Raidou Remastered: The Mystery Of The Soulless Army PS5 Review. Originally released in 2006 for the PlayStation 2, Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army was another Shin Megami Tensei franchise spin-off that Atlus hoped would break through internationally. Though it focused more on an action combat system, the franchise still couldn’t find a foothold outside Japan.
Thanks to the Persona franchise, the Shin Migami Tensei universe has finally reached international stardom. Atlus and SEGA are not holding back with various remasters and remakes of previously released titles. Raidou Remastered is just the next in Atlus’s catalog to continue to expand the Tensei franchise.
Raidou Remastered: The Mystery Of The Soulless Army PS5 Review
A Compelling Story With Plenty Of Twists
Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army puts us in the shoes of Raidou Kuzunoha. Though it isn’t the protagonist’s actual name, it’s given to him by a secret organization tasked with keeping the world safe from demons and devils.
The game takes place during the Taisho period in Tokyo, and you can access many modern technological advancements. Raidou is assigned to protect Tokyo. On his first assignment, he and a paranormal investigator encounter mysterious red-capped soldiers who kidnap a young girl.
The caped men manage to escape with the woman, and Raidou sets out to find the people responsible for her kidnapping. Along his quest, he uncovers an intricate plot and one real-life historical figure that he must stop and save Tokyo from an invading mysterious army.
Tokyo Is Ripe With Hidden Rewards And Quests
Exploration in Raidou is much better than it was back in 2006. Though the game still suffers from some static camera angles that can confuse your sense of direction as you run past the camera (setting up a new angle in the process), the majority of exploration is much easier now.
Items have a brighter sparkle on the ground, and areas are more colorful with better lighting. The most significant improvement in the remaster is the removal of random encounters. In the original version, you would enter random combat encounters constantly, even when exploring inside a town. These encounters were a significant pain and happened consistently.
These have been removed, and encounters only happen in dungeon-like areas or when you go to the demon realm. Enemies now appear on the map, and you can attack them with the Square button to launch a preemptive strike.
The game also features plenty of side quests to tackle, but these are relics of their time, and most are simple: find this demon and defeat it, or deliver a said item to someone. Though derivative, they are worth doing because they reward you with materials specifically for upgrading your weapon skills.
Combat Is Completely Overhauled In This Remaster
Combat has gotten a significant overhaul and is brought up to current standards. The camera is free now; you can control it with the right analog stick. The original had a set camera for the entire battle, and you couldn’t control it. You can also have two demons fighting for you instead of just one, creating a three-person party.
You can change out these demons on the fly during combat to better suit the encounter for better enemy weakness exploitation. Shooting your gun moves the camera over your shoulder now and allows you to aim through the game, which automatically locks on to the target you’re locked onto.
You don’t control your demons in combat, but you can issue commands to them to do specific attacks. Raidou is capable and can equip a Sword, Spear, or Axe as his primary melee weapon.
Unique Skills Make Raidou More Formidable In Combat
Raidou also has access to three unique skills that are new to the Remaster. Holding down R1 allows you to select one of three skill sets for your face buttons. These skills can be changed as you progress, allowing you to use physical weapon skills or magic attacks like Agi.
Magic is now shared between Raidou and his two demons. The more magic attacks they cast during combat, the less you can cast as Raidou. The MAG bar can be restored with items or by pulling off light attacks to build it back up. I’m not sure I like this change very much, as it feels more like a hack-and-slash game for Raidou, as you constantly try to keep your MAG bar from depleting.
Unfortunately, some censorship comes with the Remaster, and doesn’t quite make sense to me. This censorship comes in the form of blood. In the PS2 version, blood would splatter on the ground and fly through the air from your weapon swings, but in the Remaster, there is no blood to speak of during combat or even some of the game’s in-game cinematics.
Capturing And Fusing Demons Is A Staple For This Franchise
Raidou is a Devil Summoner; as a Devil Summoner, he can see demons that others can not. These demons are familiar to fans of the franchise; Pixi, Jack Frost, Jack’o Lantern, and many more are here, along with brand new demons introduced to the Tensei franchise since 2006.
You can recruit demons during combat as long as you have enough MAG. Once captured, you may have a conversation with the demon, and depending on how you respond, they may join you. You can also fuse demons to get a new demon, but the game makes you feel bad about it this time.
As you gain experience, your demons level up with you, and their trust in you increases. They will present you with gifts and items when it reaches a maximum level. If you choose to fuse demons together, they will be distraught and ask why you are doing this to them.
It gets even worse as once you complete the fusion, as you may get a letter from them after they’re gone begging for life or telling you how much they loved you and thanking you for caring for them when no one else would. They make you feel horrible for fusing demons.
A Hit And Miss On The Visual And Audio Upgrade
Visually, the game’s upgrade is noticeable, especially with the main character models and the demons. However, some background character models don’t look fully upgraded, and some of their faces have just eyes and a line for a mouth.
On the other hand, the sound design is good, with fully voiced lines for major story beats and more up-to-date writing. The soundtrack, though, can get quite repetitive, especially the combat music, and it didn’t get a much-needed overhaul like some of the other aspects of the game.
Raidou Remaster: The Mystery Of The Soulless Army is another great remaster for the Shin Migami Tensei franchise. Though less popular than some of their other endeavors, Raidou Remaster tells a compelling story with solid combat and much-needed improvements to modernize the game for newer audiences.
Raidou Remaster: The Mystery of the Soulless Army releases on June 19, 2025, on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, Xbox Series S/X, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2.
Review code kindly provided by publisher.