Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army
Developer: Atlus
Publisher: Atlus
Platforms: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, Switch 2, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S (Reviewed), PC
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $49.99 USD – Available Here $79.95 AUD – Available Here
Overview
When it comes to a game being “remastered” players never quite know what to expect these days. Sometimes a remaster is simply bringing a PlayStation or even Super Nintendo game to modern platforms with some enhanced sprite work and cleaner backgrounds and a few bonus elements like speeding up combat or they could be a near complete rework of the original, remastered with the love and care deserving of a title that many may have never played when it originally released or never had a chance to.
In this case we have the 2006 PlayStation 2 game Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army that saw modest success back in the day but landed long before the franchise’s far more popular titles started putting the Shin Megami Tensei franchise as a whole on the map and trying to put its own spin on things by being an action game instead of a turn-based one. So now with Atlus bringing the game back as Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army for modern platforms, just how far have they gone with this remaster?
Story
Players take on the role of a boy in his late-teens that almost immediately abandons the player’s entered name to become Raidou Kuzunoha XIV, the latest in a long line of highly specialized Devil Summoner that work in the shadows and alongside the government to protect Tokyo and other Japanese citizens from demonic influences. Paired up with a chatty black cat named Gouto, Raidou is sent to Tokyo to continue his studies and work as a member of the Narumi Detective Agency while also taking on any missions that the Yatagarasu, the head of his organization, may assign him. One day, when the agency receives a strange request from a client to meet them at a bridge at night, the pair find a young girl pleading with them to kill her. Before Riadou or Detective Narumi are able to figure out why or even talk her out of it, strange men clad in red armor and wielding immense power appear and beat down Raidou and his demonic allies as if they were nothing, kidnapping the client named Kaya in the process.
With very little to go on, Raidou and Narumi must begin investigating the capital for clues as to where she was abducted and taken to, why she was taken in the first place, and perhaps most importantly, why did she ask to die? Along the way Raidou finds a number of new allies on the detective side of things with some unique and comedic humans joining his search while on the demonic side, Raidou’s “soulless army” is anything but as he gathers countless demons to assist him in both battle and to help further his investigation with their powers.
For those familiar with the original, Raidou Remastered sticks mostly true to the original outside of a some minor translation alterations here and there and makes for an entertaining, abeit a bit on the shorter side for an Atlus game, story. The setting that places Raidou in the fantastical realm of 1931 Japan makes for an eclectic setting where old rigid structures have started to change and new advancements are encroaching upon tradition. One of the player’s first major new allies in the story happens to be a young woman named Tae who is just that, a modern woman that acts on her own volition with more casual dress and works as a local journalist trying to understand the strange events happening around town. That being said, the story itself is mostly simple in nature with its few twists and turns being a bit too predictable and the characters and even main antagonists, with the exception of a few, being one note since character development takes a back seat here to keep the plot moving forward.
That is far from a bad thing however, as Raidou Remastered’s storyline will still likely take an average player well over thirty hours to complete and that isn’t even if they want to tackle everything available to them. Those that do though will find that while some side-quests are rather unique and some “sub-plots” that involve completing mini detective jobs with the help of Raidou’s demons’ unique abilities such as flying up to retrieve a dog stuck on a building, many are incredibly bland fetch quests. Sure, players can easily make use of the fast travel system to move from location to location quickly but that doesn’t prevent these quests from feeling like a waste of time more often than not.
Gameplay
As mentioned before Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army is indeed a reamster but it is one that pushes that line into practically remake territory when it comes to one half of the gameplay. You see, Raidou Remastered is basically split into two separate categories when it comes to gameplay, investigating and tracking down clues while exploring the human world and then battling against demons in the demon realm and inside of dungeons hidden away from humanity. This first part is rather simple and straightforward and made even more so by the fact that the title now indicates where players should travel to and who they need to interact with to properly advance an investigation, though sometimes they’ll still need to have the proper demonic ally with them to help smooth things along as some demons have specific abilities that are required to progress such as mind reading, flight, fitting in tight spaces, and even invigorating a target.
The investigations tend to be a bit… one note at times and considering players only have to worry about following the proper path there is no real guesswork involved in the actual investigation or figuring things out, this means that while there is a mystery to solve, outside of solving some simple puzzles align the way, there isn’t much of an actual detective game here which can be a bit disappointing. That being said, there are the aforementioned side-quests that are occasionally more rewarding and a bit unique but far too many fall into simply being fetch quests to feel worthwhile, especially since they rarely contribute much to the story as mentioned earlier.
Now perhaps the biggest place that Raidou Remastered has actually undergone its changes is when it comes to exploring locations where they encounter enemies and the fights themselves. Atlus has made a large number of quality of life improvements here, mostly those integrated into the sequel, and retroactively applied them here in the remaster. No longer will Raidou randomly encounter battles with demons, instead demonic enemies will spawn in the open and players can even trigger a fight right away by sending their currently summoned demon to attack for an advantage at a start of a fight or, if the player is high enough level, instantly eliminate a week foe without dragging them into combat.
Once players enter a fight they’ll also see that the game makes a direct change from most Shin Megami Tensei titles by not being a turn-based RPG but an action RPG instead. The combat in Raidou Remastered has gotten an almost complete overhaul from what it was before. What was once a stiff controlling action game with limited movements and combat options where Raidou would fight with only one demon at his side players will now find themselves transported into a combat arena that Raidou can move around fluidly, making use of dodges and jumps to avoid attacks all while fighting alongside two demon allies at the same time, using his light sword attacks to boost their shared MAG gauge, heavy sword attacks to deal extra damage, and even his gun to stun enemies temporarily. Alongside this Raidou can eventually learn various spells and enchant his weapon in various ways to make combat even more intricate and unique compared to before, including special “takedown” maneuvers performed when dealing enough damage to an enemy in a combo or even “absorbing” a demon to bring them into his party. Ironically enough, some demons can still resist and try to force Raidou into a conversation here, bringing about the familiar demon bargaining mechanics that fans of the franchise are familiar with.
These new changes to combat make fighting along two demonic allies an absolute blast. Combined with the improvements made to Raidou’s movement capabilities and arsenal, the fact that players can bring two demons with them is a major blessing, especially since they can be swapped out mid-battle with no punishment, making it far easier to target enemy weaknesses. While there is no “Push Turn” system here, enemies hit by their weakness will receive increased damage and be left with their guards broken, allowing them to receive even more damage for a limited time, this means players are encouraged to keep a well-rounded roster of demons with them.
Then again, this remake also makes the demon fusions by mad scientist Victor far more powerful as well.Fusing demons used to result in random skill inheritance but now players can pick and choose what skills a demon can inherit from its “fused” parents, making for some rather outlandish abilities that players can put together. Combine this with grimoires that can teach powerful abilities at a limited cost and players can quickly find themselves stacking a massively overpowered team if they aren’t careful. It is also nice to note that a large number of new demons have been retroactively added into the game as well and made available as part of the fusion pool. On top of this, there is some further paid DLC that unlocks additional signature and fan favorite demons from later Shin Megami Tensei games should players wish to add these familiar faces to their team as well.
All of these additions make the game’s combat feel like it pushes far past remaster territory and nearly into remake territory instead, if it wasn’t for the fact that the detective aspect still holds true to many of its original elements and some controller aspects, especially during standard moving around the world, feels rather dated in nature. Thankfully throughout my entire time with the game we did not experience a single bug nor crash meaning this remaster has also been successfully completed without any notable bugs throughout the main storyline and most of the side content.
Audio & Visuals
Alongside the aforementioned combat changes the biggest changes made to Raidou Remastered come in the form of its graphical improvements. The pre-rendered backgrounds of the original version have been completely removed to instead provide fully 3D backgrounds to fit with the game’s exploration and have plenty of attention to detail, especially when traveling between the widely different locations. The combat is similarly impressive looking as well, though not all of the touch-ups were quite as successful. While a large number of new demons have been added to the game from recent entries, not all of the models that were in the original release were touched up quite enough to match with current expectations and more than a few character models just look odd. Combine this with some occasional low quality textures appearing here and there and some of the title’s PlayStation 2 legacy still hangs on.
The game now features an entirely new recorded English and Japanese voice track which works quite well, though those that want the more authentic feeling experience may want to stick to the Japanese dub as some of the English performances, especially for a few of the side characters, are rather stilted sounding and even the main characters don’t stand out in any notable way except for Gouto. The soundtrack on the other hand features a great collection of background music with a mix of jazzy style tracks for exploration and rock-style music for battles and more intense sequences, making for a great collection here.
Overall
Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army may have seemed like a strange pick from Atlus’ storied catalog of forgotten games but not only does this remaster push to borderline remake but it also gives us a chance to replay what turns out to be a great action RPG that may have some issues due to its dated nature and lackluster storyline but manages to deliver a game any fan of the Shin Megami franchise should enjoy and even entice new ones with its unique premise and action combat.
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