Given that Shin Megami Tensei is a gigantic series with many sub-series in the mix, along with many entries that never even made it to North America, it's easy to be confused here. But Soul Hackers 2 is actually the fifth game in the Devil Summoner sub-series, and a sequel to Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers which was originally released way back in 1997. Of course things get even more confusing because even though Soul Hackers was first released in 1997, it didn't even make its way to the States until it was ported to the 3DS in 2013. So knowing all the history, the interesting thing is this: here we are getting a sequel to a game that was originally released 25 years ago. Wow.
It's been a long-standing tradition for me that I take my winter vacation the week after Thanksgiving. It's always been when my wife and I decorate the house and start our Christmas shopping. It's a good week to recharge my batteries before returning to work to finish out the year. And with a toddler in the house, the past few years have also been when we go see Santa and do all the fun stuff like make gingerbread houses. But the other tradition I have is playing a JRPG that week. Maybe it just feels like having downtime with no work in the morning just fits really well for delving into a JRPG. Maybe the slow nature of the games jives well with vacation, or listening to Christmas movies in the background. Whatever it is, it's a tradition now. Last year it was Tales Of Vesperia, the year before was Dragon Quest XI, and so on. This year I had been intending to play Persona 5. It's a game that has been raved about since it hit these shores in 2017. And yet, I couldn't help but feel completely lured in by the prospect of an actual NEW game in the Shin Megami Tensei series releasing this year. Sure, Soul Hackers has less name recognition than Persona. But dudes, there's a new SMT game released in 2022. Nobody's really talking about it. It doesn't have the same kind of review scores (or budget) as Persona 5. But I love an underdog, and I love a super niche game like this. Heck, as much as I started this year enamored with Elden Ring like many others, I also spent the time earlier this year praising Stranger Of Paradise. Upon booting up Soul Hackers 2 for the first time, I was instantly greeted with several positives. First off, the anime art style is fantastic. While it's evident that Soul Hackers 2 doesn't have the same budget as Persona 5 did, this certainly doesn't look or feel like a low budget title. The visuals are excellent, and as a dude who loves to see some anime in his JRPG's, this is hitting big time. Likewise, the voice acting is also top-notch. I can't speak of the original Japanese voice work, but the performance by the English cast is great. I have to especially praise the work of Megan Harvey who provides the voice for Ringo. Her delivery is so good, and that's definitely a plus given that she's the main character. One reason that I've always been drawn to the SMT games is their modern setting – at least in the majority of the entries, not counting Last Bible. Most of the SMT games take place in a near future, and this is no exception. The truth is, while I can enjoy a Dungeons & Dragons inspired RPG, I'm always going to appreciate the neon bliss of a cyberpunk-tinged game more. Shin Megami Tensei games have long incorporated electronics into the mix, which makes sense given the original novel they were based on. Soul Hackers 2 combines digital demons with some religious mythologies – namely the souls that our group will be hacking in order to prevent the end of the world. While it might sound convoluted, it's pretty typica fare for an SMT game, and the execution is fantastic. The opening hours aren't exactly slow, but there is a fair of a lot of dialogue and cut scenes and tutorials to get through before things really start to open up. Luckily, the story is so cool that it really doesn't detract from the experience. Personally, I got sucked in really quickly. While the reviews for Soul Hackers 2 have been just sort of luke-warm, I've got to say that it has pretty much all of the qualities that I look for in an SMT game. During my winter vacation, I spent a solid ten hours or so with it, and got really invested with each boot-up. The battle system here is a bit different from the mainline SMT games. Instead of exploiting weaknesses to get extra turns, you instead add one "stack" for each weakness you exploit. At the end of your turn, the number of stacks rolls out an extra super-attack from your demons. This system feels admittedly simplified in comparison, but it's certainly still fun. And there are exploits to the exploits. For instance, you can use a special skill that slowly refills over turns to double those stacks. So if you're able to do so and then have each of your party members hit a weakness, you're going be dropping a stack of eight attacks at the end of your turn, which results in a super flashy summon animation and a whole heck of a lot of damage. It's fun stuff. Outside of the main story beats, there's also the Soul Matrix, which is basically a really big dungeon crawl that you go into to gain all kinds of extra beneficial loot. Going into the Soul Matrix is a good way to unlock new skills and perks, and frankly it's also just super addictive if you enjoy dungeon crawls. Which I do. That said, I've spent most of the last two weeks just main-lining the story quests. And in doing so, I've had a blast. The story is cool, the performances are solid, and the battle system is excellent. I also enjoy any RPG that doesn't require 100+ hours. It's why I've put off Persona 5, and instead opted to play this one to begin with. But I've done a lot of cool stuff here. I mean demon-fusion is always interesting. But I've probably rushed things a little too much. Focusing on the main quest (and ignoring the Soul Matrix in the meantime) means that I've overlooked a whole bunch of extra perks and skills. Which means that when I made my way to the final boss in about sixteen hours, I was way under-leveled. To put it context, I believe the max is Level 100 and I'm sitting around 50 for each of my party members. This isn't promising. So I spent about an hour bashing my head against a wall on the final boss. I really don't have enough demons/skill diversity to keep stacking up Weakness against the final boss' quad of helpers. And this is a problem. And so, I could walk away. I could go spend more hours in the Soul Matrix leveling everything up, or I could admit defeat and enjoy the sixteen hours I've spent with the game and call it a day. And unfortunately, I'm probably leaning toward the latter. But that's where I am in my life. I have limited gaming time. In average week, I probably put in twelve hours of gaming at most. I just don't have the same basically unlimited time I used to. So nowadays, I tend to just dive into a game and let it hold my attention for as long as it feels satisfactory. And really, to say that I even made it to the end boss of a SMT game is really cool, at least for me right now. I don't have it in me to go grind for who-knows-how-long right now. But I have loved and appreciated every moment of Soul Hackers 2 that I've played. It's crazy to me that "nobody" is really talking about this game this year. The Persona games get so much buzz. And Soul Hackers 2 is admittedly, way simpler, but still super awesome. I mean, Elden Ring will remain my GOTY for 2022, but Soul Hackers 2 is definitely in my Top 5.
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