Persona 5 Royal took me by surprise when I first played it in 2023. I had heard about it, how it was a legendary game and a must-play for all RPG fans. But I never could have imagined just how immersed I would become in the game for the entire 100+ hours for all three terms. In fact, maybe immersed is the wrong word; perhaps it was more like “Cancel all plans for the next few weeks, clear the calendar and fill it with Persona 5 playtime” while simultaneously telling my brain and body that it was, in fact, possible to function on 5 hours or less of sleep several worknights in a row for weeks on end. It was a gripping adventure that generated a renewed interest in Atlus games, which led me to Shin Megami Tensei 3 and, more recently, Soul Hackers 2.
If for some reason you are on the fence about Persona 5 Royal (no judgment, I promise), perhaps because it is a gargantuan game and quite the time sink, I could recommend Soul Hackers 2 as a decent introduction to many of the game mechanics seen in Persona 5, while understanding that Persona 5 does everything better. The one benefit to playing Soul Hackers 2 is that it’s a “brief” introduction to those mechanics and storytelling style, brief, of course, only in comparison to Persona 5, as this is likely to last for at least 40 to 50 hours for most gamers, a decent chunk of time in its own right.
Soul Hackers 2 has a flashy art style, but thankfully, there is also some substance behind that flash. Perhaps it was the general tone of the game, but, at times, it felt like a film noir in the form of a videogame. The flashback scenes are expertly crafted and tend to pull at the heartstrings. They are equally nostalgic, bittersweet, and have a lingering sense of desperation. Characters appear distorted in a dream-like atmosphere as something poignant about their past is shown; it conveys wistfulness mixed, in some scenes, with sentimentality.
The music that plays during these flashbacks is always the same, but I couldn’t imagine a more fitting track. It’s poignant, haunting, and the perfect backdrop to the echoing voices. It is as if an invention could be made to record a person’s dreams; this is possibly what it would look like when being played back. It’s a fascinating insight into the character’s psyche because it says a lot about a person which memories they recall.
There is a social sim in Soul Hackers 2, which is a simplified version of Persona 5. There aren’t nearly as many choices, not as much is at stake, and it ends up being straightforward. Go to the bar, see if it’s possible to share drinks with one of your three party members, and watch, mostly banter, but each scene ends with adding soul points to increase each character’s soul level for whoever you have drinks with, so there really is no downside and thus no reason to avoid these short scenes. Plus, they open up new areas of the Soul Matrix.
If there were one aspect of the game I could have used a stripped-down version of something found in Persona 5, it would be the Soul Matrix. Compared to Momentos, I’d argue the Soul Matrix is more complex and a lot more difficult to navigate. The Soul Matrix is split into three parts, each dedicated to one of three main characters: Milady, Arrow, and Saizo. The first two floors for each character were a breeze, but by floor 3, they became much larger and more of a chore to complete. It simply stopped being fun around this point, though the rewards found in the Soul Matrix make trudging on worth it.
Plodding through the Soul Matrix also showed scenes of each character, adding more depth to their personality. So you can see there is more to Saizo than just being a freedom-loving womanizer. In fact, it is later revealed that he is looking for his ex-girlfriend. Arrow is a man of justice who wants to rid the world of corruption. Finally, Milady, betrayed and narrowly avoiding an assassination, is looking for the reason behind the attempt.
These three are led by Ringo, a synthetic being created by Aion to prevent the end of the world. Her curiosity regarding her surroundings and, really, anything related to humans is infectious and endearing. Aion is some being, or sentient supercomputer, lost somewhere in this universe-sized digital world. It reminded me of the end scenes of Lawnmower Man, except Aion is more discreet and, unlike that movie, wants to save mankind and the world.
While many developers are moving away from traditional turn-based combat, Atlus seemingly has embraced it with games like Persona 5 Royal, Shin Megami Tensei 5, and Soul Hackers 2 leading the way. There is nothing inherently wrong with this; there is merit to many different styles of battle, action, turn-based, strategy, or otherwise. Plus, there is a speed-up button. Despite the ability to increase speed and even with customization options, the battle eventually started to feel stale. There aren’t as many options as in other RPGs, and while you can create demons, like many Atlus games, it is basic. Finding weaknesses and exploiting them play a big role in battles. By striking them, you add to a counter at the top of the screen. The higher the counter, the more damage you can do at the end of your turn. Special comp skills allow this counter to go up faster, allowing all attacks, regardless of weakness, to increase it. It is important to have a variety of different demons.
In this game, getting demons is straightforward. There is no negotiation in battle, and the little that exists outside of battle basically boils down to whether you want to give the demon your money, item(s), HP, or magic, just a simple yes or no. They never even ask for more, like in other games. Sometimes they will join you for nothing. It was a blessing and a curse because it took any of the guesswork out, but it got bland by the end.
Always have a full roster of demons because, upon entering a dungeon, any demon currently in your possession scatters throughout the dungeon as soon as you enter, acting as scouts, and once found, either introduces you to a new demon to (possibly) recruit, gives items both common and rare, or simply heals HP, magic, or both. So, as you can see, the more demons, the better. Demons that are recruited can be combined, like any other Atlus game, to create better, stronger demons. It is always fun to play around with that, and skills from previous demons can be transferred to a new one.
The scouting adds some intrigue to dungeons that are otherwise missing. This is because, when you get down to it, they are drab and boring to explore. Not only that, but the developer responsible for creating the lower floors of the Soul Matrix needs to be talked down to, just awful. If you like to try to avoid using walkthroughs, good luck advancing to the bottom of the Soul Matrix. What an ordeal to figure that out! It was more burdensome than enjoyable.
A key reason for me to go down there was to kill two birds with one stone in the sense that I got extra money while exploring something “new”, new being used loosely here as everything in this huge place looks the same. But it had to be done because everything is expensive and money is at a premium, especially early. So I figured, why not uncover new paths rather than going back and forth on the same beaten path? Plus, the deepest currently available floor of the axis always offered more in comparison to the current main story location, so efficiency and all that.
Plus, it’s easy to move around in the game. There aren’t a lot of locations, and there is no world map, so it is quick to get around. There are warp points within dungeons is never too far away, allowing a quick exit to restock items and then warp back in and resume progress. Kudos to developers on ease of travel. Plus, saves were pretty frequent.
Overall, this is a decent game. It has its issues, but it has set the foundation for a possible successful Soul Hackers 3 if a few key changes were to be made. This is no Persona 5; don’t come in expecting anything like that. As long as you do that, you should be in for a pretty good time.