Its always nice when a company gives the opportunity for modern players to experience cool titles from a bygone era that may have become rare, and therefore commanding bonkers collectors prices. The latest game to be pulled out of obscurity and put in front of new sets of eyes is Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army, which originally came out on the PlayStation 2 way back in 2006.
Rather than just give proceedings a fresh lick of paint and a few quality of life additions, this is less of a remaster and more of a complete redo more in keeping with something like Square Enix pulled off with their Final Fantasy VII beauties. It features pretty much the same plot and all of the characters from the original game, but also expertly remixes in elements from the King Abaddon 2008 sequel.
The Devil Summoner series works as a lovely counterpart to other Atlus franchises like Persona and Shin Megami Tensei, the latter of which it is technically a spinoff, so chances are if you are a fan of those bad boys, and like a bit more action to go with your role playing, then this is going to be right up your alley. In this one you play the role of the titular Raidou, a debonair gentleman Devil Summoner, who swans around a stylised version of Taisho era Japan, interrogating, investigating and fighting his way through crazy ghostly goings-on with his wise cracking cat Gouto.
Raidou’s principle gimmick, apart from the fact he has a goddamned speaking moggy, is that he uses the demons he can summon to help solve mysteries and puzzles and even interact with people in their own unique ways. The way the summoned beasties are employed routinely delights at every turn. You may meet someone who is really upset or angry, and not be able to get a decent conversation out of them – however summon the right demonic entity and you may be able to calm their mood.
Some demons can read the minds of others too, which is particularly handy for extracting information, hints, or directions. You can also use demons to physically solve puzzles too, sending them out on their own to do your bidding. I won’t spoil any of these instances for you here, as it is so much fun finding out what they are capable of. With a Pokemon-esque 100+ demons to seek out, and even a brand new one just for this remaster, you will be summoning, fusing, and tinkering for a fair old while.
Like the Square Enix remake I mentioned earlier, the combat is the one area where Raidou has been altered most prominently. First up, random encounters, an outdated RPG trope that we seldom see nowadays, are dispensed with, and you can initiate battles by approaching some foes on the map, or trigger special combat events by entering special areas known as Aril Rifts which reward you for taking down tougher swathes of baddies with increased loot and XP. Battle wise, the original PS2 game was quite simplistic with a lone attack button and another for your gun. It was still good fun, but Remaster takes things to a whole new level, with light and heavy attacks with the light linked to your magic meter.
This meter contains the precious energy required to unleash summoned demons in battle, which as you can imagine can be really handy. So the emphasis is placed on tactically employing pressure with light hits in order to make sure it is topped up and those devils are ready to kick some ass. You still have your gun, too – and this can be beefed up with special skills and buffs. Initially you use the gun to pin enemies down so you can move in for melee attacks, but as time goes on and you unlock new skills and abilities it takes on different functions.
After reaching a certain point in proceedings you also discover the ability to craft new versions of your main weapon with the Sword Alchemy system, which really opens things up and diversifies the amount of flashy attacks and abilities Raidou has at his disposal. Right from the word go, however, combat is fluid, fast and great fun and a million miles removed from the source material.
Graphically the shift in quality and design is quite something to behold, too. The original was very much of its time, with fixed camera angles and pretty drab pre-rendered backdrops. This has been completely redesigned in full 3D glory and the Tokyo in which Raidou and his demons play things out now looks absolutely sumptuous and is a joy to explore. Everything is now also fully voice acted, in both Japanese and English – and, shock horror, the English voice acting is actually pretty good.
RAIDOU Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army is an absolutely first class re-do of what was an already excellent game. You get a ton of extra content – such as brand new side missions, the way elements of the sequel are intertwined seamlessly to the original plot, and a tough as nails Detective Legend mode – meaning that this one has longevity and replay value to boot. I would love to see Atlus give the same treatment to more of its quirky back catalogue.
