How old is Sonic the Hedgehog?

After the release of Shin Megami Tensei V on the Nintendo Switch, Atlus decided to do something to surprise everyone!

Soul Hackers 2 was released in on August 25, 2022, and is the sequel to Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, which originally released in Japan back in 1997. Devil Summoner is a part of the greater Megami Tensei, and is a part of the series that hasn’t seen a release in quite a long time. The original Soul Hackers received a Nintendo 3DS release back in 2013, but after the series went dark. So seeing the announcement of Soul Hackers 2 caught most  off guard, and seemingly was the answer to fan’s dreams of getting a sequel… Except, it’s not quite what one might expect.

Dropping “Devil Summoner” from the title, Soul Hackers 2 is a sequel that’s also trying to be its own series. It shares the same world as the original Soul Hackers, but it is not fully a “sequel” in the usual sense of the word. The gameplay itself is vastly different from Soul Hackers, the world has evolved and become a lot more cyber punkish, the characters are an all new cast, and the connections to the original don’t extend much past a group known as the “Phantom Society” existing. 

That being said, this new start isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s also not what long time fans would’ve expected.

So, what is it then? What is Soul Hackers 2, and is it a game that is worth your time? How does it stack up to other parts of the series? Well, hopefully this review can answer those questions for you!

The Story of Soul Hacking:

The story of Soul Hackers 2 actually begins with the murder of one of our main characters named Arrow. Arrow works as a Devil Summoner for a group known as "Yatagarasu," and is rivals to a group called the "Phantom Society." Yatagarasu’s job is to protect the world from the supernatural, and while carrying out a mission, things quickly go south and Arrow loses his life… However, it doesn’t end there.

As Arrow is classified as a “protected object” by the digital entity known as “Aion,” Aion creates two girls named Ringo and Figue to step in. Using the power of Soul Hacking, Ringo is able to revive Arrow and get an inside look at what happened to him. She then explains to him that a darkness is coming to destroy the world, and that strange objects known as “Covenants” are the key to awakening this so called darkness. So to prevent this form happening, Ringo must find the Covenants herself, and asks Arrow to come along for the ride. Of course he accepts, as he too has his own goals he wants to accomplish.

Their main target is a man named “Iron Mask.” Iron Mask is working for the Phantom Society, and is killing the carriers of the Covenants to retrieve them from their bodies. Just as with Arrow, each of these carriers are Soul Hacked by Ringo and brought back to life, and one by one they too decide to join her on her quest to prevent the incoming darkness. Still the question still remains… What is Iron Mask’s true goal? Why is he collecting the Covenants, and why does he want to use them to bring about the darkness to destroy the world? This is just one of the many mysteries in Soul Hackers 2… Or is it?

The reality is, Soul Hacker 2’s story isn’t anything too crazy deep. It basically comes down to Ringo bringing people back to life so that they can stop Iron Mask. It’s a simpler story compared to the original Soul Hackers, but thankfully where it shines is in its character development.

A Character Driven Story:

While the overall plot may not be on par with other Megami Tensei titles, the characters themselves help drive this story forward. Ringo is a full on character herself, and goes against the series’ standard of having silent blank slate protagonists. Instead, Ringo is a fully developed, and voice acted, character who you will actually care about. She’s a newly created human so she struggles with life, but it’s fun watching her learn what it means to actually be a human. Her interactions with the rest of the cast is also great, and by the end you will feel as if she’s developed a real relationship with them.

Arrow is a fun character as well, and could easily be mistaken for the “main” character. The game puts a large focus on him, as well as his background, and he's overall just a good guy trying to help others. Saizo has a complicated history with his own killer that makes his story interesting, and Milady was romantically involved with Iron Mask before she too was murdered. Each of these characters actually have a reason to join Ringo in her journey, and they all have personalities that would normally clash — and they do. The situation they are caught up in is what brings this cast together, but as the game goes on you get to see their relationships build. It is actually pretty satisfying to watch.

These relationships don’t just improve during the main story however, as the game actually features a “Hang Out Event” system. By playing the game, completing specific side quests, or bring in the right place at the right time, you can unlock these events at the bar. They are typically between one or more characters along with Ringo, and give you an inside look at who these characters are. Sometimes they’ll talk about their past, and other times they’ll have something to say about current events. Whatever the topic is, it sheds light on the characters, and feels like it is a real friendship. Seeing these events also add points into the character’s relationship level, so it has a gameplay benefit as well.

Overall, despite the main story being on the weaker side, the character driven plot helps keep things interesting. By the time the credits roll you wont be ready to say goodbye to these guys, and you'll find yourself wanting more. It’s a bit bittersweet.

The Cyber Punk City:

The gameplay in Soul Hackers 2 is technically divided into three parts.

You have the city, then there's the dungeon crawling, and finally you have the turn based battles. Of course dungeon crawling is the biggest part of the series as a whole, but in Soul Hackers 2 the city is where everything begins.

Similar to the development team’s previous title “Tokyo Mirage Sessions,” the city is a group of hub areas that are traveled to by selecting them on a map. Some sections of the city have shops for you to buy standard items from, while others contain the areas required to upgrade your equipment and summon demons. The bar where you can view the Hang Out Events is located within one of the city areas, and the main character’s “Hideout” can be selected form the map as well. The Hideout is where characters can rest up or eat meals to heal (and eating meals unlocks more dialogue and discussions between the cast), but you can also stop by shops to do the same thing for a fee. 

Overall it isn't that big, but it doesn’t have to be. There isn't much exploration, but it does its job, and speeds up your prep work before heading into a dungeon. It  is a bit disappointing though, as the game’s unique Cyber Punk style is only really shown off within these areas. Everything outside is pretty generic.

Besides the shops, the other use for the city is the NPCs found in the different areas. These NPCs offer side quests, and provide a bit extra story context when spoken to. The game has well over 80 side quests to take on though, so NPCs end up being more for the side content rather than having someone to talk to. Unfortunately these quests are mostly fetch quests and “kill this demon” quests, but a handful of them do expand upon the game’s lore as well.

Dungeons and the Soul Matrix:

After you’ve finished your business in the city, the rest of the game takes place in dungeons. There are a handful of main story dungeons in the game, and each take place in a unique location. Honestly there really are only a “handful” of them, and they are pretty straight forward. While the series is usually known for puzzle solving and crazy dungeon design, this one doesn’t really do either. It’s straight paths, and some light puzzle solving in the later sections of the game. The developer’s previous game Tokyo Mirage Sessions on the other hand was fully dungeon and puzzle based, so it’s a bit surprising that Soul Hackers 2 didn’t follow suit. 

The other strange change to dungeons is the fact that there are no treasure chests. Instead demons you recruit along the way will “explore” the dungeon ahead of you, and will be waiting for you at different key points. Speaking to them will give you items (sometimes “key items”), or possibly heal you or recover your MP. Demons vanish after you speak to them, but they’ll reappear as you continue exploring. 

While the main story dungeons are the more “unique” ones, the Soul Matrix isn’t. The Soul Matrix is the inner soul of each party member, and is a generic cyber space like dungeon. The dungeons expand for each character as you build your relationship with them, and at different points of the Matrix you’ll unlock memories from the character’s past. Seeing these memories will unlock new passive abilities for the characters as well, and are well worth the effort. 

To increase your relationship level with the characters you can watch Hang Out Events, or you can choose dialogue choices during the main story that align with each character’s views. The game will actually show you which character will like your responses, and you’ll see how many points will be added. If a character needs 60 points to unlock the next part of their Soul Matrix, and they have 50 points and the next story dialogue adds 12 points? Simply choose the answer they like, and now you are at 62 and good to go! 

Ultimately you can max out all of the characters, but you’ll want to do some planning to keep everyone balanced out.

Demons, COMPs, and the Battle System:

The battle system in Soul Hackers 2 is an altered version of the classic Megami Tensei turn based system. Rather than using Turn Press, where you gain extra attacks by hitting weaknesses, Soul Hackers 2 uses something called “Sabbath.” Sabbaths are points added each time your characters hit an enemy’s weakness, and at the end of your turn you get to release an ultimate attack based on how many points you’ve built up. Of course different attacks and abilities have different elements assigned to them, and every enemy in the game will have their own sets of straights and weaknesses.

Even this works a little bit different from the standard however.

In other Megami Tensei games it’s very important that you hit weaknesses and avoid hitting resistances. Hitting an enemy with an element they are resistant to would cause you to lose your turn. In Soul Hackers 2? It’s not as bit of a deal. 

Instead of losing a turn, the enemy simply receives less damage. There are enemies that will reflect damage back at you, but typically if you are using that elemental attack, then your characters will be resistant to it as well, or possibly even absorb the attack to heal themselves. It’s not the end of the world either way, so the game doesn’t really penalize you for using attacks that hit multiple enemies at once. Even if only one enemy you are hitting is weak to that element, you’re still getting one stack added to your Sabbath, and the other enemies receive at least some damage as well.

Speaking of Sabbaths, they don’t really change too much throughout the game. Eventually you unlock passive skills (typically through the Soul Matrix) that provide additional stacks when hitting weaknesses, but the system itself doesn’t change. It’s simply hit enemy weaknesses, gain points, and then unleash an attack at the end of your turn. What does change however, is the abilities your characters have access to.

There are two main ways to learn new attacks and abilities in the game. The first way is to recruit new demons, and the second way is to upgrade the party’s weapons known as COMPs. COMPs gain new abilities by trading in items and resources you get from fighting enemies and talking to demons, while demons gain abilities from leveling up. It’s a familiar setup for the series, but it’s also quite a bit different.

Rather than having the demons as party members, Soul Hackers 2 has human party members that get demons equip to them for use. Each human party member has elements they specialize in by default (which can be unlocked and upgraded by upgrading their COMPs) so typically you want to match them with demons that fit them the best, but you have free reign over who gets what, and what role they will fill in battle. Want someone to focus on healing? Give them a demon with healing abilities. Want Ringo to have a mixture of elements and be a jack of all trades? You can do that as well. While the demons themselves aren’t the party members, it still works as if they were. It’s just a matter of equipping them to characters.

Recruiting demons has also completely changed. Instead of speaking to demons and convincing them to join you, demon recruitment is mostly random. The demons that appear in dungeons in place of treasure chests all have a chance of calling their friends over. If this happens you are usually given the option to ask them to join you, but most of the time you’ll have to trade them an item to do so. Sometimes that item is actually a chunk of your own health, while other times they want to be paid off. Either way, saying yes will add the demon to your party, and you are then free to use them in battle.

Demon fusion on the other hand lets you mix two demons together to create a new one. Fused demons inherit skills and abilities from the parent demons, and allows you to unlock demons that can cover multiple elements at once. These demons are also stronger than the base demons used to create them, and are a great way to get your stats up. This system is key to surviving in the game, but more so on the harder difficulties. 

It’s a fun system, but the randomness of recruitment means you can’t just go out and find your favorite demons. While some players may not like this system, those who enjoy games like Persona 3 will feel more at home with it.

A Short Game held back by it’s Shortcomings:

Let’s be blunt here. Soul Hackers 2 is a game that not everyone is going to enjoy. Fans going in expecting the original Soul Hackers will be let down to learn that this is not it. That doesn’t mean the game is bad though! Overall Soul Hackers 2 is still a fun dungeon crawler, with a new twist on the unique Megami Tensei battle system. Anyone who enjoys the combat and demon system will still enjoy it here, and there is plenty of customization to help make the party your own. The core systems are here, and that will carry the game for many.

On the other hand, the characters, art style, and music will be the shining light for others.

The cast is great, and it is a lot of fun to watch their relationships develop. There are some surprising revelations as well, so you really can’t take any of them at face value. The cell shaded art style also really helps them pop, and the animations are very expressive during cutscenes. It all comes together very nicely, and the music is the icing on the cake. There are some really nice music tracks here, and series fans will be happy to know that past tracks can be downloaded as DLC also. Fighting a battle to Reach out to the Truth from Persona 4 feels surprisingly at home here, especially considering how big of a focus the game’s story has on the main cast and their relationships.

Of course, this will also only carry the game so far.

Sadly the game is really short. You can expect one playthrough to be anywhere from 20-30 hours long. The game is loaded up with side quests that will extend that time, but most of them are generic and might be better off being forgotten. The Soul Matrix is very generic as well, so it’s really the battle system that keeps you more engaged. This isn’t anything new to long time fans (especially during the first person days), but the nonstop teleport spots in the later areas get to be a bit much. Thankfully a post launch update increased Ringo’s movement speed, so the Soul Matrix isn’t as big of a chore to get through.

The biggest issue with Soul Hackers 2 is actually not even an issue.. It’s just you wouldn’t know that at first glance. The game features tips and information on loading screens, and loading screens take quite awhile to load. In a game where you change screens a lot in the city, you would often spend more time waiting for loading screens than you spend in the city itself. It’s very annoying, and something you wouldn’t expect when playing the game on newer hardware… And that’s because it’s all a lie.

Reality is, the loading screens are fake. The wait time is included only so that player scan read the messages, and by turning off the messages in the option, you also turn off the loading screens. Areas load instantly, and you are free to jump from area to area till your heart’s content. Sadly the game doesn’t tell you that you can do this, so players could spend countless hours dealing with this issue that doesn’t actually exist.

Overall, Soul Hackers 2 isn’t a bad game, but it’s a game that will leave you wanting more. It’s not really a follow up to Soul Hackers, except in name and some references, and the dungeon design has a lot of room for improvement. Even so, the combat system is still solid, and the character driven story gives you a reason to keep playing. It’s not the best Megami Tensei experience out there, but it’s still a game that both fans and newcomers alike can enjoy… As long as you understand what you are getting into that is. 

Honestly, I'd love to see these characters again, and hopefully they can improve on the series in the future!