For RPGs where saving the world means deciding what should replace a broken order, Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is the strongest match: Nintendo says its choices dictate the fate of all existence, and it includes two complete story paths. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux offers a science-fiction crisis with added story content and endings. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a related pick about resisting a coercive system, though its official descriptions do not establish the specific claim that its ending saves the future by destroying the old world.
What “destroying the old world” means in these RPGs
The phrase can describe different kinds of stories: a literal threat to the planet, a choice about the order that will govern existence, or resistance to a system that keeps people trapped in conflict. Those are related ideas, but they are not interchangeable. The official descriptions support world-fate choices most directly for Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance; they frame Strange Journey Redux around a threat to Earth; and they support Xenoblade Chronicles 3 as a story about opposing an unreasonable power.
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C.A.R.D.S. RPG: The Misty Battlefield *Total Warfare Edition* PS5 | $22.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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KEMCO RPG Selection Vol. 2 - PlayStation 5 | $32.29 | Buy on Amazon |
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Super Mario RPG - Nintendo Switch (US Version) | $34.87 | Buy on Amazon |
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Suikoden I & II HD Remastered PS5 | $29.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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Which RPGs fit the theme best?
| Game | What the official description establishes | Choice or ending context | Platform and availability context |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance | Nintendo describes an apocalyptic wasteland called Da’at and says the player’s choices dictate the fate of all existence. | Two complete story paths: Canon of Creation and Canon of Vengeance. Their premises differ; do not assume they produce the same fate. | Nintendo Switch; Nintendo UK lists a release date of 14 June 2024. |
| Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux | A spatial distortion called the Schwarzwelt appears in Antarctica and threatens to engulf Earth. | The Redux edition adds story content, endings, and a dungeon; its official English listing does not detail the outcomes of individual endings. | Nintendo 3DS; Nintendo lists the release date as 17 May 2018 and says 3DS eShop purchases ended on 27 March 2023. Current physical stock is not established here. |
| Xenoblade Chronicles 3 | Set in Aionios, where the worlds of the first two games link together; its story follows people resisting a power that forces two nations to fight. | A thematically related resistance story. The cited official descriptions do not establish an ending in which the old world must be destroyed to save the future. | Nintendo lists it for Nintendo Switch; the cited description says the three games’ stories stand alone. |
The strongest direct match: Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance
Nintendo’s description sets the game in modern-day Tokyo before an apocalypse carries the protagonist into Da’at, a devastated wasteland. The protagonist becomes a Nahobino and is caught in a war between angels and demons over the world’s fate. This is more than a conventional rescue mission: the official premise places the future of existence in the player’s hands.
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Two paths, not one shared ending
Vengeance contains the original Canon of Creation and the new Canon of Vengeance. Nintendo presents the former as an angel-and-demon conflict over the world’s fate, and the latter as a story centered on revenge by the fallen. That makes the game a particularly good fit if you want to explore competing visions for what comes after catastrophe. It does not mean every route reaches the same resolution or that every path can be summarized as literally destroying the world.
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Nintendo UK lists the Nintendo Switch game as released on 14 June 2024. The official product description is available on Nintendo’s UK game page.
The science-fiction apocalypse: Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux
This Nintendo 3DS RPG builds its crisis around the Schwarzwelt, a spatial distortion that appears in Antarctica and threatens to engulf Earth. You play a United Nations soldier sent to investigate with a team of advanced specialists, giving the world-ending premise the feel of a dangerous expedition rather than a war over a ruined city.
Rank #2
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- Revenant Dogma- Transform to get your victory in dynamic turn-based battles!
- Fernz Gate - Support your allies or unleash powerful magic in tag-team during battles!
- Alvastia Chronicles - More than 100 companions with up to 13 party members! Sound composed by Ryuji Sasai
- Languages - Subtitles in English and Japanese.
What Redux adds—and what to know before seeking it out
Nintendo says Redux adds story content, endings, and a dungeon. Atlus’s official Japanese Deep Strange Journey site also describes new story content and an ending route associated with Alex, but it does not support a more detailed English-language account of that route’s outcome.
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Nintendo’s listing identifies the game as a Nintendo 3DS release dated 17 May 2018. It also records that purchases through the Nintendo 3DS eShop ended on 27 March 2023. Anyone looking for a copy should therefore treat the platform and purchase route as part of the decision; current physical availability is not established here. See Nintendo’s US listing.
Rank #3
- Jump through a colorful world and give attacks some extra oomph in battle!
- Explore the vibrant environments with your party and jump towards your next goal!
- Run into monsters to enter turn-based battles with your party of three.
- Press the button at the right time for a satisfying dose of extra damage or helpful guard.
A qualified adjacent pick: Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 belongs on a broader list about changing a broken world, but not as a verified example of an ending that saves the future by destroying the old world. Nintendo describes Aionios as a setting where the worlds of the first and second games link together, while also noting that each game’s story stands alone.
The thematic connection is opposition to a system that perpetuates conflict. In a Nintendo developer interview, director and MONOLITHSOFT executive director Tetsuya Takahashi described the central resistance this way: “Then, young people from these two nations band together against this ‘unreasonable power’ that forces them to fight on a daily basis.” That supports recommending the game to players drawn to challenging a coercive order, not asserting a particular ending interpretation. Nintendo’s official descriptions are on its game page and in its developer interview.
Quick Recap
Rank #4
- Features of Suikoden I & II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars
- All background illustrations have been upgraded to HD & updated effects breath new life into pixel art
- New environmental sounds effects to immerse yourself in this fantasy world
- Battle SFX are also now HD and add a new level of realism
- Newly added Auto-Save, Battle Fast Forward, and Conversation Log
How to choose between them
- Choose Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance if you want the clearest documented connection between player decisions and the fate of existence, with two distinct story paths.
- Choose Strange Journey Redux if you prefer an expedition into a science-fiction anomaly threatening Earth and want an older 3DS RPG with added endings.
- Choose Xenoblade Chronicles 3 if the appeal is characters resisting an unjust world-order, while keeping the distinction clear: the official descriptions cited here do not prove the exact old-world-destruction ending premise.
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