I remember when Atlus was a niche company. Shin Megami Tensei, Devil Summoner, and even Persona were little known gems that even somಞe of my biggest gamer friends hadn’t played or even heard of. But all of that changed with the launch of Persona 5 in 2016, propelling this already growing n⛦ame into the stratosphere.
Atlus has since gone from strength to strength. We’ve had new entries to older series like Soul Hackers 2, we’ve revisited older titles with ports of Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4: Golden, we’ve seen Persona 3 Reload and recent news that Persona 4 is also set to receive the remak🐈e treatment. Last but not least, Atlus broke new ground with Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Raidou Remastered Review - The Mystery O🥀f The Soulless Video Game
Despite showing At♈lus charm at points, there's not a lot to love about Raidou Remastered.
Recently, Raidou Remastered: The Mystery oꦕf the Soulless A🌟rmy joined this booming Atlus renaissance, of🐷fering a nostalgic trip down memory 🥂lane for old fans, while introducing a new generation to one of Atlus’ lesser-known gems from the PS2 generation.
The Action Battle Detective Atlus Sibling
Raidou Remastered originally launched in 2006 for the PlayStation 2 as Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army, and much likeꩲ Persona, Devil Summoner is a Shin Megami Tensei spin oꦬff.
Director Kazuyuki Yamai tells me that by revisiting Raidou🐭, the team was able to bring a “valuable action battle lineup to the SMT franchise”, and in turn,♛ helped it stand apart from the usual turn-based battles that Atlus usually offers.
“For those who have become new fans of Atlus due to the increased popularity in the Persona IP with their own remasters and remakes, we believe we can offer the distinctive cha𓃲rm of Raidou, which sets itself apart from other Atlus titles. Specifically, this includes presenting the established, cool protagonist, Raidou, and a myst🥂ery-style gaming experience where players investigate cases using demon abilities.”
Though Raidou Remastered offers an opportunity to welcome new fans into the fold, Yamai emphasises 🙈that he wants “to first and foremost rejuvenate the series for fans of Raidou who have supported the franchise un♏til now, while also hopefully finding new fans…We hope it appeals to both new and old fans alike and would like to further develop the series from here on out if possible.”
Looking To The Past For A Message Still Relevant Today
Unlike most Atlus games, which are set in modern, futuristic, or post-apocalyptic settings, Raidou Remastered instead takes place in the past amidst a fictional version of t🍌he Taisho period, and even features Grigori Rasputin as a character.
Yamai tells me that Kazuma Kaneko, who ha𓂃ndled the character designs and worldbuilding in the original game, was responsible for suggesting using the Taisho era as the setting. “When development began for the game, Japan had entered a long period of recession, and society as a whole was low in ✨spirits. Because of this, we wanted to use the Taisho era—which was going through similar situations—but where the people were known for their uplifting spirit, to send a message of encouragement to our audience.”
The Taisho era also saw a fusion of Western and Japanese art and culture, with Yamai telling me, “the culture overall, such as the literature and music at the😼 time, also had a unique and interesting 💜blend of Japanese and Western influences, so we thought that expressing all of this through a game would be a unique experience.”
It’s been nearly twenty years since the original version launched, but that doeജsn’t ma🐲ke its messaging any less relevant today.
“The Taisho era is somewhat similar to our current time period in that it was toward the start of an economic slump, and the people's day-to-day lives underwent large changes. There were some that were able to keep up with the changes but others that couldn't, and it was such an unstable period that this led to economic disparity. Despite this, people continued living their lives with hope for the future. This may just be a wishful fantasy due to it being an uninformed society that didn’t have things like the internet, but I believe that the Taisho period still had this beauty beca🎃use of the lack of knowledge, which allowed them to remain hopeful for a better tomorrow.
“I do think that the Taisho period and our current era have similarities, and unfortunat꧅ely, the world 19 years ago is also similar with ours today in that there's a sense 🧜of stagnation.”
One theme of the original game was ‘passion’, but Yamai tells me this was changed to ‘spirit’ for the remaster, both of whi൩ch fall under the 💫wider umbrella of the main theme of enthusiasm. “The question we’d like to raise to players through the characters’ actions in this game is how they want to channel their enthusiasm: do they want to direct their zeal in a negative way by blaming the times, or direct it more positively by believing in the future?
Inspirations Behind Raidou
I’ve always been fascinated by the inspiration behind characters and details within the games I love, and as I particularly love myths, legends, and the su♛pernatural, Raidou Remastered touching on Kuzunoha, a kitsune character from Japanese folklore, has always intrigued me.. So, what influences did Atlus draw from when🦋 bringing this character to life?
“The♊ ideas present in the title are heavily influenced by the development staff’s ideas and tastes, including Kazuma Kaneko, who was in charge of creating the world in the original game, and myself.”
Though the fandom has always widely believed that the charact༺er of Raidou Kuzunoha was inspired by Yasunori Kato, the pro🐼tagonist of Teito Monogatari, Yamai did not confirm this was the case. “A certain character in a fighting game from a certain company does take inspiration from him [Yasunori Kato], but we’ll set aside whether Raidou does for now…”
If you’re wondering which character Yamai was alluding to, it’s🎃 M. Bison from Stree🔯t Fighter.
But the lack of confirmation may simply be down to it being hard to pin point where some influences came from, as Yamai goes on to explain that as games are developed as a group and are worked on by more than one person, “It’s very difficult to distinguish who the ideas belong to, and because we take inspiration𒐪 from each other, this allows us to take concepts to even🍨 higher levels.”
“The development staff were open about the media they were influenced by (without any shame or denial), acted as human filters by putting their own spin on those concepts, and combined them with other staff members’ ideas. By doing so, I believe we were able to create a distinctive style that will entertain players once they see the results of that ꦕprocess. The unique world of Raidou itself came to life thanks to the team’s creative efforts.”
Yamai shares my love of the supernatural, and tells me that this factored into the development of Raidou. “I person🌸ally love occultic themes. I especially love legends, urban legends in particular, and ghost stoౠries as well, so I wrote the detective journal entries with an inherent appreciation for them.”
Supernatural Good Fortune In Perfecting The Remaster
Raidou Rem☂astered is more than just a visual overhaul, offering a range of gameplay enhancements, too. Yamai tells me that some improvements, such as bringing in the battle system from Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon,🔥 was the result of fan feedback. However, other additions, such as Nakisawame healing for free and being able to have multiple demons of the same type, were proposed by the development team.
The team researched the opinions of fans alon🐓gside discussions within the team and combꦫined the two to refine and implement changes to the game.
“Gameplay is markedly better than the original. We have made various improvements, such as changing the random encounter system to a symbol-based encounter system, eliminating enemy encounters in the real world, allowing the use of special investigation abilities without needing to take the extra step of summoning the ally demon who p𝄹ossesses said ability, and enabling fast travel.”
Despite evidence to the contrary, Yamai explains that he didn’t or♚iginally believe the team could achieve such extensive enhancements. “It was thanks to the hard work of the development staff, the encouragement from management to focusౠ on improving quality, and our good timing and luck that we were able to achieve improvements far beyond our initial expectations.
“It almost felt as if the Raidou IP itself had a will of its own, and we were simply compelled to work until it was satisfied—it was such good for𓄧tune that I’m tempted to attribute it to some supernatural𝓰 influence,” Yamai tells me with a laugh, bringing his love for the supernatural full circle.
With the recent news that Persona 4ꦓ Revival is in the works, and no doubt that Metaphor: ReFantazio cannot remain a lone title for long after being such a🦄 huge success, Atlus has still has so much more to give and I adore that it’s mixing things up and sharing the love between both old and new IP alike.
“Atlus still has many hidden charms yet to be fully conveyed,” Yamai says. “We𓂃 hope that both new releases and remaster/remake projects will work together to make everyone fall in love with our games even more.”
Your comment has not been saved