What's going on everyone? It's Dan here and today I'll be giving my first Video Game Review on the turn based JRPG, Soul Hackers 2!
This game is another entry from one of my favorite game developers Atlus and Published by my favorite Publisher Sega. I enjoy playing Atlus's other game franchises such as the Shin Megami Tensei series (I've played 3 and 5) and my personal favorite Persona (4, 5, Royal, etc). Both of those franchises have their own distinct personalities in terms of gameplay and theme.
Soul Hackers (much like Persona) was a spinoff game of the SMT series, specifically devil summoner. I find it strange they chose to make a sequel of the soul hackers game 25 years later but it might be due to the success of Persona and SMT back in 2021 with Persona 5 Strikers and SMT 5 doing well. I never played the original Soul Hackers game it was released the same year I was born on the PS1 and by the time I started playing games we had entered into the 6th generation of consoles (GameCube, PS2 and Xbox etc) so I had no clue of this games existence. When I saw Soul Hackers 2 trailer and how this was an Atlus game, I was intrigued to pick it up, I kept an eye on it and didn't end up purchasing the game until last month during Sega's steam sale where I bought the premium edition for about 60 dollars which I consider a decent deal getting the entire game and DLC's.
Now this game has had a very mixed reception and I wasn't sure what it could be. I looked into it and while playing the game, I think I was able to find some of the issues and saw some things I liked about it. I'll start with the theme, SMT is known for being Dark while Persona is more comedic and somewhat light-hearted. Soul Hackers 2 falls more into Persona territory where its theme is more quirky and light-hearted moments with some dark themes mixed into it for the sake of the story, People do die in this game and at times can be graphic. Their gameplay styles also help separate them, SMT is naturally a more difficult game to play even on normal and even easy mode at times. If you mess up once in SMT, your whole turn is done. Persona is more forgiving in that regard though it has its moments where its challenging enough while being able to progress through the story. Soul Hackers 2 is an easier game to play than Persona. Persona still had the turn based mechanics similar to SMT where if you mess up, you only lose a couple turns. It doesn't matter if you mess up in Soul Hackers 2, your turn will be unphased meaning you can complete all four turns whether you mess up or not in battle. That also means that even if you find the weakness, you don't gain a turn, its only four turns. Normally you would gain turns if you find the weakness of enemies, but it doesn't matter here in Soul Hackers 2, four turns is the ruling.
The characters in Soul Hackers are different from SMT and Persona protagonists since instead of high schoolers, the Protagonists consist of Young Adults in their 20's (assuming mid or late 20's) which is refreshing rather than the typical high school A-team. The characters are alright, they have their own personalities to them and their own stories. Ringo (yellow-green) and Figue (Purple) are two sentient AI's in humanoid bodies sent by Aion to protect the world from the impending doom of humanity all while learning what it's like to be human. Arrow is a Devil Summoner of a group called Yatagarasu who's the straight man of the group who lacks in some social queues but is a determined individual loyal to his friends and what he believes in. Milady is the assassin devil summoner from the other devil summoner group called Phantom Society and is the former lover of the main Antagonist Iron Mask. Saizo (my fav) is the comedic relief of the group who is a freelance devil summoner who workers for both sides and is a smooth talker with a charismatic personality. Each one has their own reason to fight and the chemistry between them are fun to watch I'll admit. Though the writing at times feel like they're trying to be hip and appeal to the younger audience and it comes across as cringey at times. But overall, the characters and their interactions are good.
The Story itself is not bad, but its also not great either, it's alright. The story is your typical Apocalyptic situation from Atlus where it takes the SMT route by having a big bad guy trying to destroy our current world so that they can create a new world in their own warped image. Our heroes have to stop them from destroying the world. The way its done in Soul Hackers 2 is done decently well where Iron Mask is collecting 5 covenants to give himself the power to destroy the world and create a new one. The story has a twist near the end which I wont spoil but I thought it was cleverly done. Soul Hackers 2 has an area called The Matrix where out heroes go through their souls and fix their souls from enemies invading it and as you keep exploring and leveling up your level for each character, you'll unlock deeper parts of their souls and stronger foes to fight and collect. I have issues with how they structured progressing in the game, I feel they should have made the Matrix a more essential way of progressing in the story and leveling up.
As mentioned before, the game is easier compared to other Atlus titles, as long as you level up you'll do fine though I do have issues with how you level up. Though there are moments where the EXP you get from fighting enemies doesn't feel like a substantial reward after grinding and fighting, feels like you're cheaped out at times. I also noticed that it has that resting mechanic that Persona 5 Strikers had where you'd exit the portal and rest up immediately which was a complain Strikers got. Soul Hackers 2 has that same mechanic with the Safehouse, you can go to the safehouse and rest up or eat a meal and replenish your HP/MP with zero cost or consequences. This is what I feel holds great Atlus games back, when they make it too easy with these replenish areas you can use whenever you feel like it but again that's just me. I also want to mention how the difficulty in this game doesn't change much. I did this game on all three difficulties and they hardly change. in SMT, the difference is drastic and even Persona has a more noticeable different in difficulty when you change it.
As mentioned, I purchased the DLC for the game since it was all on sale. The main meat of the DLC is a big side story with the young novice Devil Summoner named Nana. She eats a lot, she's sassy, a bit of a brat and her story was lackluster to say the least. She wasn't anything significant to the game, I wish they had done it like Royal where Violet was added as a main part of the game and it fit well without any real plot holes. This is why I'm glad they went with adults rather than teens or I would have just said "this game is dollar tree persona". I understand she's just DLC and not an actual part of the story, but if you're gonna make a DLC side quest, at least make it where it adds something meaningful to the game. The other DLC's are demons that were obtainable before in other Atlus games but now in this game they're behind a paywall which was another criticism I was seeing and I totally agree with that. I hate it when things that were free and obtainable through skill in the past are now locked behind a paywall which is just anti-consumer. So yeah, DLC's were definitely a flop due to how they handled them.
Overall, the game is a decent turn based JRPG. I see this as more aimed towards the average gamer or gamers not familiar with Atlus or turn based JRPG's. This game is definitely not meant for the Atlus fans such as myself even though its structed almost the same as SMT and Persona with different endings (which are both cool) and fusing characters (the fusion scene in this game is kinda lame) but its structured to be easier than their other franchises. I still had fun beating the game and collecting demons and leveling up. I still think this is a fun Atlus game to play, just not one I'd play after I played games like SMT or Persona.
Rating this game I am giving it:
7/10
I would recommend this game to someone who wants a fun turn based JRPG or wants to get into the Atlus games, though if you're a long time fan of Atlus, wait till this game is on sale like I did and play it as filler while waitin for the next Persona or SMT game. This game is good, but could have been great if only handled better.
That's all I got, See ya!