PlayStation 5 Critic Reviews

Soul Hackers 2 is a traditional Atlus JRPG with a super-stylish coat of paint and some welcome quality of life improvements. It has catchy music, great characters, an amazing protagonist, and a fun core loop. If you enjoyed Tokyo Mirage Sessions' gameplay, this is an essential JRPG and one of the best this year.

Regardless of potential differences in taste, I can confidently assert that Soul Hackers 2 weaves a magnificent tale of sincere humane understanding where strife, love, and belief wondrously coalesce. It isn’t afraid to agonize its cast to produce respective, varying levels of catharsis, ultimately crafting a courageous title at the apex of Atlus’ catalog.

Soul Hackers 2 is yet another stellar JRPG from Atlus. It may take many of its themes and gameplay elements from other JRPGs within the company’s umbrella, but it somehow still manages to feel unique thanks to its fresh setting and characters. Whether or not you’re familiar with its predecessor or the Shin Megami Tensei games in general, this is a must-have if you want to conquer dungeons while exploring an intriguing vision of our future.

Soul Hackers 2 is a smart, evocative, and classically dark game from the Shin Megami Tensei tradition. It’s not going to turn heads like Persona 5 and SMT V did, but the developers seem to have realised this and taken the opportunity to deliver a harder-hitting and more thought-provoking narrative. To me, that’s Atlus getting back to its core vision for the broad and extended SMT property. That’s what I want from this series.

Soul Hackers 2 is one of Atlus’ best games to date. The story is compelling and rooted in familiar dark themes while avoiding the fluff to be a sharper experience. It refreshes the gameplay of Persona 5 with streamlined changes to make it approachable for a wider audience. Its parallels to Atlus’ most recent JRPGs mean it offers more of the same thrilling style along with the same minor faults. Still, Shin Megami Tensei fans will love this game.

Soul Hackers 2 is a different title than what is usually expected from Atlus, but it is also one of their best and most original games in recent years. It's a highly recommended title if you're already a fan of the company's games or turn-based RPGs in general.

Soul Hackers 2 is a worthy successor of the 1997 game, modernizing the series and putting it closer to games like Persona 5 and SMTV.

I wandered into Soul Hackers 2 expecting a general sense of quality from Atlus, and ended up getting sucked into its world. While dungeon design can feel samey at times, it’s not enough to distract from the flashiness of the game as a whole. As usual, Atlus really nails the details; it was fun to hang out with this crew and see where things went.

ATLUS managed to surprise us again. Drawing on a hybrid system between Shin Megami Tensei and Persona, the studio has packaged an articulated and galvanizing role-playing experience, which has nothing to envy to the best JRPGs of recent years. If the Tregenda proved to be an excellent alternative to the now classic All-Out-Attack, embellishing and renewing an already articulated and profound combat system such as the "Press Turn" System, the Demonic Reconnaissance has instead been able to significantly streamline the exploratory component, as well as the collection of funds, materials and the recruitment of new Demons. On the flip side, the cross-gen nature and an inorganic artistic direction prevented the product from aiming for excellence, demonstrating once again how much ATLUS needs to improve in terms of graphics and performance. Ultimately Soul Hackers 2 may not be the new Persona 5, but that's just fine.

Soul Hackers 2 is a little and simple, but very good Shin Megami Tensei game. It is true that it's level design is pretty bland, but it's music, story, combat and characters, are pretty great.