Soul Hackers 2 Preview: Cyberpunk Identity & Demonic Fun

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I'll be the first to admit Soul Hackers 2 wasn't on my radar as soon as it should have been. In a year teeming with exciting RPG releases — from the FromSoft stylings of Elden Ring to the familiar but innovative JRPG trappings of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 — it's a tall ask for any game coming from a more niche sub-series of the Shin Megami Tensei franchise, Devil Summoner, to make an impact. Simmering underneath its neon, cyberpunk exterior is a very competent and engaging JRPG, however; one that should absolutely not be slept on, if its first handful of hours are anything to go by.

Soul Hackers 2 is set in Japan following decades of rapid technological and cultural revolution. Society expanded, iterated, and evolved quickly during this span before stagnating over the next several years, creating a listless, dystopian landscape full of flashing lights and little else. It's here that an end-of-the-world plot becomes hatched by a group of Summoners called the Phantom Society, who use the ability to contract demons to do their bidding to help their scheme along.

Related: Soul Hackers 2 Hands-On Gameplay Preview: A Stylish Comeback

Aion, an entity born from the Internet — and yet suspiciously helpful in spite of this — has so much processing power at this point that it can basically see the future, and that means it's aware of the apocalypse looming. Ringo and Figue are spawned from this entity as two Soul Hackers who are meant to stop things from escalating, initially being tasked with preventing deaths that are key to the end of days before assembling a group of individuals who will attempt to stop the larger threat once and for all.

The story is, not surprisingly, pretty ambitious. That's pretty stock for a Shin Megami