RAIDOU Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army

Luckily, Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army still has plenty of personality. It has a style all its own, and I think many people will find it pleasantly brisk for an Atlus game. There’s something good in this concept, and I can only hope that this remake indicates that Atlus is considering making a new game in the series. I also hope we’ll see a similar treatment of the superior sequel. For now, this is a solid pick-up if you’re looking to experience a kind of game you don’t see often from Atlus anymore. A good time, even if it isn’t a must-have.

Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army is a way to experience a fun piece of SMT history again, and it’s another example of Atlus going above and beyond for a remaster. The quality of life adjustments, like battle additions, fast travel system, and newly added demons, are all a big deal. So is making it all look and sound better. But in a way, getting easier, more affordable access to a great game is the best part of this package. In every way, it’s a stronger game than the original.

Atlus put so much effort in this new rendition of one of its most obscure PS2-era gems, with significant changes to both the combat system and many other aspects of the gameplay. This is, overall, the best version of the game by far, but a lacking partner AI and by the numbers side quests move Raidou Remastered away from the best of Atlus long-running production.

It’s certainly a fun game, the period piece vibes are immaculate, and I hope it’s successful enough to lead to a remaster of the sequel that my sister tells me was even better (or maybe even a third entry in the series), but unfortunately I wasn’t quite as wowed by the remaster as I was hoping after twenty years of putting the game off.

Raidou remastered is a pivotal example of how to modernize a classic game. There are considerable improvements to the title that make it more accessible and much better than it’s original release. The title is a competent ARPG for it’s time, but it finds a much more competitive market nowadays. I hope Atlus keeps bringing their classics to modern platforms and also bring a new title for an action SMT.

The ATLUS team has packaged a remastered with all the trimmings, revolutionizing the old and limited original gameplay of the first spin-off dedicated to Raidou Kuzunoha XIV far beyond our expectations. On a purely graphic level, more could certainly have been done, especially to hide the countless sharp edges of the polygonal models, but at least the portability offered by Nintendo Switch manages to partially mask the age and PS2 origins of the product. Net of a slightly obsolete structure and progression, RAIDOU Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army represents an unmissable opportunity to familiarize yourself with one of the most iconic protagonists of the ATLUS house, who unfortunately did not obtain the fame he deserved in the West. If you love the esotericism that permeates the Megami Tensai saga, this time you have no excuses for not making it yours.

RAIDOU Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless ArmyRAIDOU Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless ArmyRAIDOU Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army

Raidou Remastered has undoubtedly improved a flawed game, but there’s only so much it could do in keeping to its mission statement to recreate the content of the original title. I respect the lengths Atlus went to provide a largely faithful, yet polished, version of Raidou's debut. It's a fascinating way to revisit that era of games, and in a way, I’m glad Atlus didn’t simpy outright scrap tedious aspects of the original. Raidou Kuzunoha is a tried and true Devil Summoner entry in every way, and I’m glad ATLUS is still willing to revisit this scrappy series.