In the near future, a mysterious, growing, black void dubbed the Schwarzwelt appears at the Earth's southern pole. So begins the story in Atlus' first-person sci-fi RPG, Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey. Next year, DS owners in North America will don their own retro-cool helmets and plunge head-first into that black spot.

Atlus has announced that they'll be releasing the newest DS entry in the Shin Megami Tensei series come March 10, 2010. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey was released in Japan earlier this year to critical acclaim, earning the highest scores Famitsu has ever awarded to any game in the series.

Here are a few of the game's features as listed in the Atlus press release:

• Strange Journey's game mechanics represent a return to the proud tradition of the all-time dungeon-crawling classic SMT: Nocturne, while its story takes players into the near future on a mission to save Earth and to understand humanity's position within the larger universe.
• Who or what is causing the black hole that is engulfing the Earth? A mission to investigate the cause uncovers a whole world of demons that humans knew nothing about. Do they seek your destruction or will you seek theirs? Will you decide to save Earth or choose another path for humanity?
• Demons may be friends or foes depending on your ability to negotiate, bribe, and coerce them to join your party. With more than 300 types of demons, you'll have a huge variety of battlefield encounters and an equally large base of options on which to build your party strategy.

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• FPS-RPG for DS Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey revealed in Famitsu