Atlus' 2022 was expected to be taken up largely by the celebration ofPersona’s 25th anniversary, but nevertheless, Atlus is bringing back one of its other RPG franchises this year.Soul Hackers 2will release around the time that thePersonaanniversary celebration comes to a close. While the revival of thisShin Megami Tenseispinoff is something forSMTfans to celebrate, it looks like it’ll appeal toPersonafans too.Soul Hackers 2will reportedly borrow a few key mechanics fromPersonathat make it significantly less like a traditionalMegami Tenseigame than its 1997 predecessorDevil Summoner: Soul Hackers.
Borrowing social sim elements and the All-Out Attack concept makesSoul Hackers 2a clear cousin of thePersonafranchise, and it raises the question of how it might resemblePersonain other ways. For instance, it’s unclear how hardSoul Hackers 2will be at the moment. Sincethe originalDevil Summoner: Soul Hackersmatched the infamously challengingShin Megami Tenseigames in difficulty,Soul Hackers 2could be a very hard game to beat, but Atlus needs to think about difficulty more carefully than that. In order to appeal to bothShin Megami Tenseifans and newfoundPersonafans, it needs to strike a balance.
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Appealing to the Growing Persona Fanbase
Personahas maintained a healthy fanbase for many years, but it has surged in recent years thanks toPersona 5.The charismatic Phantom Thieveshave won over a lot of new fans who had no previous connection toMegami Tenseititles. That creates a potential sticking point forSoul Hackers 2’s difficulty. IfSoul Hackers 2is as difficult as a standardSMTtitle, then it could be more frustrating than fun forPersonaplayers who aren’t used toSMT’s extremely demanding combat.Persona 5certainly has some very challenging moments, but it’s nothing like theSMTgames overall.Soul Hackers 2shouldn’t be a cakewalk, but it should at least be approachable for newPersonafans who aren’t interested inSMT’s constant high stakes.
At the same time,Soul Hackers 2shouldn’t abandon itsShin Megami Tenseiroots altogether. Longtime fans of theSMTseries who are happy toaMegami Tenseisubseriesmake a comeback will come intoSoul Hackers 2expecting a challenge, and Atlus ought to meet that demand, or else the revival could feel like a disappointment.Soul Hackers 2needs to offer some serious difficulty to honor the games that came before it and keepShin Megami Tenseifans interested.
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A Multi-Faceted Soul Hackers Experience
The answer to this dilemma is clear:Soul Hackers 2needs to have a wide variety of difficulty options for players to choose from.Shin Megami Tenseihasn’t always featured a lot of difficulty options aside from Normal and Hard, sometimes locking low difficulty options inside DLC, but recentPersonagames have offered a broad variety of difficulty levels. SinceSoul Hackers 2is alreadyborrowing other core elements fromPersona,it might as well borrowPersona 5’s difficulty settings too. If it does, then casual RPG players andShin Megami Tenseiexperts alike will both have a good level of difficulty to enjoy.
If Atlus handles difficulty inSoul Hackers 2well, then it could turn out to be a solid bridge betweenPersona 5and the broaderMegami Tenseifamily of games. In spite of itsPersonaelements, it still looks like aShin Megami Tenseidescendant at heart, thanks to its focus on interacting directly with demons. The themes and design ofSoul Hackers 2could raise interest inSMTsignificantly, which is exactly what Sega and Atlus want to keep encouraging afterthe success ofShin Megami Tensei 5.It’ll be awhile before fans can get their hands onSoul Hackers 2,but it already looks like it could have a very positive impact on the Atlus RPG family.
Soul Hackers 2releases July 16, 2025 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
