The Atlus teams have recently released a new turn-based RPG, Soul Hackers 2, available on PlayStation, Xbox and PC consoles since August 26, 2022. Game that we had the opportunity to try and even finish on Xbox Series X home console. If humanity is unaware of the presence of demons in the world, a war is brewing between the Yatagarasu and the Ghost Society.
In Soul Hackers 2, you take control of "Ringo", a humanoid with her own consciousness who was created by Aion, a highly sophisticated AI born in the sea of data far from human eyes who detected that the world is on the verge of destruction. Ringo is not the only one to be sent into the field, another humanoid called Fig is in charge of the same mission.
Fig doesn't really fight, but rather provides strategic support to the group while Ringo goes to recruit three more demon summoners using a soul hack, but we won't explain why she uses this process. . Don't be fooled by the title Soul Hackers 2, it is not at all necessary to have played the first opus dating from 1997 or its re-release on 3DS in 2013 to enjoy the game. Apart from a few references that will escape you, it is quite possible to enjoy the adventure by starting directly with this one.
Soul Hackers 2 has many similarities to older Atlus titles. The oldest players who have played PS2 games like Shin Megami Tensei 3 Nocturne (Lucifer's Call at the time) or Digital Devil Saga (for connoisseurs) will not be out of place since we find more or less the same approach . In any case, that's what we felt while playing the game, although it lacks "that little something" because of an oversimplified set.
You should know that the adventure is a succession of very labyrinthine dungeons which take the form of long corridors. The first Soul Hackers was a first-person dungeon-crawler, but the sequel is set in third-person. The dungeons are much less complex than in a Lucifer's Call or a Digital Devil Saga and the fights are not random since the enemies appear directly on the ground. You can hit them with Ringo's sword so they fall to the ground. You have two choices then, take advantage of the fight or miss out and continue your exploration. This does not mean that you can avoid all the fights, since the camera is positioned behind the protagonist of the game and so as to have a limited field of vision leaving the field open to demons to surprise you at the bend of a corridor. .
When exploring dungeons, you may encounter your own demons seeking items or demons for you to recruit. The game calls it "demonic exploration". Each time you enter a dungeon, Ringo sends your stock demons out to scout the location. It is then up to you to properly explore an area to retrieve their finds (sometimes they can provide you with healing).
Despite the labyrinthine aspect, the dungeons of the game remain pleasant to go through until the end of the adventure, keeping a certain "basic" form throughout. The visual aspect is one of the strengths of the software and a real success in our eyes with bright colors in this Japan and its Cyberpunk-looking city and a much darker atmosphere in the dungeons. The game benefits from a very beautiful artistic direction.
Regulars of MegaTen(s) and their Spin-offs will be familiar with Soul Hackers 2's turn-based combat. It's primarily focused on a system of strengths and weaknesses. Breaking through an enemy's defense is greatly advantageous in this type of turn-based RPG. Obviously, just like the opponents that we meet in the dungeons, the player characters also have strengths and weaknesses which are characterized through their demons equipped in their COMP (an essential device for any good summoner).
However, it should be noted that the combat mechanics are slightly different from what we were used to in the past. If in previous Atlus RPGs you could gain extra turns by exploiting an enemy's weakness, this is not the case in this episode. Instead, each time you hit a weak spot on a demon or its summoner, you cause a floating, ominous shadow to appear over their head and add a point to your upcoming combo meter. The more shadows of your own demons you spawn, the more powerful the attack will be.
Some of your creatures can even learn a unique skill that has a chance to trigger mid-combo to add extra damage to the final attack or to drain your opponents hit points or magic points. The game rewards enough for using this combo system, but besides that we almost have to worry about our own weaknesses since the enemies do not gain extra turns by exploiting them as is the case in previous MegaTen(s). We then feel a little less in danger!
Outside the dungeons, you have access to a city divided into several districts that you can select on a map. The city is the ideal place to stock up on items, accept additional requests or to maintain good relations with the various summoners who accompany Ringo in his quest. Other places are accessible from the map, such as the "Goumaden circus", a place where you go very often in the adventure to merge your demons with each other and obtain more powerful ones. It's important to keep your demons leveled up and to change skills often to adapt to the monsters that appear in the dungeons and to be able to target their weaknesses. Demons equipped in a summoner's COMP directly impact their combat stats.
Loading times in Soul Hackers 2 are hell even on the latest generation consoles. Each change of zone in the main city gives you the right to a loading screen of several seconds. Put end to end, all these loads have the gift of annoying you. The worst is that they also become present in the last third of the game in the middle of the dungeon. It seems that on PS5 you just have to change an option in the game settings to make these loading times disappear. We tested Soul Hackers 2 on an Xbox Series X and the little trick that's been circulating doesn't really work on this console… Unfortunately!
The other important place in the game is "The Axis", the place where the two humanoids Ringo & Figue were born (note also that there is a pun with Ringo in Japanese which means "apple", do not hesitate to do a search on Google to understand). In this place, you can explore the depths of the soul of the three demon summoners who accompany Ringo in his adventures. To be able to progress in the soul matrix of your summoners, you must improve your affinity with them in particular through multiple choice options that arise in certain dialogues. Depending on your answers, one of the three summoners who accompany Ringo in this adventure gains affinity points which has the effect of unlocking doors in their minds when you reach a certain level.
Then allowing Ringo, once she visits the Axis, to delve deeper into the souls of her fellow travelers. It gives the player the opportunity to learn more about the past of the characters Arrow, Milady and Saizo while strengthening the combat skills of the group in the process. Because every time you unlock a door in a host's mind, they learn a new combat skill that can make all the difference. We regret that the three dungeons are so similar, almost copy-pasted... We would have preferred to have a different dungeon theme for each summoner... The adventure ends in 30 hours in a straight line on normal difficulty (there is also a mode easy and difficult), but there is good replayability since it is necessary to launch a new game plus to have access to requests that are not found in the first course. Similarly, to maximize the soul points of the characters and fully explore their maze, it is mandatory to launch a second game from the completion data of the first. In the end it would take more than 60 hours to complete the adventure thoroughly.
Should we be tempted by Soul Hackers 2, the new turn-based RPG from Atlus?
If you are a fan of JRPGs and more particularly of those who have kept all their aura with old-fashioned turn-based combat, then tell yourself that Soul Hackers 2 is a good pick. As always with Atlus teams, the software is worked enough to convince the player over time. We regret, however, a certain lack of ambition on the side of the story with script elements that follow one another too quickly... The game mechanics are catchy, there is a varied bestiary, worked combat mechanics and very successful characters (Ringo tops the list). Soul Hackers 2 is a very pleasant JRPG to browse even if its structure seems a bit old-fashioned and rooted in the old days (especially the PS2 era) with visual modernity in addition.
Soul Hackers 2
Game rating
8 
