The Shin Megami Tensei franchise is comprised of many fan favourite JRPG series, but within their huge list of games, there are a handful of hidden gems.
Fans of the genre will be familiar with the main Shin Megami Tensei series and its popular spin-off series Persona.
But hardcore fans would have come across the Devil Summoner series, which has been revived with its latest entry Soul Hackers 2.
The Devil Summoner series began in 1995 with the first title being based on another spin-off called Shin Megami Tensei If.
Like the Persona series, Demon Summoner shares many similarities with the main entry of Shin Megami Tensei games, with the main recurring theme being wielding otherworldly beings in battle.
The Devil Summoner series is made up of four games with the original Soul Hackers being the second entry to be released.
It was praised for its combat system and diverse range of characters, which were a breath of fresh air in 1997.
Despite the praise, Atlus shelved the game with only a port being released in 2013. But now, twenty-five years since its release the sequel Soul Hackers 2 looks to revive the Devil Summoner series.
Soul Hackers 2 may be a sequel but it's an original story featuring a new cast of characters.
The story revolves around a war between two opposing groups of Devil Summoners. The Phantom Society returns to stand against the Yatagarasu organisation and wants to summon a great evil.
In the midst of all the action a digital sentient entity known as Aion, that watches over humanity, foresees a great calamity that will destroy everything.
In an effort to stop this impending doom Aion sends two of its agents, Ringo and Figue to help. This thrust the pair into an emotionally charged adventure.
Soul Hackers 2 doesn’t feature the most original plot, that sees a group of young heroes band together to save the world.
But I think in this instance it isn't about the end game but the journey getting there as the strength of Soul Hackers 2 deeply lies within the lives of its diverse cast of characters.
It’s great to see the rag-tag group characters butt heads with their polarising ideals and opinions about the world.
Players will find each of the character's backstories and motivations intriguing as they form surprising bonds and relationships.
Soul Hackers 2’s slick visual style is one of the game’s highlights with its brazen locations and punchy character designs elevating the entire experience.
The anime meets cyberpunk aesthetic glistens with so much personality and originality. The characters sport stylish bright designs that perfectly match their personality.
The locations are a mix of neon-filled cities, desolate digital dungeons, and elegant rural areas which are mostly fun to explore, except for Soul Matrix dungeons that lacked creativity as they were really repetitive.
But Soul Hackers 2 is a beautiful-looking game with its neon anime cyberpunk stylings really standing out from other games in the genre.
The soundtrack is a collection of synth electronic tunes composed by the Monaca music studio. The catchy tracks are a great accomplice to World of Soul Hackers 2 helping to complete game's cyberpunk feel.
Soul Hackers 2 features dual voiceovers with English and Japanese dub being available.
Both are pretty good at bringing the characters to life during cutscenes and gameplay. I mainly played using the Japanese dub as I felt they personified each of the cast’s characteristics a little better.
Soul Hackers 2 focuses on Ringo and co-tracking down powers called Covenants before Iron Mask gets to them. This sees the crew progress through the adventure by traversing dungeons and defeating bosses.
The dungeons were slightly disappointing as they felt bare and very repetitive. There are hardly any puzzles and when one did appear, it lacked the creativity to offer any kind of challenge.
There is some exploration involved which consists of mainly finding demons that grant rewards once you locate them.
There is an emphasis on battling and making bonds which make up for the lackluster level designs but fans would expect more with what we know Atlus can design.
The game features another set of dungeons dedicated to each character called the Soul Matrix.
Once Ringo deepens her bond with a particular character she will be able to access the data dungeon. Completing a Soul Matrix dungeon isn’t needed to progress or complete the game.
But tackling them will grant Ringo new abilities for combat and exploration. The Soul Matrix themselves are filled with loot and offer a typical dungeon crawling experience, but that’s only half of it.
I found that gaining access to these Soul Matrix's was much more enjoyable as the player will get to know more about each character by completing side quests and engaging in social activities.
Its engaging gaming loop rewards the player with much more insight into the lore of Soul Hackers 2.
The turn-based combat in Soul Hackers 2 is a very similar battle system seen in other Shin Megami Tensei games.
Characters will attack using a combination of physical moves, magical skills, and demon summoning.
The main combat mechanic revolves around an affinity system where the player uses attacks that exploit the enemy’s weakness.
Attacking the enemy with its weakness will increase the Stack counter. Once the turn ends, Ringo will perform a Sabbath that sees all the Stacked demons attack the entire group.
The higher the Stack the more damage can be dealt. This is certainly a fun mechanic but it lacks depth and doesn’t really evolve as you progress throughout the game.
However, there are other strategic elements that help keep Soul Hackers 2 exciting like picking the right Demons to be within your team that exploit their elemental properties. Or choosing a perfectly balanced party to cover all areas of combat.
The enemies in Soul Hackers 2 vary in difficulty granting different levels of challenge, however, I found defeating them mainly required knowledge of the basic mechanics.
Not to say they were easy to defeat, especially the bosses, but fans of the genre might want to play this game on a harder difficulty setting for a bigger challenge.
Saying that the standard level of difficulty is a good starting point for players who are new to the Shin Megami Tensei franchise or JRPG in general.
Outside of combat and the main story quest, there is an abundance of extra activities and side tasks to complete.
These help Ringo gain further insight into her comrades and humanity. These may not be compulsory, but I feel they are crucial to the overall experience and understanding of the world of Soul Hackers 2.
Players will be able to customise their characters in a few ways to strengthen and unlock new abilities.
Each character comes equipped with COMP weapons that can be upgraded boosting their stats, there are also items called Mistiques that grant extra buffs if equipped.
On top of this, there is a demon fusion system that allows players to create new combinations of demons to fight with.
Every character will also have a Soul Level that represents the bond Ringo has with each of the party.
Increasing these during hangout events will allow players to special abilities called Summoning Skills. These skills grant extra bonuses that can aid players in battle.
Verdict 3 / 5
Soul Hackers 2 is a familiar but great entry in the Shin Megami Tensei franchise, gifting players with one of Atlus' best-styled games to date.
The awesome character and location designs are just bursting with personality that elevates the overall experience. However, the level design and exploration elements of the game felt very lacklustre and repetitive.
Soul Hackers 2 will please fans who have been waiting for this sequel while also serving as a great entry point for newcomers.
Soul Hackers 2 will be released on the 26 August for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S and Microsoft Windows
