Game review: Raidou Remastered - The Mystery of the Soulless Army (Switch 2)
Japanese developer Atlus is famous for making some of the best JRPGs in history. Newer gamers will know the developer's work on last year's GOTY contender, Metaphor. I will forever fondly remember the developer's work on the excellent Persona 4 and Persona 5 games.
Before I knew Atlus even existed, the studio released a PS2 game called Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army way back in 2006. 19 years later, Atlus has finally decided to re-release the game on all modern gaming platforms. We here at FutureFive NZ reviewed the game on the Nintendo Switch 2.
It goes without saying the PS2 was a great platform for its time, but it was released before the HD generation. The original Raidou only ran at 480p, which is far below modern standards. If you are playing the game on the Switch 2, both docked and handheld can handle to run it at 1080p at 60fps. PC, PlayStation, and Xbox gamers can run the game at 4K!
Not only does the game look and run much better, but Atlus has expanded the level design to feature more 3D environments too. The original game had 2D pre-rendered backgrounds, so the upgrade is immediately noticeable.
Not to mention Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army features lots of quality-of-life updates that the original PS2 version never had. One of the biggest improvements is that this remaster includes full voiceovers for the first time. You can listen to the game in both English and Japanese.
Story-wise, Raidou Remastered has a unique plot where the character of Raidou has to solve a mystery that threatens Japan. It starts with Raidou working with the Narumi Detective Agency, where he gets a distress call from a schoolgirl named Kaya Daidoji. She has a strange request that she wants to be killed, but then she's suddenly kidnapped by a mysterious group of men.
The story starts off ordinary, but then it takes a turn with the supernatural. Thankfully, Raidou is well-equipped to be the hero of this story because he's also a Devil Summoner. He can visit the underworld to rid the world of demons, but he also has a unique ability to make some of them his partners as well.
The plot is amazing and is told in 12 different episodes. Just when you think the mystery of the plot has been solved, more episodes are left to play. Much like other Atlus games, it's a story you want to play until the end to see how everything is resolved.
Gameplay-wise, Atlus usually likes to make tons of turn-based JRPGs. All of the Atlus games I have played in the past have mostly been turn-based, but Raidou Remastered is slightly different. Though the game is still classified as an RPG, the combat system is action-orientated like the more recent Final Fantasy games.
Raidou has a cool-looking sword where he can kill demons using both light and heavy attacks. He can also dodge incoming enemy attacks, which is useful because dodging is a mechanic that most old-school turn-based RPGs don't even have.
If you want to deal more damage to the demons, Raidou also has several elemental attacks as well. You can choose between fire, ice, and electricity, and most demons in the game are weak against at least one of them. Elemental damage is cool because it stuns an enemy for a few seconds.
Another cool feature of this game's combat is that Raidou has access to a gun.
Some enemies don't like bullets, so you can pretty much shoot as much as possible. The only thing I don't like about the gun is that you cannot reload manually. The gun reloads automatically, but you just have to wait for it to happen first.
The most unique aspect of the combat is that Raidou can capture demons like Pokemon, and then send them out to fight for him. If you see an enemy you like to capture, you just need to approach them, and they have to be of the same level as you or lower. Two demons can fight alongside Raidou, and they're really helpful in taking out enemies with their own elemental-style attacks.
Aside from combat, there are some exploration and puzzle elements as part of the game too. Sometimes, Raidou is unable to enter an area, so he can send out a demon to fly over to a destination instead. In the real world, demons are invisible to most humans, so this skill is really helpful for Raidou when he's out investigating crimes.
I had a lot of fun playing Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army, but the game still has some minor flaws. For one thing, some of the character models still look old and pixelated. I also don't like the fact that you have to pay money every time Raidou needs to travel to a different town.
Apart from some very minor flaws, Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army is a great JRPG with excellent combat and an interesting story. Be sure to pick this game up if you are a fan of Atlus' previous video games.
Verdict: 9.0/10
