A big part of the Persona 5 appeal is its slick depiction of present day Tokyo – but most of my favorite games in the series are anything but modern. Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army takes the Shin Megami Tensei series – from which Persona comes from – far into the past instead. In so doing, it feels like a really fresh take on the series' devil summoning action. And, thanks to some huge enhancements, this 2006 PS2-era action RPG is great to play today.
Even some of the Shin Megami Tensei and Persona series' sci-fi concepts are often tinged by history. Shin Megami Tensei 4, one of my favorite RPGs ever made, stars a party of samurai who must contend with a futuristic demon world. Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers may be set in a networked city of tomorrow, but its '90s vision of a tactile cyberpunk-like future still feels nostalgic to me. Raidou Remastered, a remake of Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army, leans into these concepts by playing it a lot straighter, set in the 1930s Taisho era.
