Few companies stand as tall in theJRPGscene atAtlus. Series likePersona, Megami Tensei,andEtrian Odysseyhave helped cementAtlus’s reputation for turning out high-quality JRPGs, often with artstyles or mechanics that set those games apart from their competitors. The JRPG is a crowded and competitive field, but Atlus has proved that it’s stuck around for good reason.
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Soul Hackers 2is infused with many of the strengths the company is known for, including eye-catching character designs and cool battle concepts. That said, the game is not without its flaws. Improving these would help elevate the game to the same caliber as some of Atlus’s best work. Here are some of thebiggest fixesthatSoul Hackers 2needs.
7Familiar Mechanics
Soul Hackers 2feelstoo much like other Atlus games.Atlus has perfected its JRPG formula, so one might think feeling too much like a great game would be a bad thing, butSoul Hackers 2doesn’t add anything that formula or twist what’s already there in any meaningful ways.The end result is still a good game; it’s just a good game that feels too much like too many other good games.
While it may feel unfair to compareSoul Hackers 2toPersonagiven the incredible reception thatPersona 5received, it’s hard to look atSoul Hackers 2and not be bothered by the lack of truly standout ideas given what Atlus is capable of. The team behind the game is talented and there are countless areas in which that talent shines through, it’s simply not enough to make this game stand out.
6Familiar Plot
The apocalypse, its prevention, and its aftermathare some of the most popular scenarios in gaming. FPSs, RPGs, racing games, and even farming sims have all put their own spin on the end of the world. It’s understandable why: the steaks simply don’t get any higher without expanding the story beyond the boundaries of a single planet. To hook players, it’s hard to beat the end of the world.
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Gaming is so oversaturated with this particular plot that it’s hard to stand out, andSoul Hackers 2struggles in this areajust as it does with the familiarity of its mechanics. The game’s apocalyptic premise is a fine jumping off point, but it either needs much greater elaboration or a more interesting twist in order to convince players to care about this particular story when there are so many others competing for their attention.
5Intimacy Vs. Scope
Soul Hackers 2tells two stories: the high stakes tale of a possible apocalypse and its prevention and a much smaller, more intimate story ofthe relationships that grow between friends and strangers.As is true of the company’s other works, most of Atlus’s best storytelling takes place on this smaller, more intimate scale.
Soul Hackers 2is great at crafting likable, dynamic characters and relationships.Problems only emerge when the game tries to blend the scopes of these two stories.It can be done, but it isn’t done well here. The writing and performances are good enough that both sides of the story are enjoyable, but there remains an uncomfortable disconnect between the two that affects the overall pacing.
4Underwhelming Dungeons
Completing dungeons may be one of the weakest points inSoul Hackers 2.Their linearity may not be a problem in itself, but coupled with their general barrenness and underdeveloped anesthetics, they aren’t exciting. Atlus has a track record of producing some incredible dungeons for its characters to fight their way through in other games, so it was disappointing to not see the same design quality here.
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Puzzles are infrequent and more of a nuisance when they appear than anything else.The subterranean railroad motif is used too frequently, and with meaningful content scattered so sparsely throughout them, navigating dungeons sometimes feels more like a chore than an adventure.
3Deeper Combat
Combat in thePersonagames is some of the best that JRPGs have ever seen. It’s flashy, unique, fast, and genuinely fun to master. Combat inSoul Hackers 2is by no means bad, but it isn’t as deep or well-refined as combat in other Atlus games.
Building a Demon Stack by striking enemies with attacks to which they are vulnerable and then unleashing the demons' full fury in a Sabbath at the end of each turn is enjoyable.So is building a team.They just doesn’t keep the player’s mind racing with possibilities.By adding new systems or expanding upon what’s already there, Atlus could make combat inSoul Hackers 2a much more engaging experience and one that better incentivized repeated playthroughs. As it is, battles are fun, but not fun enough to leave players itching for another go.
2Overall Pacing
Soul Hackers 2struggles to establish a consistent and satisfying pace throughout its run. This is true of the game’s story and mechanics. Whereas the problems with the story’s pacing mostly stem from the effort of interweaving the main plot with individual character development and relationships,many of the mechanics struggle with pacing because they appear too early.
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The mechanics of progressing through each Soul Matrix, gaining Summoner Skills, fusing demons into stronger ones at the Circus, and gaining Commander Skills at the Weaponsmith are all introduced early. That wouldn’t be a problem if they were particularly deep to begin with or if they evolved in some way through the course of the game to keep things fresh. As it stands, the player will be intimately familiar with all of these systems in no time, and with nowhere else to go from there, one isn’t left with much.
1Shorter Dungeons
The overall lack of content and unique elements in dungeons is one issue. The length of dungeons is another, and it’s so significant inSoul Hackers 2that no critique of the game’s flaws would be complete without exploring this problem. Dungeons inSoul Hackers 2are simply too long. Every player has their own preferred length for a gaming session and their own tolerance for lengthy dungeons, butmost players will likely agree that the dungeons inSoul Hackers 2need to be shorter.
It might begood for grinding money,but spending six or eight hours in a dungeon without significant story developments, cutscenes, engaging puzzles, or captivating combat is painful. Indeed, many problems with the game’s pacing and overall enjoyment could be fixed by shortening dungeons or addressing the frequency of random battles.
Soul Hacker 2is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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