For me personally, the biggest reveal during this year’s summer showcases was 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Persona 4 Revival. I don’t claim to be the biggest Atlus fan in the world, but with 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Persona 4 Golden and 5 Royal firmly in my top ten games of all-time, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Metaphor: ReFantazio coming cꦗlose,𒈔 I have a rather large soft spot for the developer.
"I Don't Want Things To End Here": Atlus Might Be Giving Us A New Raidou Game In The Future
More Raidou could be on the way.
Last month, I exc♕itedly previewed Raido🌄u Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army, a remake of the 2006 PS2 title, Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army. It was another Atlus title with all the 🌠hallmarks of what I loved a🌄bout the company’s titles, but in an unfamiliar setting.
Unfortunately, however, I came away💙 from my short time with the game with more concerns than excitement. It was only the first couple of acts, though, so there was plenty of time for things to pick up—or so I thought.
A Typically Atlus Story That Certainly Goes Places
Raidou Remastered follows the story of a fledgling detective who assumes the role of Raidou Kuzunoha XIV, the latest in a long line of Devil Summoners. Taking a job at a detective agency that deals with “special cases”ꦬ, Raidou is immediately put to work when a young woman calls the agency claiming that in mere hours, a family curse means she will transform into a demon.
Naturally, this is only the first piece of a 25-hour puzzle, a puzzle that takes our protagonist across Tokyo, into the dark realm, and to locations that are quite frankly so bizarre that I’m going𒊎 to let🎐 you discover them yourself.
The story goes from a supernatural detective thriller to something that feels a little bit silly, and just thematically off.
Raidou Remastered’s narrative start▨s strong, telling the story of a tormented girl, a family in debt, and a political power struggle, and it maintains a level of intrigue and pace for much of the game’s early chapters.
One revelation often leads straight to the next, as you uncover Raidou’s wider mystery, and I felt compelled to push on to get to the root of Tokyo’s Red Cape invasion. However, as things progressed, the story went from a supernatural detective thriller to something that felt a little bit silly, and just thematically off.
Much of the 🌠game is about the case of a possessed girl and a politician who desires to suppress na💧tions, but it evolves into something much more sci-fi in nature, with time travel and giant robots.
The game’s explanation for these things happening does kind of make sense; it just could have b🌳een executed far ♚better without the need for time-travelling adversaries.
Please, Go Here, Mr. Raidou
I think many of my complaints with Raidou Remastered’s narrative could have been assuaged if the game didn’t forcefullℱy hold my hanﷺd every step of the way. For a detective game, it sure likes to tell you where to find the next clue and who the next witness is.
Not once in my 25 hours with the game was I encouraged to use my own ꦐpersonal skills of deduction. Every step of the way, I was guided by my cat companion, Gouto, and a series of very obnoxious exclamation points indicating exactly where I had to go or who I had to speak to next. It negated any feeling of me role-playing a private eye, and instead, turned the detective work into a paint-by-numbers, cookie-cutter experience.
I felt the game treated me like a child.
As part of Raidou Remastered, much like Persona, the protagonist has the ability to capture demons to join his party. Unlike Persona, though, these demons couldꦜ be used for more𓆏 than battling.
Each demon was part of an order: Pyro, Frost, Volt, and so on, and each order had a unique set of skills that could be used in the overworld to aid your investigations. Pyro Order demons could ignite a sp⭕ark in potential witnesses, getting them to speak. Fury Order demons had the power to move objects in the overworld, helping to clear a path, and Volt Order demons could investigate the surroundings, bringing to light any clues. It’s a really unique mechanic that could have been a game-changer. Unfortunately, instead, Atlus used it as another opportunity to hand-hold.
Rather than surveying the demons I had on hand to figure out which skill would be the most appropriate in a situation, walking up to an NPC or an environmental cue brought up a prompt, and with one button press, I would summon the exact demon for that situation. Early on, for example, I had to find some wine for a chaꦆracter. Rather than using the knowledge I had built up thus far, I was led directly to a character by one of the game’s overbearing orange exclamation marks. Once at the character, I was prompted to press a button to read her mind. Following that, a short conversation ensued, and she simply gifted me the wine. It’s one of the many occasions in which I felt the game tꦫreated me like a child.
It just served as a reminder that Atlus was very aware of what it was doing, and it made❀ me feel that things could have been very different.
This hand-holding wasn’t exclusive to the main story either, and often extended to its side quests, or case files as they’re kꦕnown in Raidou Remastered. Provided I had a demon of the correct ord♈er in my party, a single button press would resolve an NPC’s problem, and the case file would be marked complete, once again leading to an anti-climactic resolution.
In the game’s closing chapter, a character comments about how much your cat Gousto has been helping you through things. It just served as a reminder that Atlus was ♑very aware of what it was doing, and it made me feel that things could have been very different.
A Lack Of Connection
Throughout my Raidou Remastered journey, I met a range of interesting characters. Sure, there was one who used language very much stuck in the PS2 era that the game was created in, often calling female characters “Doll Face” or “Bird,” which does fit the game’s noir-esque setting, but it still felt uncꦗomfortable, but for the most part, they were great.
There was a friendly Yakuza boss, a pair of mad scientists, a turncoat army member, a spunky reporter, and a robotic dark summoner. Each of these would have made perfect traveling companions and could have formed a peak Atlus party▨. Instead, they’re given limited screen time, often simply used to guide you to your next destination. These shallow interactions, again, hurt the overall experience in Raidou Remastered.
It also made Raidou Remastered feel lonely.
Atlus is 𝔍typically so good at creating a ragtag party for you to bond with during adventures. The Persona series is the prime example here. Unfortunately, it’s completely absent in Raidou Remastered. Aside from Gouto, who guides you on your journey, there is no party, and you’re only traveling around with your demons.
This not🐻 only meant that the game was missing stellar interactions and charꦅacters to care about, but it also made Raidou Remastered feel lonely.
A Deceptively Shallow Combat System
As I trudged through Raidou Remastered, the game constantly added new layers to Atlus’ first attempt at real-time combat. There was a quick attack, a strong attack, the abilityಌ to command your demons, a dodge roll, magic attacks, affinities, two different special attacks, item management, and the power to break an enemy’s stance, among other things. They really threw the kitchen sink at the mechanics.
Despite its attempted de🔜pth, though, Raidou Remastered’s combat is shallow and repetitive.
By the latter sta𒈔ges of the game, I tried to avoid combat as🍰 much as I could.
It was one of my biggest concerns in my preview last month, and I’m pained to say, things did꧋n’t get better the further I got into th🎃e game.
Early on, I managed to fuse two demons that covered every weakness, and another that stayed in rꦺeserve, healing me, which meant everything else was a trivial button-mash. There was no real need for me to concern myself with dodge rolls outside of boss encounters, and I could just shimmy up to my opponent/s, spamming the quick and strong attacks in an asynchronous manner. No demon was a problem. By the latter stages of the game, I tried to avoid combat as much as I could because of this.
Raidou Remastered feels like a game filled with wasted potential. Despite a𓆉 great soundtrack and a very gruesome demon fusion mechanic, for a detective game, Atlus seems intent on not letting you actually become a detective.
Its compelling early story beats can’t save it from its repetitive battle system and lack of meaningful conne🌜ctions, and I came away from my experience feeling like this was a rare miss for a company that is usually so consistent. It’s certainly a weird choice for a remaster.
- Strong narrative for 75 percent of the game
- Another great Atlus soundtrack
- Story goes off the rails to the game?s detriment
- Combat is incredibly shallow and repetitive
- Game walks you through every challenge, never allowing you to truly embrace its detective setting
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