Summoning the fun with style and steel
By Paul Hunter
For a studio with such a deep PlayStation 2 library, Atlus choosing to bring back Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army might seem like an odd pick. It’s not one of the heavy hitters from the Shin Megami Tensei catalogue, and its original take on action combat left some fans scratching their heads back in the day. Still, the decision to rework this particular title speaks volumes about the studio's confidence in its stranger experiments.
Now released as Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army, this version doesn’t just clean up the visuals and call it a day. It rethinks key systems, reshapes how you fight, and smooths out a lot of the old bumps that used to make progress feel more like a grind. While the bones of the original story and structure remain, everything around it has been retooled with the benefit of hindsight—and a few smart updates to help modern audiences find their footing.
With its blend of demon summoning, supernatural detective work, and rapid-fire swordplay, Raidou Remastered offers a very different flavour compared to the more familiar Persona spin-offs. The whole thing has a kind of throwback charm, made sharper with smarter design choices and a lot of quality-of-life tweaks. But does this revamped adventure hold up in 2025, or is it a polished relic best left to history? Let's find out!
Raidou Kuzunoha isn’t just chasing ghosts—he’s hunting secrets that threaten the entire city. As a Devil Summoner, he’s thrown into Tokyo’s supernatural underworld and handed a case no rookie should be handling. But that’s exactly what makes it interesting.
The story is broken into chapters, each introduced like an old detective serial. This structure works well, delivering quick hits of action and mystery without dragging things out. You’re in and out of each episode fast, and the 30-hour campaign moves with real energy.
Not everything lands cleanly. Some characters don’t evolve much, and the story can wander a little too far into the weird. But the plot is unpredictable in a good way. There’s always something just around the corner, and often, it’s something completely unexpected.
What helps tie it together are the demons—not just as allies, but as sources of comic relief and occasional heart. The conversations Raidou has with them break up the seriousness and give the world a little warmth. These aren’t emotional arcs, but they’re enough to keep things interesting.
Raidou Remastered is strange, fast, and a little rough around the edges. But that’s the charm. It tells a story that’s confident in its oddness, and that’s what makes it stick.
Raidou Remastered doesn’t just touch up the combat—it rebuilds it. What was once a stiff hack-and-slash system now moves with precision and purpose. You control Raidou directly in 3D arenas, chaining together sword combos, dodging attacks, and triggering demon abilities on the fly. It’s quick, smooth, and finally lives up to its promise.
The battle system shines by making you the engine behind your team. Standard attacks generate MAG (MP), which your demons burn to unleash skills that hit weaknesses. Exploit the right target, and you stagger enemies, opening the door for even longer combos and more MAG. It’s a loop that rewards aggression and smart timing without overwhelming you.
Demon allies are more than just backup. You can bring two into battle, fuse them into stronger forms, and tailor their skills. That same fusion system found in other Atlus games returns here with the same addictiveness. Creating the perfect team felt like solving a puzzle, and after building a fire-spewing demon with crowd control skills, I was wiping out enemy groups in seconds.
Outside of battle, demons still earn their keep. Some have field abilities tied to specific interactions—like influencing NPCs or unlocking paths—giving exploration a reason to slow down and think. It’s not deep detective work, but it adds texture to the routine of jumping between missions and dungeons.
Speaking of dungeons, they’re one of the few weak points. There’s a fair bit of repetition, and backtracking through the same areas to trigger the next scene can wear thin. Side quests don’t help much either—most of them are forgettable errands. Still, they’re optional, and the main path rarely drags.
Where the original felt sluggish, Remastered is focused. Combat flows. Exploration moves quicker with better guidance. Even the most annoying bits from the old game, like wandering aimlessly for clues, have been streamlined with clear objectives and smarter design. Atlus didn’t just polish things—they fixed what didn’t work.
Raidou Remastered gives the original a visual overhaul that finally matches its tone. The shift to modern 3D assets adds detail across the board—environments, characters, and demons all carry sharper designs without losing their PS2-era charm. It’s not flashy, but it’s faithful.
The game’s episodic structure stands out right away. Each chapter opens with a stylized title card, giving the story a serialized feel that suits the detective setup. This structure also helps break the game into digestible parts, making the short runtime feel even tighter.
Character designs strike a strong balance between grounded and strange. While a few NPCs are on the dull side, Raidou himself cuts a strong figure. Demon designs are as bizarre and interesting as ever—a mix of familiar SMT faces and oddball entries that stick in your mind long after a fusion.
Musically, Shoji Meguro does what he always does—deliver something that hits. The soundtrack leans into jazzy tracks and moody loops, matching the mystery vibe without overdoing it. You’ll notice the tunes shift smoothly between investigating the streets and fighting in the demon realm. It’s stylish without trying too hard.
The PS2-era roots do show at times. Some animations are stiff, and a few environments feel basic when compared to modern releases. But for a game rebuilt from a mid-2000s base, this remaster holds together well. It stays true to its original mood while still cleaning up the rough edges.
There’s something oddly timeless about how it all fits. The aesthetic may not push the envelope, but the atmosphere is confident. Whether you’re patrolling smoky backstreets or warping into a demon-infested dimension, Raidou’s world looks and sounds like it knows exactly what it is—strange, stylish, and just a little stuck in time.
Final Score: 8/10 - Great
Developer: Atlus
Publisher: Atlus
Genre: Action Role-Playing
Modes: Single-player
A key was provided by the publisher.
By Paul Hunter
For a studio with such a deep PlayStation 2 library, Atlus choosing to bring back Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army might seem like an odd pick. It’s not one of the heavy hitters from the Shin Megami Tensei catalogue, and its original take on action combat left some fans scratching their heads back in the day. Still, the decision to rework this particular title speaks volumes about the studio's confidence in its stranger experiments.
Now released as Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army, this version doesn’t just clean up the visuals and call it a day. It rethinks key systems, reshapes how you fight, and smooths out a lot of the old bumps that used to make progress feel more like a grind. While the bones of the original story and structure remain, everything around it has been retooled with the benefit of hindsight—and a few smart updates to help modern audiences find their footing.
With its blend of demon summoning, supernatural detective work, and rapid-fire swordplay, Raidou Remastered offers a very different flavour compared to the more familiar Persona spin-offs. The whole thing has a kind of throwback charm, made sharper with smarter design choices and a lot of quality-of-life tweaks. But does this revamped adventure hold up in 2025, or is it a polished relic best left to history? Let's find out!
Raidou Kuzunoha isn’t just chasing ghosts—he’s hunting secrets that threaten the entire city. As a Devil Summoner, he’s thrown into Tokyo’s supernatural underworld and handed a case no rookie should be handling. But that’s exactly what makes it interesting.
The story is broken into chapters, each introduced like an old detective serial. This structure works well, delivering quick hits of action and mystery without dragging things out. You’re in and out of each episode fast, and the 30-hour campaign moves with real energy.
Not everything lands cleanly. Some characters don’t evolve much, and the story can wander a little too far into the weird. But the plot is unpredictable in a good way. There’s always something just around the corner, and often, it’s something completely unexpected.
What helps tie it together are the demons—not just as allies, but as sources of comic relief and occasional heart. The conversations Raidou has with them break up the seriousness and give the world a little warmth. These aren’t emotional arcs, but they’re enough to keep things interesting.
Raidou Remastered is strange, fast, and a little rough around the edges. But that’s the charm. It tells a story that’s confident in its oddness, and that’s what makes it stick.
Raidou Remastered doesn’t just touch up the combat—it rebuilds it. What was once a stiff hack-and-slash system now moves with precision and purpose. You control Raidou directly in 3D arenas, chaining together sword combos, dodging attacks, and triggering demon abilities on the fly. It’s quick, smooth, and finally lives up to its promise.
The battle system shines by making you the engine behind your team. Standard attacks generate MAG (MP), which your demons burn to unleash skills that hit weaknesses. Exploit the right target, and you stagger enemies, opening the door for even longer combos and more MAG. It’s a loop that rewards aggression and smart timing without overwhelming you.
Demon allies are more than just backup. You can bring two into battle, fuse them into stronger forms, and tailor their skills. That same fusion system found in other Atlus games returns here with the same addictiveness. Creating the perfect team felt like solving a puzzle, and after building a fire-spewing demon with crowd control skills, I was wiping out enemy groups in seconds.
Outside of battle, demons still earn their keep. Some have field abilities tied to specific interactions—like influencing NPCs or unlocking paths—giving exploration a reason to slow down and think. It’s not deep detective work, but it adds texture to the routine of jumping between missions and dungeons.
Speaking of dungeons, they’re one of the few weak points. There’s a fair bit of repetition, and backtracking through the same areas to trigger the next scene can wear thin. Side quests don’t help much either—most of them are forgettable errands. Still, they’re optional, and the main path rarely drags.
Where the original felt sluggish, Remastered is focused. Combat flows. Exploration moves quicker with better guidance. Even the most annoying bits from the old game, like wandering aimlessly for clues, have been streamlined with clear objectives and smarter design. Atlus didn’t just polish things—they fixed what didn’t work.
Raidou Remastered gives the original a visual overhaul that finally matches its tone. The shift to modern 3D assets adds detail across the board—environments, characters, and demons all carry sharper designs without losing their PS2-era charm. It’s not flashy, but it’s faithful.
The game’s episodic structure stands out right away. Each chapter opens with a stylized title card, giving the story a serialized feel that suits the detective setup. This structure also helps break the game into digestible parts, making the short runtime feel even tighter.
Character designs strike a strong balance between grounded and strange. While a few NPCs are on the dull side, Raidou himself cuts a strong figure. Demon designs are as bizarre and interesting as ever—a mix of familiar SMT faces and oddball entries that stick in your mind long after a fusion.
Musically, Shoji Meguro does what he always does—deliver something that hits. The soundtrack leans into jazzy tracks and moody loops, matching the mystery vibe without overdoing it. You’ll notice the tunes shift smoothly between investigating the streets and fighting in the demon realm. It’s stylish without trying too hard.
The PS2-era roots do show at times. Some animations are stiff, and a few environments feel basic when compared to modern releases. But for a game rebuilt from a mid-2000s base, this remaster holds together well. It stays true to its original mood while still cleaning up the rough edges.
There’s something oddly timeless about how it all fits. The aesthetic may not push the envelope, but the atmosphere is confident. Whether you’re patrolling smoky backstreets or warping into a demon-infested dimension, Raidou’s world looks and sounds like it knows exactly what it is—strange, stylish, and just a little stuck in time.
The Verdict
This remake does more than polish up an old title—it retools what didn’t work and gives it purpose. Raidou Remastered keeps its offbeat mystery and detective charm while tightening up the combat and trimming the fat. It’s not perfect, a few dusty mechanics remain, but it’s close enough. For those curious about Atlus’ stranger projects, this is a success story in bringing one back to life.Final Score: 8/10 - Great
RAIDOU Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army details
Platform: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PCDeveloper: Atlus
Publisher: Atlus
Genre: Action Role-Playing
Modes: Single-player
A key was provided by the publisher.