Fans of classic JRPGs had guessed it: the mysterious web page put online by Atlus under the name Soul Hackers announced well a rather unexpected sequel to Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers. The announcement was made via a livestream that opened on a fight in “live action” (i.e. with actors) featuring characters from the game. Fight held in front of the Kanda-Miojin Shinto shrine, known in the video game world for hosting the PlayStation 5 launch ceremony .
This cosplay choreography had a bit of a retro air, which was not to displease fans of Tokusatsu – these Japanese series in costume often a bit cheap, Bioman and other Kamen Rider. A style fitting with the subject, since Soul Hackers 2 will come to awaken a license whose original release on SEGA Saturn dates from 1997. Little is known about the scenario at the moment, the information shared by ATLUS being limited to a vague pitch:
“In the midst of a war between demonic summoners, it’s up to Ringo and his team to figure out their fate and save the world from the apocalypse!”
ATLUS? Summons of demons? Save the world in a JRPG? We are on familiar ground… Normal, Soul Hackers is, like the Persona games, a spin off of the Shin Megami Tensei series! The scene presented in the trailer below should thus seem familiar to the players of Persona, just like the monsters which appear there. So, after stealing hearts in Persona 5, it will be about hacking souls…
To be complete on the few information we currently have, the chara design has been entrusted to Shirow Miwathe author of the manga Dogs – Bullet & Carnage, and the music will come out of the Monaca studios, where the author of the NieR soundtracks works, among others, Keichi Okabe.
And icing on the cake, the game will be released with us only 24 hours after its Japanese release, on August 26th, with voices in Japanese or English, and the presence of French subtitles. Where we still measure, two years later, the beneficial effects of the success of Persona 5, and even of Persona 4 Golden before him!