Digital Devil Saga

In the Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga role-playing games, players take control of the characters Serph, Heat, Argilla, Gale and Cielo, with the characters Sera and Roland becoming playable in Digital Devil Saga 2. These characters are able to transform into a demon form, which is their main form in battle. Characters navigate to-scale environments, fighting enemies in both random encounters and story-focused boss battles. After each battle, experience points are awarded to characters.

Character abilities are governed by Mantra Grids, a system where Mantras are bought using the in-game currency Macca, then mastering them using Atma Points gained from defeated enemies. The maximum number of abilities that a character can equip at a time is eight. If two or more characters equip a certain ability, they can perform a stronger version of it through a combo. Each character can learn abilities from one of four categories: Physical, Magic, Shield and Auto.

The first Digital Devil Saga takes place in the Junkyard, a combat simulator program where it always rains. Throughout the story, a conflict takes place between six tribes: the Embryon, Vanguards, Solids, Maribel, Brutes and Wolves and the territories held by them: Muladhara, Svasdhisthana, Anahata, Manipura, Ajna, Vishuddha. The only common ground is a great tower at the Junkyard's center called the Karma Temple in Sahasrara, which acts as a meeting place for all the tribe leaders. The following game is set on Earth, which has been devastated by a phenomenon known as the "Black Sun", a manifestation of God's anger. The survivors of humanity are ruled by the Karma Society.

The main protagonists of the Digital Devil Saga duology are silent protagonist Serph (サーフ, Sāfu), leader of the Embryon; and Sera (セラ), a woman who can commune with God. The other Embryon are the kind Argilla (アルジラ, Arujira); the hot-tempered Heat (ヒート, Hīto) the light-hearted Cielo (シエロ, Shiero); and the highly logical Gale (ゲイル, Geiru). The main antagonist is Angel (エンジェル, Enjeru), who is Sera's intersexual biological parent. In Digital Devil Saga 2, two new main characters are introduced: Roland, the alcoholic leader of the Lokapala resistance group; and Madame Margot Cuvier, head of the Karma Society. All the main characters barring Cuvier become infected with the demon virus, a condition that causes them to turn into demonic beings and lust after human flesh.

Production on the initial Digital Devil Saga started prior to the beginning of active development on Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne in 2002. During production, it was known under the working title New Goddess. The project was formed in part to make the Megami Tensei series accessible to a broader audience while staying true to its roots. The games were directed by Katsura Hashino, a new director who had worked in lesser roles in previous Megami Tensei titles.

The design director was Makoto Kitano, while the movie director was Ichiroh Itano, a noted anime director. Itano was responsible for storyboarding and character movement choreography. The team was divided into multiple divisions, each in charge of different aspects of the game's design. The battle system was taken from that used in Nocturne, but with elements added to both differentiate it from other Megami Tensei games and incorporate the game's themes.

By the end of 2004, the first game sold 153,421 units in Japan, coming in at the 81st best-selling title in Japan for that year. The second game sold 90,812 units in Japan by the end of 2005, becoming the 144th best-selling game for 2005. Digital Devil Saga did not manage to meet its projected sales targets in Japan, and contributed to the company's console division posting a substantial loss for the 2004/2005 financial year, resulting in several staff members being laid off. According to a representative of Atlus USA, the games' sales performances in 2005 were "absolutely fabulous".

In Europe, it was stated by its publisher that the first game had sold above expectations in the region. Speaking in 2013, a Ghostlight representative said that the Digital Devil Saga duology had "met with great success" in Europe. Upon their re-release on PlayStation Network, the games appeared in the top ten rankings in North America and Europe.

In its reviews, RPGFan named both Digital Devil Saga games as "Editor's Choice". In 2011, Digital Devil Saga and its sequel Digital Devil Saga 2 ended up topping the site's "Top 20 RPGs of the Last Decade" list. Kurt Kalata, writing for 1UP.com in an article concerning the controversial content of the Megami Tensei series, made mention of Digital Devil Saga due to its examination of the ethics of eating others to survive.

A manga spin-off of Digital Devil Saga titled Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner - Shinen no Matou was published in Japan in 2005 by Jive. The manga revolves around a separate group of characters within the Junkyard. A five-volume light novels series titled Quantum Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner have been authored by Yu Godai in 2011. While she had left the project early, her contract with Atlus enabled her to write her own work based on the premise. The novels are Yu's alternate take on her own story, redone without any of the restrictions involved with a video game narrative.