Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor cover art

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor

Tactics-grid SMT spinoff where seven days of demon team optimization decide Tokyo's lockdown.

Here's the argument for where this game sits - disagree freely.
Match your experience?
EXECUTION1 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE3 /10OPTIMIZATION9 /10

the cheat-test profile

The four axes - the argument

Each axis is rated on its own - how far one cheat would trivialize the game here. They don't trade off; low on all four means the game is an experience, not a contest.

  1. Execution

    cheat: Aimbot - perfect inputs

    1/10

    Grid tactics plus menu skirmishes; no dexterity.

  2. Reads

    cheat: Out-predict an adaptive opponent

    0/10

    Enemy AI is exploitable and fixed.

  3. Variance

    cheat: See what's hidden / map the RNG

    3/10

    Skill crack targets and auction RNG add light noise.

  4. Optimization

    cheat: A perfect solver / coach

    9/10

    Team builds, skill cracking, and turn routing are deeply solvable.

How to read this

Each axis is named by the cheat that would break the game along it. Execution is the hands. Reads is out-thinking an adaptive opponent. Variance is hidden information & RNG. Optimization is the solvable systems layer. A game's region is the top one or two axes.

These four aren't one rating split four ways - they're independent 0-10 questions. A 9 on one axis takes nothing from the others, and a game low on all four isn't missing data: it's telling you there's no skill here to cheat.

The basis is how the majority actually plays this game - not a niche mode or a personal run. For a game with very different modes (a story campaign versus ranked multiplayer), that's the version most people mean.

Compare with

Similar games

see all →

Ranked by shared genre first, then by how closely the cheat-test profile matches - a cross-genre tag means a pick matched on skill profile alone.

SimCity 4 cover art

SimCity 4

Pure Optimization · city builder

E
R
V
O
SimCity 4
Banished cover art

Banished

Pure Optimization · village survival builder

E
R
V
O
Banished
Stardew Valley cover art

Stardew Valley

Pure Optimization · farming life sim

E
R
V
O
Stardew Valley
Persona 5 cover art

Persona 5

Pure Optimization · social sim JRPG

E
R
V
O
Persona 5
Final Fantasy X cover art

Final Fantasy X

Pure Optimization · turn-based RPG

E
R
V
O
Final Fantasy X
Plants vs. Zombies cover art

Plants vs. Zombies

Pure Optimization · tower defense

E
R
V
O
Plants vs. Zombies

Game details

Released
2009
Developer
Atlus
Franchise
Megami Tensei
Platforms
3DS, NDS
Modes
Single player
IGDB critics
90/100
IGDB users
77/100
Role-playing (RPG)StrategyTacticalVisual NovelHorror