By now, you need to know what to anticipate from an Atlus sport. Whether or not you’re wading into the Boschian fever dream of Metaphor Refantazio or winding your means down the seven circles of hell in Shin Megami Tensei, Atlus likes it darkish. Darkish and peculiar. Unconstrained by the trimmings of normalcy. A bit edgy and a bit juvenile, however all provocative and goth.
Raidou Kuzonha vs. The Soulless Army isn’t any exception. The curious PS2 sport (which loved a 2006 launch in Japan and North America, and 2007 in PAL areas) carries on Atlus’ fascination with the occult and the Satanic, however with one main variation from all of the developer’s different titles: this one is an action-RPG.
Now, you should instantly get your mind away from the concept it’s a Soulslike, or something related. It’s extra of a hack-and-slash, peppered with the necessity for strategic flourish. Not like previous MegaTen games (and their use of the phenomenal Press Turn system), your protagonist, Raidou Kuzunoha, can assault with both his shut vary sword or his lengthy vary gun. However this wouldn’t be a MegaTen sport with out demons, so after all Kuzunoha can even summon two demons at a time to assist in battle.
At launch, this sport was positive. I’m a MegaTen sicko, so after all I performed this as quickly because it hit the PAL market (I additionally performed the sequel, later, which is healthier in nearly each means). It wasn’t something to write down residence about, actually, and the fight was grating greater than it was creative. However, oh my, how all that has modified now – almost twenty years later.
Coming to the Switch 2 at launch, Satan Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Military Remastered is a little bit of a misnomer. What we’re getting right here is extra of an enhanced model, and one that really seems like a pure and intentional progress of the unique sport. And are you aware why that’s? As a result of, in some way, most of the identical builders that labored on Raidou and its sequel throughout the PS2 period are nonetheless on the studio.
Yeah, I do know, proper? What’s successfully occurred right here is that Atlus has been in a position to say to its workers: “hey, do not forget that sport you very almost acquired proper at launch in 2006? Have one other swing at it. Load it with all these cool fight concepts you wished, enhance the programs, take what we’ve realized within the final 19 years and go wild”. And the result’s an enhanced piece of area of interest role-playing historical past that performs higher than ever.
First up, Atlus has remade the sport’s pre-rendered backgrounds into precise 3D. Every little thing seemed positive earlier than, however now there’s extra interactivity, extra impetus to get off the overwhelmed path (and, doubtlessly, extra to really do – negating some criticism of the sport’s quick size from its launch). Atlus has crammed extra demons into the roster, too, which means you’ve acquired extra freedom in the way you method battles, in addition to extra choices for summoning and fusing. Once more, this seems like a direct reply to criticisms of the sport’s small providing at launch in 2006. In case you’re a MegaTen sicko, you’ll recognize the additions of demons like Idun, Hayataro, and extra from SMT:5.
The fight upgrades themselves – extra standing results, a extra streamlined menu, extra motion for Raidou in battle, extra management over your demons – all appear to have been retroactively added into the sport from the second within the collection. No complaints, right here; Satan Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon improved upon the primary sport in almost each means. It makes for a much better expertise than the unique sport, and one that really stands up fairly nicely in 2025. It’s not precisely going to blow newcomers away, but it surely’s novel – and an ideal ‘on the go’ kinda sport to indicate off on the Change 2’s fancy {hardware}.
One other small quality-of-life factor that’s price mentioning is the encounter price. It’s been fastened. No extra random encounters. As a substitute, demons are seen on-screen and also you (type of) get to decide on when to have interaction. To make issues much more partaking, we’ve acquired English voice performing, too… And you recognize what? It’s fairly good!
And which may be what makes this re-release so interesting to me, truly. The unique Raidou video games include among the most satisfying, and memorable, narrative moments from any title Atlus has ever made. Sure, that features Persona. There’s a humour to those video games that actually works – and the interactions between Raidou himself and his acquainted cat Gouto is a good instance of excellent video games writing: tutorializing while delivering story.
Your demons have all these powers exterior battle (so you possibly can reveal the hidden ideas of NPCs – typically vulgar, at all times humorous – or roleplay as a detective to see extra in a given scene). The bizarre, occult-leaning setting of Nineteen Twenties Japan is pretty distinctive, and Atlus does nicely to dive into how curious it’s, understanding that it’s a time of change, a time of tension, but additionally of pleasure and progress. Having this colored in with competent and enjoyable voice-acting is one thing I didn’t know I wanted.
It is a much better product than I used to be anticipating, actually. The Shin Megami Tensei 3 remaster was pretty fundamental and barebones, however this… this can be a shining instance of how one can re-release a sport some 19 years later and have it truly supply one thing new, and sort things that the unique model lacked. After a quick preview, this has gone from ‘hm, that’s attention-grabbing’ to ‘oh, nicely I’m going to purchase that, then.’ Your mileage could differ, after all, however I believe this can be a fascinating instance of what Atlus can prepare dinner up with its legacy titles.
Now, the place’s my Digital Satan Saga 1 + 2 HD Remaster, ey?
