Soul Hackers 2

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Soul Hackers 2
Stylized llustration of several characters against a light gray background, with the text "Soul Hackers 2" overlayed in white
Cover art
Developer(s)Atlus[a]
Publisher(s)
Director(s)
  • Eiji Ishida
  • Mitsuru Hirata
Producer(s)
  • Eiji Ishida
  • Mitsuru Hirata
Designer(s)Mitsuru Hirata
Programmer(s)Junichi Nakamura
Artist(s)Shirow Miwa
Writer(s)
  • Makoto Miyauchi
  • Haruna Sato
  • Eiji Ishida
Composer(s)
  • Keiichi Okabe
  • Keigo Hoashi
  • Kuniyuki Takahashi
  • Shotaro Seo
  • Oliver Good
  • Keita Inoue
Series
EngineUnity
Platform(s)
Release
  • JP: August 25, 2022
  • WW: August 26, 2022
Genre(s)Role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

Soul Hackers 2[b] is a role-playing video game developed and published by Atlus. It is the sequel to Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers (1997) and the fifth installment of the Devil Summoner series, itself a part of the larger Megami Tensei franchise. The game features character designs by Shirow Miwa and music by Keiichi Okabe's studio Monaca.

Soul Hackers 2 was released worldwide in August 2022 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its presentation, combat system, and story, but criticized the dungeon design, side content, and implementation of downloadable content.

Gameplay[]

An early battle in Soul Hackers 2

Soul Hackers 2 is a role-playing video game in which players take on the role of artificial being Ringo, who is joined during the game with three human allies with different abilities.[2][3] The story is communicated through a combination of fully 3D in-engine cutscenes, and dialogue sections combining in-game 3D models with 2D character portraits.[4] Progression is tied to story-based quests, with the player moving between safe zones holding associated services for supporting the player party such as item and equipment shops, and explorable dungeon environments featuring combat encounters with and using Demons.[3][4][5] Requests, the game's form of side quests, can be completed to earn in-game money and items.[6]

Upon entering a dungeon, Ringo sends out some of her assigned demons to explore the dungeon environment, with finding them granting new information, items, healing, and potential new Demons.[2][7] Alongside standard dungeons is the Soul Matrix, dungeons tied to members of Ringo's party which can be explored and cleared to gain additional skills for the party. The scale of a party member's Soul Matrix is determined by their Soul Bond, which can be strengthened by spending time with them outside combat or making specific dialogue choices in story cutscenes.[8]

Enemies in dungeons are represented by humanoid symbols, their colour determining enemy strength and aggression. Ringo can stun them and avoid combat, or engage; if the enemy hits the party first, they get the first attack in combat, while Ringo initiating the attack gives the party first attack and can trigger a free opening attack from a party member.[2][9] Battles are turn-based, with each side getting a set of actions, using both standard attacks and skills assigned to their COMP weapons via Demons.[3] A core element of combat is exploiting weaknesses, which deal more damage; weakness include elemental attacks, and melee or ranged attacks depending on enemy type. Striking an enemy's weakness adds points to a Stack, and at the end of that turn the accumulated Stack is spent in a Sabbath, a powerful multi-Demon attack that increases in strength with higher Stack points. Some demons can learn and use Tamdem Skills, adding an additional effect to the Sabbath such as inflicting a status effect or recovering the party's magic points.[3][9] Another later element of combat is Commander Skills, an ability unique to Ringo that grants special boons in battle.[6][9]

As with other Megami Tensei titles, Demons play a key role in combat, and can be recruited and customised by the player. Demons can be found through exploration by the party, but will only join the party after fulfilling their request such as giving an item.[2] A Demon can then be equipped to COMPs, changing each party member's accessible skills.[7] Alongside recruitment, new Demons can be accessed through Fusion, where two demons are fused into a new Demon type at a specific in-game location. Players can select which skills are carried over from each fused Demon into the new creation. While any two demons can be fused, fusing two specific ones triggers a Special Fusion, creating a more powerful Demon. Once a Demon has acquired all skills, it gifts the party with a Mistique, an equippable item which grants passive bonuses.[2][5] Demons can be logged in a Demon Compendium, allowing them to be summoned again for a fee.[6] Soul Hackers 2 features a New Game Plus which carries over current Soul Bond level, unlocking further character scenes, alongside costumes and accessories unlocked during the first playthrough. The player can also choose to carry over the party's levels, items, money, and unlocked demons.[10]

Synopsis[]

Soul Hackers 2 is set in a near-future city where humans and demons coexist in secret, with some humans able to form pacts with demons to become Devil Summoners. The Devil Summoners are mostly split between two main factions, Yatagarasu and the Phantom Society, who hold clashing ideological views on humanity's progress. During the game's opening a world-ending catastrophe brought by a being called the Great One is predicted by the previously-neutral Aion, a higher artificial intelligence that emerged within cyberspace. Aion manifests two parts of themself, Ringo and Figue, as individuals to enter the human world and save humans calculated as key to preventing the Great One's arrival. The individuals are Arrow, a Yatagarasu agent; Milady, a Phantom Society summoner and lover of the apparent mastermind Iron Mask; and Saizo, a freelance summoner whose Phantom Society lover Ash becomes involved in his murder. Ringo brings each back in turn using Soul Hack, an ability to restores their souls and bodies. Investigating the death of researcher Ichiro Onda and disappearance of senior Yatagarasu member Mangetsu Kuzunoha, the group eventually discover Iron Mask is searching for the Covenants, five magical entities acting as symbols of an ancient pact with the Great One.

Kuzunoha was researching the Covenants, which when gathered together can summon the Great One and remake the world, with Onda and Arrow assisting him. Onda was conducting research to uplift humanity, driven by his Covenant's purpose to further human progress, when he was killed. Kuzunoha is also later killed and his Covenant apparently taken. Milady and Saizo also held Covenants, but Milady's ends up attaching to Figue when Ringo revives her. Ringo's are aided by Raven, a former Yatagarasu summoner to whom Figue becomes attached. The group are eventually ambushed and captured by Iron Mask and Zenon who demand Figue's covenant, Figue infects it with a computer virus which renders Zenon vulnerable. Zenon is killed with Ash's help, but Iron Mask escapes with the four of the Covenants while the fifth vanishes. Figue later reveals Kuzunoha created a false Covenant, which Zenon absorbed when he was killed, and sealed the original inside Arrow, blocking his memories of the event to hide the Covenant's presence. They further learn from Milady that the real Iron Mask was killed, with the current one being an imposter using the Iron Mask identity to control the Phantom Society.

The Covenant is unsealed within Arrow, giving him the ability to see that Raven has the others, exposing him as the false Iron Mask and mastermind behind the Great One's summoning. Transferring Arrow's Covenant to Figue, the group then stop Milady from attacking the orphanage in revenge for Iron Mask's death, then they end up in a final duel with Raven at the city docks. Despite Figue's plea, Raven fights to the death, having been broken by the constant fighting between summoner gangs and seeing no other way but the Great One to end it. A devastated Figue takes the other Covenants and decides to use their power to enact a humanity-wide Soul Hack to remove the will for conflict, causing Aion to shut down as her will begins influencing it. In the normal ending, Figue fades away after the group defeat her, and Ringo is left the only Aion agent remaining, vowing to observe humanity and report to Aion when it returns, while the summoners part ways. If all Soul Matrix quests are completed, Ringo can perform a Soul Hack on Figue, rescuing her with help from Raven's spirit. In this ending, the summoners agree to help end the fighting from within their groups, and Ringo and Figue restore Aion who then decides to reveal themself to humanity.

Development[]

Soul Hackers 2's development team comprises various returning staff members from other Atlus and Megami Tensei titles. A selection of staff involved in the game's development were announced alongside the game's reveal. It was directed and produced by the duo of Mitsuru Hirata, who previously helmed the role-playing game Radiant Historia (2010), and Eiji Ishida, who previously directed Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey (2009) and designed Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne (2003) and Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army (2006).[11][12] In addition, both previously worked together on Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE.[13] Ishida remarked that prior to the game's announcement, a sequel to the original Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers (1997) was oft-requested by fans, but feared that the game itself was at risk of becoming obscure due to the original game's age, compounded by the time between the game's re-release on Nintendo 3DS in 2012, and the decision made to revive the series. He further expressed concern at the reaction that would be drawn from the game's new aesthetics and mechanical changes to gameplay, stating that he was "nervous about whether people will accept them or not".

Hirata observed that the original game had a dedicated fanbase surrounding it, but claimed that there were likewise, a number of players that only knew of the original Soul Hackers in passing and were interested in it. Ishida stated that he had begun planning a sequel to Soul Hackers due to its distinct aesthetic among the other Megami Tensei titles, suggesting that "[I thought] it would be possible to make use of the technology, people, and occult elements of the first game, as well as the relationship between those elements, to create a new game with a modern feel".[14][15]

The game's music was composed through an external collaboration with the production team Monaca,[16] which previously supervised the creation of numerous anime and video game soundtracks. Japanese manga artist Shirow Miwa was the game's primary character designer.[17][18]

On October 4, 2022, Atlus announced that a patch will be made available for the game on all console this November. The update consists of a Dash that Ringo can use, a Speed Up mode during battle and new demons consisting of Pixie, Neko Shogun, Aitvaras and Isis.[19]

Release[]

Soul Hackers 2 was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Windows (via Steam and Microsoft Store) in August 2022.[11] It launched in Japan on August 25, and overseas the following day, and features English and Japanese audio, with English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (Simplified and Traditional) subtitles.[11][20]

In Japan, the game's release was also accompanied by a Soul Hackers 25th Anniversary Special Edition Box Set for the PlayStation versions of the game, featuring commemorative packaging, an art book featuring concept illustrations, setting art and various staff interviews, an arrangement album featuring modern compositions of songs from the original Soul Hackers, and a figurine of a Jack Frost variant called Ai-Ho kun, modeled after the game's main protagonist, Ringo.[21] Ai-Ho kun is also available as a summonable demon in the game through downloadable content (DLC), accompanied by another DLC set featuring accessories that customize Ringo to resemble Mary, a supporting character in the original Soul Hackers.[22]

A first-print edition of the game available on launch day will be bundled with DLC costumes modeled after the main cast of Persona 5,[c] in addition to accompanying music DLC that enables the option to play Persona 5's miniboss theme "Keeper of Lust" as the main battle track.[21]

Reception[]

Soul Hackers 2 received "mixed or average reviews" according to review aggregator Metacritic;[24][25][26] the Xbox Series X/S version received "generally favorable reviews".[23] IGN reviewer Cameron Hawkins called the story and characters engaging, but found the level design "uninspired".[28] Similarly Jason McMaster of VentureBeat said "The overall problem isn’t that it’s a bad game — it just doesn’t do much to stand out."[29] Willa Rowe of Inverse said that the DLC was enjoyable but was essentially necessary for a good experience with the base content, bringing more gameplay variety to the otherwise repetitive dungeons.[30]

Sales[]

During its debut week, an estimated 51,800 physical copies of the game were sold in Japan, which Famitsu described as a good performance. The PlayStation 4 version, which was the third highest-selling retail game of the week in the country, accounted for about 31,600 of the Japanese opening sales, while the PlayStation 5 version was the fifth highest-selling and accounted for the remaining 20,200.[31]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Ported to Windows and Xbox One by Artdink.[1]
  2. ^ Japanese: ソウルハッカーズ2, Hepburn: Sōru Hakkāzu Tsū
  3. ^ The costumes are specifically derived from Joker, Ryuji Sakamoto, Ann Takamaki and Goro Akechi.

References[]

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  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Mauricio, Luis (August 4, 2022). "Soul Hackers 2 Impression". RPGamer. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved October 15, 2022.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b 『ソウルハッカーズ2』裏社会の人間が贈るドラマ。クリエイターコメントも【先行レビュー：ストーリー編】. Dengeki Online (in Japanese). June 5, 2022. Archived from the original on August 18, 2022. Retrieved October 15, 2022.
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  15. ^ "『ソウルハッカーズ2』プロデューサー・ディレクターへミニインタビュー。神田明神での殺陣ショーや特別ライトアップのリポートも | ゲーム・エンタメ最新情報のファミ通.com". Famitsu (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2022-02-22. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
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  29. ^ Jump up to: a b Jason McMaster (August 24, 2022). "Soul Hackers 2 review — an enjoyable, unambitious adventure". Venture Beat. Archived from the original on August 26, 2022. Retrieved August 26, 2022.
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  31. ^ "【ソフト＆ハード週間販売数】『地球防衛軍6』が首位に！ 『SDガンダム バトルアライアンス』『ソウルハッカーズ2』も好調な滑り出しを記録【8/22～8/28】". Famitsu (in Japanese). Kadokawa Game Linkage. 2022-09-01. Archived from the original on 2022-09-01. Retrieved 2022-09-01.

External links[]

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