unit that is attempting to rid all the demons. She values her mission above all else and does not believe that the government's solution is just.
 * Shoji - A journalist who occasionally meets the protagonist and his friends. She is adept at gathering information. Her mentor was a friend of 10BIT, Atsuro's internet friend.

Gameplay
Devil Survivor can be described as one part visual novel, one part tactical RPG. Most of the story takes place by the player selecting events from a map, with an in-game clock dictating how much "time" is left to make decisions. Naturally, most of the plot-critical or character-focused events consume time, with 30 in-game minutes consumed per event. The player's choices throughout the game will influence when certain events can be accessed, and for how long, ultimately influencing the outcome of the plot.

Battles
Battles occur on a grid-based map. However, the player must first dispatch up to 4 teams of (up to) three, each containing one leader and up to two demons. Prior to dispatching, the player has the opportunity to view the enemies on the field (and their skills and elemental affinities) and customize teams to best combat them.

Then, each team on both sides takes turns moving and attacking any teams in range. A move bar is displayed for the team that's taking their turn - each action the team does, be it attacking, moving, or using out-of-battle skills, will consume more of the bar, increasing the time the team needs to wait for their next turn. Teams that get attacked will also have their next turns delayed.

Combat uses the Extra Turn Battle system, similar to many other games in the Shin Megami Tensei series. However, the Extra Turn does not take effect immediately once earned - the combatant has to wait for all combatants to have acted before they can use it. Once combat begins, certain participating combatants may already have "Extra Turn" displayed, depending on combat initiative. Hitting weaknesses or getting critical hits thus not only earns the combatant an Extra Turn, but may also deprive enemies of their own Extra Turns. Likewise, having attacks resisted, nullified, absorbed, or reflected will rob your own Extra Turns and/or grant them to enemy combatants. No more than one Extra Turn can be obtained during combat.

Teams consist of the team leader positioned in the center, and members flanking the leader. The leader takes less damage than the members, but if the team leader is defeated, combat ends immediately and the leader's team is removed from the map. However, this also halves EXP and Macca earned from team members that are still alive. Likewise, reviving the team leader will replace the team on the battlefield, along with any members that were still alive.

Demon Fusion
Fusing of demons is significantly different compared to other Shin Megami Tensei games as well. Each demon can only learn up to three Command and three Passive Skills, rather than up to eight different skills in other games. In exchange for reduced flexibility, the player is able to control the skills passed on to demons during fusion. However, inherited skills can only be placed in empty skill slots, as preset or learnt skills cannot be overwritten. Certain demons are also Unique, which means that the player can only have one copy of said demon at any one time, and would need to fuse it off if another one were to be made.

Macca Bonus
After the system is introduced, the player can receive bonuses or penalties to earn Macca depending on how well they performed in battle. Stealing Extra Turns and defeating multiple enemies in a single move, for example, increases earned Macca, while hitting enemy immunities and taking casualties in combat decreases it.

Routes
Routes are, for the most part, only found in the Devil Survivor games. While other Megami Tensei games do have various endings, Devil Survivor is the only series to refer to their endings as routes. Routes are various paths that you can choose to take at the climax of the games. Certain routes will be open or closed depending on the actions that you make throughout the game. Unlike most other Megami Tensei games, the routes you can take do not depend on your alignment, but instead depend on whether the route will be possible within the context of what has happened and whether the route's character likes you or not.

Reception
Devil Survivor has received mostly positive reviews praising its unique gameplay, intriguing story with suspense and meaningful decisions and high variety of character customization.