[Console Games} Soul Hackers 2 Review - Amateurs Hack Systems, Professionals Hack People

[[X]pErT-]

Soul Hackers 2 is a stylish, engaging JRPG with great characters, but dull dungeon design dampens the experience.From the very beginning, Soul Hackers 2 makes it clear that it's not interested in wasting time. Within the first two hours of starting up Atlus's latest JRPG, you'll have all of your main party members, know the focal points of the story, and have a grasp on almost all of the primary gameplay mechanics. It's a refreshing and stark contrast to the "slow-burn" kind of gameplay JRPGs are known for, and a very different approach than fans of the larger Shin Megami Tensei series might be used to. It's clear, then, that the goal of Soul Hackers 2 is to forge a new SMT subseries with a distinct approach to gameplay--a goal which it largely succeeds at.

 

In the future, mankind is stuck in a rut: Technological and social progress has stalled, and the human race faces a sort of global ennui. Beneath the outer fabric of society, however, groups of gifted humans who can communicate with the supernatural world work underground as "Devil Summoners." Some, like the Yatagarasu organization, aim to use their powers to protect humanity, while the nefarious Phantom Society aims for global destruction. In the middle of this conflict, Aion--a sentient AI born from the collective of networked digital knowledge--gives form to two physical "agents," Ringo and Fugue, sending them on a mission to rescue the world from certain destruction.Soul Matrix is visually underwhelming--it's mostly glowing cubes as far as the eye can see. This is a problem that persists throughout the dungeons of Soul Hackers 2 as, despite the game's amazing art design for characters, enemies, and city hangouts, the dungeons are painfully drab. All of the glitzy city streets and extravagant devil summoner hangouts give way to boring, dimly-lit mazes with little of visual interest. That wouldn't be so bad if they were fun to explore, but for the most part that's not the case.

 

Rewards are randomized in each dungeon--you send out your demon army to do recon, and when you encounter them you could get anything ranging from some cheap restoratives to a new ally to that key item you actually need to progress. As a result, the dungeons are designed to have certain spots where your demons might appear, usually in dead-end hallways or rooms. The lack of interesting design that invites players to explore and potentially discover secrets and rewards makes running around feel more tedious than it should, and even the addition of occasional puzzle elements (including everyone's favorite, the teleporter maze) doesn't help much. When compared to the incredibly designed palaces of Persona 5 or the apocalyptic wastelands of Shin Megami Tensei V--landscapes which speak untold stories through their visuals and structure--the weakness of Soul Hackers 2's dungeons are even more apparent.Compounding this issue is the uneven difficulty. Because optional side quests are such a big part of Soul Hackers 2, the game can only guess what levels, skills, and demons you have at any given point. Numerous upgrades and areas are story-locked, but even so, players can get a lot of extra levels and skills under their belt by diligently completing side quests and Soul Matrices as they pop up. As a result, you frequently feel either overleveled (by having done too much outside the main story) or underpowered (by having done too little). It never hits that satisfying sweet spot of feeling "just right" in terms of challenge. Even the bosses, which are expected to be significant difficulty spikes, can suffer the effects of this to a degree. My experience was on the default (Normal) difficulty, so if you want a persistent challenge, you may want to up the settings.

 

Taken as a whole, however, Soul Hackers 2 is a mostly satisfying experience. The character interactions and stylish art help it stand out from the pack, and the smooth-flowing, fast-paced combat makes even some of the more annoying dungeons (I don't want to see another abandoned subway for a very long time) feel like less of a drag. Soul Hackers, as a series, has a lot of potential to further grow into its own unique experience the way Persona has. Soul Hackers 2, despite its flaws, is a very promising start.

 

https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/soul-hackers-2-review-amateurs-hack-systems-professionals-hack-people/1900-6417943/