Soul Hackers 2
Soul Hackers 2
Main page

Soul Hackers 2

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Soul Hackers 2

Soul Hackers 2 is a 2022 role-playing video game developed by Atlus. It was published by Atlus in Japan and by Sega worldwide for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The game is the fifth installment in the Devil Summoner series, itself a part of the larger Megami Tensei franchise, and a sequel to Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers (1997). The plot follows Ringo and Figue, manifested agents of the artificial intelligence Aion, as they seek and recruit people from rival groups of Devil Summoners who are key to preventing an approaching apocalypse. Gameplay has Ringo and her party exploring dungeon environments within a futuristic city, and fighting enemies in turn-based combat.

Soul Hackers 2 was developed by a team incorporating several Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE staff members including Eiji Ishida and Mitsuru Hirata, who worked as co-producers and co-directors, and scenario writer Makoto Miyauchi. The team collaborated with artist Shirow Miwa on character designs, and composers from the studio Monaca led by Keiichi Okabe to create the soundtrack.

Soul Hackers 2 received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its presentation, combat system, and story, but criticized the dungeon design, side content, and implementation of downloadable content. The game failed to meet the sales expectations of Sega.

Soul Hackers 2 is a role-playing video game in which players take on the role of artificial being Ringo, who is joined during the game with three human allies with different abilities. The story is communicated through a combination of fully 3D in-engine cutscenes, and dialogue sections combining in-game 3D models with 2D character portraits. Progression is tied to story-based quests, with the player moving between safe zones holding associated services for supporting the player party such as item and equipment shops, and explorable dungeon environments featuring combat encounters with and using Demons. Requests, the game's form of side quests, can be completed to earn in-game money and items. Alongside standard dungeons is the Soul Matrix, dungeons tied to members of Ringo's party which can be explored and cleared to gain additional skills for the party. The scale of a party member's Soul Matrix is determined by their Soul Bond, which can be strengthened by spending time with them outside combat or making specific dialogue choices in story cutscenes.

Enemies in dungeons are represented by humanoid symbols, their colour determining enemy strength and aggression. Ringo can stun them and avoid combat, or engage; if the enemy hits the party first, they get the first attack in combat, while Ringo initiating the attack gives the party first attack and can trigger a free opening attack from a party member. Battles are turn-based, with each side getting a set of actions, using both standard attacks and skills assigned to their COMP weapons via Demons. A core element of combat is exploiting weaknesses, which deal more damage; weakness include elemental attacks, and melee or ranged attacks depending on enemy type. Striking an enemy's weakness adds points to a Stack, and at the end of that turn the accumulated Stack is spent in a Sabbath, a powerful multi-Demon attack that increases in strength with higher Stack points. Some demons can learn and use Tamdem Skills, adding an additional effect to the Sabbath such as inflicting a status effect or recovering the party's magic points. Another later element of combat is Commander Skills, an ability unique to Ringo that grants special boons in battle.

As with other Megami Tensei titles, demons play a key role in combat, and can be recruited and customised by the player. Upon entering a dungeon, Ringo sends out some of her assigned demons to explore the dungeon environment, with finding them granting new information, items, healing, and potential new demons. Demons will join the party after fulfilling their request such as giving an item. A demon can then be equipped to COMPs, changing each party member's accessible skills. Alongside recruitment, new demons can be accessed through Fusion, where two demons are fused into a new Demon type at a specific in-game location. Players can select which skills are carried over from each fused demon into the new creation. While any two demons can be fused, fusing two specific ones triggers a Special Fusion, creating a more powerful Demon. Once a Demon has acquired all skills, it gifts the party with a Mistique, an equippable item which grants passive bonuses. Demons can be logged in a Demon Compendium, allowing them to be summoned again for a fee. New Game Plus carries over current Soul Bond level, unlocking further character scenes, alongside costumes and accessories unlocked during the first playthrough. Character levels, items, money, and unlocked demons are carried over optionally.

Soul Hackers 2 is set in a near-future city where humans and demons coexist in secret, with some humans able to form pacts with demons to become Devil Summoners. The Devil Summoners are mostly split between two main factions, Yatagarasu and the Phantom Society, who hold clashing ideological views on humanity's progress. During the game's opening, a world-ending catastrophe brought by a being called the Great One is predicted by the previously-neutral Aion, a higher artificial intelligence entity that emerged within cyberspace. Aion manifests two parts of themself, Ringo and Figue, as individuals to enter the human world and save humans calculated as key to preventing the Great One's arrival. The individuals are Arrow, a Yatagarasu agent; Milady, a Phantom Society summoner and lover of the apparent mastermind Iron Mask; and Saizo, a freelance summoner whose Phantom Society lover Ash becomes involved in his murder. Ringo brings each back in turn using Soul Hack, an ability to restore their souls and bodies. Investigating the death of researcher Ichiro Onda and disappearance of senior Yatagarasu member Mangetsu Kuzunoha, the group eventually discover Iron Mask is searching for the Covenants, five magical entities acting as symbols of an ancient pact with the Great One.

Kuzunoha was researching the Covenants, which when gathered together can summon the Great One and remake the world, with Onda and Arrow assisting him. Onda was conducting research to uplift humanity, driven by his Covenant's purpose to further human progress, when he was killed. Kuzunoha is also later killed and his Covenant apparently taken. Milady and Saizo also held Covenants, but Milady's attaches to Figue when Ringo revives her. The group are aided by Raven, a former Yatagarasu summoner to whom Figue becomes attached. The group are eventually ambushed and captured by Iron Mask and his artificial demon Zenon who demand Figue's covenant. Figue infects it with a computer virus which renders Zenon vulnerable. Zenon is killed with Ash's help, but Iron Mask escapes with the four of the Covenants. Figue later reveals Kuzunoha created a false Covenant for himself, sealing the original inside Arrow and blocking his memories to hide its presence. They further learn from Milady that the real Iron Mask was killed, with the current one being an imposter.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.