Shin Megami Tensei are a series of roleplaying games set in modern Tokyo where the player can summon different mythological, literary, and historical creatures (known as Demons) to use in battle. Within the Shin Megami Tensei games, there are many demons who allude to ancient Egyptian historical and mythological characters. Due to the saga’s long history and the development of different sub-sagas (such as Devil Survivor, Devil Summoner, or Persona, among many others), the appearance of Egyptian creatures have changed significantly throughout the games, but we find many Egyptian mythological characters (such as Isis, Ammyt, Amon, Amon-Ra, Anubis, Apep, Bastet, Bennu, Bes, Hathor, Horus, Heqet, Isis, Khonsu, Osiris, Sekhmet, Selket, Seth, Sobek, Taweret, and Thoth) and historical characters (such as ‘Pharaoh’ or Cleopatra) as well as other Ancient Egyptian elements (Ankh, Ba, Obelisk, Wadjet, the Sphinx, etc.) .

In addition, in Shin Megami Tensei V there are a few secondary quests or missions related to ancient Egypt. The first one is called ‘The Falcon’s Head’ where Isis asks you to defeat Horus and to bring his head to her. Isis is depicted as a dark-skinned woman, with a falcon and throne-crown, who wears a white kalasiris, and has wings and white tattoos on her face resembling the ankh (see screenshot). Horus is depicted as a golden hawk (see screenshot). There is another secondary quest, called ‘The Egyptians’ Fate’, where the player is required to beat the god Khonsu. Before reaching Khonsu, the player must first defeat a black dragon, called Seth. Khonsu is a man with green skin who wears orientalising attributes, including a blue braid, a sun crown, and uses a khepesh as his weapon (see screenshot). If the player decides not to kill him, the ending of the game changes. In the third secondary quest, ‘The Winged Sun’, the demon/god Amon will ask the player to defeat two gods from different mythologies: Asura and Mithras. After defeating them, the player will have to beat Amon too. Amon is depicted as some kind of chimera, with the head of an owl and the wings and body of a huge snake. He also has big, red claws. Finally, the final secondary quest, ‘The Succession of Ra’ is unlocked. In this quest, if the player has previously spared Khonsu’s life, they will have to defeat the syncretic form of Khonsu-Ra, who is depicted as a dark-skinned man with the pose of the previous Khonsu, a golden schenti, the head of a falcon with a sun crown, and a was sceptre (see screenshot). All these demons can be later summoned by the player.

Author: Esperanza Macarena Ródenas Perea