Ever since Atlus started releasing their games on multiple platforms, they have been on a roll with remasters and remakes for the older titles. RAIDOU Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army is one of these remastered titles. 

As a fan of the Atlus games, having played the original Raidou game back when it released for the PlayStation 2, I have to say, the amount of effort that has gone into this reworked release is worth the wait. 

The changes made are perfect enough to address the aspects that were of lesser appeal from the older game, while also making sure that certain charms of the game were left intact. 

History of the original release

The game was originally titled Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army, and released as a spin-off title to the Devil Summoner sub-series of Atlus’ Shin Megami Tensei franchise. It has its own history of being one of the earliest monster-collecting RPGs in existence.

Most, if not all, of the Shin Megami Tensei games so far in existence are all turn-based games.

The Raidou games stand out from them on two fronts, firstly, this was the only game in the franchise for the longest time implementing real-time combat. Secondly, this is the only sub-series in the franchise so far that implemented the title of a character in the name of the game. 

Unfortunately, the original release of the series was largely overshadowed by other, more popular Atlus titles of the time, hence leading the game to underperform, even though a sequel did happen. 

The series has always had loyal fans who had been yearning for the games to be re-released on modern platforms, and when Atlus finally announced the same on a fateful Nintendo Direct, everyone (including me) was really happy.

The story is set in the Taisho era Japan

RAIDOU Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army follows the story of a young part-time detective from Taisho era Japan who is also a Devil Summoner, a title that is not new to Atlus’ Shin Megami Tensei games.

The game begins with our main character undergoing generational trials, which will allow him to acquire the prestigious title of Raidou Kuzunoha XIV. Something which is only awarded to a summoner who is worthy of the Raidou Kuzunoha position.

Beyond the occult side of a devil summoner’s life, our main character, being a part of the Narumi Detective agency, is accompanied in his investigations by his boss, Narumi Shouhei, and journalist Tae Asakura.

After a mysterious phone call, our main characters get entangled in a plot involving abduction and conspiracies. Over time, the mystery unfolds as the player character tracks down clues with the aid of his summoned demons.

RAIDOU Remastered had a lot to prove 

Raidou Remastered had a big shoe to fill, considering Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster, which is another Atlus PlayStation 2 classic that was re-released but was plagued with accusations of being a very disappointing port lacking necessary modern improvements.

On top of all of that, the original Raidou game was unimpressive in a lot of aspects, especially the gameplay. Even though it was an action RPG, the real-time combat mechanics had barely any ‘action’ to it.

The game was vastly improved with the sequel as director Kazuyuki Yamai took charge to make changes to the core gameplay loop. He added new elements like dual demon summoning and made the gameplay much faster.

Kazuyuki Yamai was once again in charge of the Raidou Remastered release, and this made a lot of people happy, even though his involvement with the Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster release wasn’t up to the quality.

The director had quite a lot of accolades under his belt, such as the fan favorite Maniax edition of Shin Megami Tensei III and Shin Megami Tensei IV titles, which made people trust his decisions once again, and he did live up to expectations on a lot of the aspects of this re-release.

Impressive visual overhaul

RAIDOU Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army had a lot of new readjustments done to bring the game up to modern standards of a re-released classic. Carrying over criticisms from the Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster release.

The visuals of the game have been reworked with higher quality, recolored CG cutscenes, which were a major point of criticism in Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster release.

The original Raidou release on the PlayStation 2 was made with a lot of reused assets from various Atlus games and to compensate for limited resources the game utilized pre-renderede backgrounds.

A major change to RAIDOU Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army has been the backgrounds. This time around, every single detail has been carefully turned into 3D models. Various aspects of the game, including demon models, have been re-textured.

Raidou’s in-game model has been updated with a re-textured cape and better cloth physics. Glasses as a DLC cosmetic for preordering the game have been added, specifically for the Raidou model.

Much-needed changes to the combat

Part of the original game that needed major rework was the combat, and that has been delivered as well. It is arguably the biggest highlight of this remaster, and has received heavy praises from everyone.

Raidou’s main kit, which he uses during fights, includes a revolver, a katana, and the tubes he uses to summon the iconic demons of the franchise.

 The PlayStation 2 version of the game utilized a very different type of gun combat which involved the use of elemental bullets that the character kept running out of and had to buy to restore.

 RAIDOU Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army gets rid of having to buy elemental bullets, implementing a new aim and shoot system with reloading bullets that adds a new dynamic to the combat visually.

New types of dodging mechanics have been implemented to make movement during combat much smoother and enjoyable. The player can make use of a tilt dodge to cancel out combos and dash right behind the enemy or backstep away from the enemy.

The biggest change to the movement has to be the addition of a jump button that allows Raidou to hop over incoming attacks and use it to opt for air combos. 

More stylish combos than ever before

Raidou games were very mash-friendly in the original iterations. The new game brings a better approach to it, introducing the mag drain combat system, which utilizes certain attacks that drain mag from the enemy to be reused in heavier damaging attacks.

Our main character can now directly learn spells and utilize them during the battle to target enemy weaknesses, which cool down over time. This is a way better approach than reloading perishable elemental bullets.

Raidou has access to highly damaging special abilities like Kuzunoha Rupture that can be accessed by filling up a special meter, much similar to the Magatsuhi gauge system in Shin Megami Tensei V

Additionally, Riadou gets access to a powerful counter move called Devil’s Bane on perfectly timed dodges. 

Boss fights have been completely reworked to accommodate the new speed and combat mechanics, making for a way better experience. The combat arena has also been expanded in size, allowing players to move the camera around freely.

Bosses are more interactive this time around, instead of repetitively spamming the same kind of spells. They have phases during fights where they will put the players and their demons through various maneuvering challenges, making these fights memorable.

New and intuitive changes to the UI

Several changes have been made to the game’s UI, making it on par with modern standards. It must also be noted that the UI redesign is very neat and clean as well. Even though it makes several new quality of life changes, none of the new additions feels cluttered.

The combat UI has seen some of the biggest overhauls to accommodate the new changes to the combat. New D-pad controls allow for easy access to necessary commands for the summoned demons. When to use mag resources effectively for spells and when not to.

The D-pad also allows for quick access to items. On the lower left side of the screen, the UI shows all the available face buttons for combat, but holding down the right trigger switches the UI, allowing players to access Raidou’s spells using the face buttons.

The game now has a lock-on feature similar to a lot of modern action games, which can be enabled by pressing the R3 button.

Gun combat has seen the biggest change out of all so far. The camera switches to a new over-the-shoulder UI if the left trigger is held down on the controller. Raidou can now aim and shoot his automatically reloading bullets with the press of triggers.

Other UI changes, including new charming and icon animations that frequently notify Raidou of the current objectives, adding new objectives, and auto-saving the game as well.

Influences from modern games

A lot of the new quality of life changes in RAIDOU Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army are influenced by the modern Atlus games. These changes are not to the game’s detriment but make up for the game’s previous shortcomings.

Taking some influence from the second game and other Shin Megami Tensei titles, the demon collection system has been reworked. Raidou can mash to capture a demon in his vicinity but the camera now shifts to a different position with a meter clearly indicating the process.

Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army utilized the sword fusion system, which was a throwback to the original Shin Megami Tensei, allowing players to level up their swords.

RAIDOU Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army replaces the sword fusion system with the second game’s sword alchemy system, which allows Raidou to transform his sword into other weapon types, including a spear and an axe.

Several other elements of the game have been updated, such as the series’ staple, the demon fusion menu, which now takes a modern approach by adding reverse demon fusion. The UI for this will be recognizable to anyone who is a fan of Shin Megami Tensei V

Additional updates to the game

One of the major additions that takes influence from modern video games is the availability of a mini-map. Previously, it was cumbersome to constantly switch between the map and the game screen, especially since the game has some mazes.

Other influences from modern Atlus titles in the Shin Megami Tensei franchise include the ability to level up the main character as well as modify the skills of the demons using items such as grimoires and more.

The original Raidou release included a Mahjong mini-game that can be played with the demons but was removed from the global release. Fortunately, the game has been restored this time around.

A big aspect of the Raidou titles was to use the demons in investigative gameplay. New quality of life changes to the game made this aspect of the game smoother by allowing players to auto-switch the necessary demon from stock for particular investigations.

The original game on PlayStation 2 had one of the smallest rosters of collectible demons, going up to about 70. RAIDOU Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army brings that number up to almost 150 by adding more demons from modern Atlus games.

These newly added demons provide a new experience with original quests and boss fights. But it’s not just the new enemies, new sub-quests called Aril Rifts have been added to the game, which are sort of a throwback to Abscess and Demon Domain quests from other titles.

Major con to this wonderful remaster

It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, sadly. As much as the new changes make it a better remaster, there have been certain aspects that are detrimental to the game’s experience when compared to the original, and fans have been very vocal about it.

The first and foremost issue with the game is the updated visuals, which make changes to how colors and textures feel in the original. 

RAIDOU Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army had an old school speia tone to the game, which made it look like an old film, appropriate for the Taisho period from when the game is set.

The new game recolors everything, enhancing the vibrance and getting rid of the gritty textures that some of the demon models had. While this can be a welcoming change for some new players, this is overall very controversial for someone who has played the original game.

Furthermore, the overtly vibrant colors can make certain locations in the game jarring; for example, the areas in the dark realm have extreme levels of red hue, which can be annoying.

Disappointing changes to story and gameplay elements

People who played the original Raidou game had built a fondness for the lore as it provided crucial links to some of the lore elements from the first Shin Megami Tensei games.

RAIDOU Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army makes changes that disappoint a lot of the core audience of the franchise.

It can be argued that the changes were necessary as the original game related to certain story elements which are inaccessible to modern global fans of the Shin Megami Tensei franchise, because the early games have not been localized properly yet.

The game also sees changes to some of the dialogues, including a lot of handholding around the story, which was unnecessary, especially since the game is a detective mystery at its core, and overall, it trivializes the sleuth nature of the game.

The handholding does not stop there as it further extends to certain gameplay aspects, such as the maps now constantly directing the player where to go in order to pursue objects. Something that wasn’t present in the original, and made getting lost and exploring a fun part.

The remaining cons can be directed at Atlus’ DLC practices, which lock certain demons behind a paywall. Something that is not new to modern Atlus releases.

Conclusion

Overall, I can confidently call RAIDOU Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army a gold standard for modern Atlus remasters. 

There may be some glaring cons that may cause conflicts when appreciating this re-release. But the positive changes far outweigh the negatives, which director Kazuyuki Yamai has successfully proven when compared to Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster.

RAIDOU Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army has shown that older titles in the franchise can be brought up to modern standards, bridging the gap between old and new fans alike. 

After the disappointing release of Soul Hackers 2, the future of the Devil Summoner franchise was looking bleak for fans, but this new remaster has done enough to change perception. 

The director has aggressively expressed his wishes to continue the series in the future. Something that fans of the franchise have been waiting for since the original releases on the PlayStation 2 console. It might just finally become an actual reality.