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rpgamer_feed Jun. 18th, 2025 02:00 pm)Teaching An Old Devil Summoner New Tricks
As a spinoff of the Megami Tensei franchise, the Devil Summoner series, with its shared universe and detective story elements, remained exclusive to Japan until the 2006 PlayStation 2 release of Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army. As the third game in the Devil Summoner series, the game’s original release took a largely different direction than Atlus’s typical turn-based fare, opting instead for action RPG combat. As time passed and the Megami Tensei franchise grew in popularity, the foray into action-based combat largely remained constrained to this game and its 2008 sequel until now, with the release of Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army.
Taking place in a fictionalized and extended version of Taishō era Japan, specifically in Taishō 20, or 1931, the high-school-aged player character shuns their given name to become the next iteration in a long line of Devil Summoners, being dubbed Raidou Kuzunoha XIV. Alongside his talking cat, Gouto, he works at the Narumi Detective Agency under lead detective Shohei Narumi while also being an agent of Yatagarasu, a secret society of Devil Summoners whose job is to protect the Capital, Tokyo, from demonic or other supernatural threats.
The story begins when Narumi and Raidou go to meet Kaya Daidouji, a client of the detective agency. Upon meeting her, she asks them to kill her, but before either can respond to this strange request, mysterious armored men cloaked in red capes suddenly appear, assault Raidou, kidnap Kaya, and disappear just as quickly. Throughout the game, Raidou and Narumi inspect the capital for clues as to her whereabouts and, along the way, find themselves embroiled in various demonic shenanigans and crises, unraveling long-buried conspiracies that tie the supernatural and political worlds together.
Raidou takes up the vaunted mantle of Kuzunoha XIV.
Overall, Raidou Remastered’s story remains faithful to the original, and it’s especially notable for its novel setting, which is executed extremely well and feels organic to navigate. Across Tokyo’s numerous boroughs, from Ginza-cho to Fukagawa-cho, there is a real sense of bustle and societal change, with technological advancements representing an interesting point of conflict. Societal advancements are also represented in the game’s characters, an example being one of Raidou’s allies, Tae Asakura, a local journalist, being a notably more “modern” woman in both speech and dress.
The setting significantly elevates the story’s atmosphere, as do other strange elements the Megami Tensei series is known for. Grigori Rasputin – yes, the Russian historical figure who should be dead by 1931 – appears as a nemesis Devil Summoner to oppose Raidou, which adds a layer of intrigue and opens some interesting and wacky plot developments later in the story. That said, the game is quite short, and some of the antagonists’ motivations and conclusions are logically questionable, which somewhat undercuts the weight of the plot by the time the credits roll. Nevertheless, the setting and characters are largely endearing, and Raidou Remastered’s world feels very alive and is interesting to explore.
On the gameplay front, Raidou Remastered, despite its title, pushes the definition of what constitutes a remaster as typically understood, with the game feeling more like a remake in this respect. Combat is quite different from the original PS2 version and, luckily, is a stark and drastic improvement upon the slower and clunkier fights of the original game. Raidou controls significantly more fluidly than before, which makes for a more responsive and exciting experience, and the new inclusion of a rotatable camera does wonders for navigability. Further, several combat elements from the game’s 2008 sequel, Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon, are adopted here, which makes it significantly more fun to play.
Raidou now has full command over the battlefield!
In the game, combat sees Raidou fighting alongside two summoned demons, each of which has an elemental alignment and skills that are used by a shared MAG gauge. Managing the MAG gauge, which allows the exploitation of elemental weaknesses – the main goal of combat – is crucial to every fight, and it can be replenished by properly using Raidou’s skills to support his demons in combat. Raidou has a sword that comes with both light attacks that replenish MAG and heavy attacks that deal more damage. He also has a gun that can temporarily stun enemies. Later, Raidou can alter his sword to take on the properties of either a spear or an axe, as well.
Raidou now also has access to Summoner Skills, which are various elemental or physical attacks that replenish based on a timer. Even further, Raidou can now jump, dodge roll, counterattack with a “Devil’s Bane” move after a perfect dodge, and utilize an elemental ultimate attack by building up his “Spirit” through long combo chains. These abilities give Raidou a very necessary but smartly limited role in combat, with the ability to exercise influence and agency over combat without overshadowing his support role for his demons, which is where the real power lies. All in all, the changes made to combat are extraordinarily effective at making for a more exciting action RPG.
On the topic of demons, the large offering from the PS2 original is expanded upon further here, and there are over 100 demons of all varieties to choose from, which are primarily obtained through confining them in battle or, more often, by fusing them in the Goumaden, overseen by the endearing mad scientist, Victor. While the demon offerings are great and varied, if there’s one point of criticism for Raidou Remastered’s combat, it’s that the inheritability of skills is far too accessible to the point of absurdity.
Idun might be a bit too versatile…
As Raidou earns the loyalty of his demons, Yatagarasu sends him more tubes to carry more demons, with Raidou eventually being able to wield over a dozen. However, because players fully and manually select inherited skills, there is little incentive to diversify Raidou’s arsenal of demons when, for example, it’s easy to put lightning, fire, wind, and ice magic onto one demon, regardless of its elemental affinity. From here, it becomes too simple to make one magic demon, one physical demon, and one support demon. While the elemental weaknesses of demons initially serve as a deterrent in this regard, the inheritability of passive skills means that the “Resist” skill can override the single elemental weakness. This issue keeps the largely improved combat from fully shining throughout the entire game.
Outside of combat, demons can also use Investigation Skills, which are helpful during Raidou’s snooping and questioning as a detective. While Investigation Skills have some endearing and funny moments here and there, and help flesh out the detective themes in the story, they are mostly unremarkable, sparsely incorporated, and occasionally slightly annoying. This is especially true if Raidou lacks a demon with a skill that is necessary for plot progression but is only used a handful of times. Using these skills to interact with NPCs occasionally provides interesting dialogue, but it would have been nice to see these integrated deeper into the Capital’s various areas.
Visually, the prerendered backgrounds of the PS2 are entirely done away with, and there has been a thorough effort to fully render environments in 3D, which is largely done to good effect and demonstrates great attention to detail. Raidou Remastered is generally pleasant to look at, with sharp models and detailed animations, especially in combat. On the other hand, some of the PS2’s lower-fidelity textures or models occasionally show through in environments or cutscenes, with some side characters or textures in dungeons not visually translating well. Further, the color grading, especially with some of the demons, is quite oversaturated and somewhat undermines the game’s darker tonal moments and areas, and makes demons in the overworld stand out in an odd, occasionally jarring way.
The bustling Capital is fully rendered in 3D.
Concerning music, Shoji Meguro’s score for Raidou Remastered sounds good, but is also quite sparse due to the game’s short length. Some interesting and jazzy compositions effectively establish and elevate the 1930s detective theme, and some rip-roaring guitar tracks in the game’s battles lend well to the frenzy and chaos of combat. The score sounds good, clean, and uncompressed, which is a direct improvement from Atlus’s prior Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne remaster. Unlike the original game, Raidou Remastered is fully and thoroughly voiced, with even side characters like shop vendors fully voiced. Most of the main and core side characters perform their lines effectively, but there aren’t any standout performances either. A few of the less important NPCs or demons, which all have 2-5 lines apiece, have some obviously and unfortunately amateurish voice acting. While these instances are eye-rolling, they rarely detract from the story and are mostly constrained to minor moments. For those looking for a more muted or classic experience, voice acting is a toggleable feature.
All in all, Raidou Remastered is an interesting look back at Atlus’s first foray into action RPGs, and, luckily, Atlus has drastically improved the gameplay from the original to make for a significantly more fun and riveting combat experience. While it’s a bit on the shorter side, the distinctive setting and endearing story make for a fun, decently sized adventure, even if the game is still a bit rough around the edges in other regards. For RPGamers looking for a good action RPG, or especially for SMT fans interested in something different from the series’ typical elements, Raidou Remastered is an experience worth picking up.
Massively improved, fluid battle system
Distinctive and interesting setting bolsters a great story
3D environments have a lot of attention to detail
Manual demon skill inheritance is way overpowered
Some odd textures and graphical color oversaturation
Some scattered amateurish voice acting
The post Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army Review appeared first on RPGamer.
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