Soul Hackers 2 Review

Up until the last few years, Megami Tensei has largely flown under the shadows compared to other mainstream RPGs out of Japan. It’s certainly had a lot of fans back home, with a number of sequels and spin-offs, until the Persona series started gaining traction in the West and Atlus finally had an in for worldwide reputation. The problem, of course, is that Persona has become such a massive success story following Persona 5’s critical reception that many of its other franchise entries have struggled to gain the same kind of mainstream pull, including the main Megami Tensei series. That’s certainly not going to stop them from trying, and with Soul Hackers 2 there’s an admirable JRPG underneath an air of familiarity.

In the distant future of an alternate Earth, Devil Summoner is a career path for many underground and otherwise. Two major factions – the Yatagarasu and the Phantom Society – find themselves at odds with each other, leading to the digital entity Aion birthing two humanoid figures in the hope they can avert a disaster it has seen coming – one that could doom humanity once and for all. You play the role of one such android in Ringo, who forms a partnership with various Devil Summoners in a fight against Iron Mask, a devilish character with equally malevolent plans.

Enemies may seem a little familiar

It seems traditional in most of the Megami Tensei series, spin-off or otherwise, to slowly warm into its narrative as characters are introduced. Soul Hackers 2 is no different, taking a little time to allow its cast to come together and build out their backstories and relationships. Ringo and her partner Figue come across three Summoners with a connection to Iron Mask, and the ragtag bunch come together to solve the riddle of the covenants. These powerful entities passed down through the ages allow its owner powerful abilities and, if brought together, could bring about the birth of The Great One.

That slow burn of info across the first few hours of gameplay means most of the opening will feel like a detailed tutorial, filling you in on the more important mechanics you’ll have at your disposal that will feel automatically familiar to JRPG fans. You’ll take turns in your squad of four members to attack, heal or buff the battlefield as enemies both human and demon do their best to take you down, with a combination of weapon-based or magical abilities that can be countered or used to reveal weaknesses. Of the unique abilities added for Soul Hackers 2, Ringo can use a bonus attack called Sabbath at the end of every attacking round if an enemy has been hit by an attack type it’s weak to, stacking for every hit dealt during that round and dealing an extra dose of damage.

The considerable number of hours to come from that opening few moments will introduce various abilities that Ringo can take advantage of, passive and active. The more you level up and explore other areas, the greater the number of extra abilities you’ll have at your disposal, some of which can heal party members over time or actively change the nature of the fight on the fly. The handful of dungeons on offer will have their fair share of random encounters, most of which you can handily avoid with a well-timed swipe of Ringo’s sword to knock them away before becoming another encounter, but it does more harm than good simply running away from fights and grinding to level up is necessary and unsurprisingly comes as a major benefit for later boss encounters.

Most likely an Android OS

To aid that grind, Ringo can explore the Soul Matrix, a digital realm that allows her entry into the souls of her compatriots. This secondary dungeon will have you fighting demons as normal and unlocking a stronger connection to each team member through their memories. That bond will add further new passive and active abilities for those team members and provide further insight into each character’s motivations and history. The rest of the map is made up of various vendors that can upgrade equipment, splice two demons together to form a more powerful one and allow the purchase of meals and items to aid the team in battle. You’ll be spending a decent amount of your time outside of the main campaign, all told, with that constant push and pull of levelling with the growing threat of new dungeon areas. Thankfully an included easy mode makes it easier for newcomers to avoid some of the frustration that can come with the bigger challenges.

Soul Hackers 2 does a reasonable job in introducing an intriguing narrative to tie things together, with a colourful cast that takes a little to warm to as the twists and turns reveal themselves. Ringo is an enjoyable lead along with her sister Figue, both learning the ins and outs of being a human amid a seemingly unwinnable scenario. Of the remaining supporting cast, Iron Mask is a well-cast villain with the right amount of sinister dialogue, with Milady’s troubled connection to him one of the better story threads. They all have their moments as the story progresses and you’ll likely find a favourite or two, but they don’t quite have the same level of humour or visual panache as the Persona series despite splashes of neon and cyberpunk. Devil Summoner fans may also be surprised by how light-hearted Soul Hackers 2 is compared to the previous entry in the series, a much darker tale in comparison, but the lighter nature is exactly what the game needs to avoid some of the pitfalls of end-of-the-world anime tales.

Iron Mask is an interesting enough villain

What lets Soul Hackers 2 down is the unusual level of blandness across its campaign and a lack of unique mechanics. Dungeons feel samey, long corridors of drab wall textures and the same recurring random encounters, with puzzles that are easily solved and don’t offer enough variety to break things up. The Soul Matrix, too, is the same, blue-tinted hallways littered with identical enemies as the main dungeons, meaning the grind will be all too familiar despite its best attempts to expand the narrative threads. An extra layer of polish would have done the game a world of good, even more so in the audio department as the simplistic musical score and constant repeating voice lines don’t do the game any favours.

Final Thoughts

Soul Hackers 2 does an commendable job of presenting another solid JRPG experience, albeit one that suffers from a lack of quality and variety in areas where it could have been bolder in its execution. A sense of similarity aside, it’s still a worthwhile story to follow and fans of the franchise will find more than enough to keep them happy, even if there aren’t quite enough new and fresh ideas here to set it apart from the pack. The Persona shadow continues to hover over the rest of the Atlus stable, and it remains a high-quality ceiling to beat.

Reviewed on PS5 // Review code supplied by publisher

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