Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers is a role-playing video game created by Atlus in 1997. It is the second part of the Devil Summoner series, which is part of the larger Megami Tensei franchise. The game was first released for the Sega Saturn, then later made available for the PlayStation in 1999 and the Nintendo 3DS in 2012.
The story takes place in Amami City, a fictional Japanese city known for its advanced technology. The main character is a member of a hacker group called the Spookies. They gain access to a closed beta version of Paradigm X, an online game meant to connect people in Amami City. While inside the game, the character meets supernatural beings and works with the Spookies to investigate demon attacks across the city. Nemissa, a demon who takes over the body of the character’s friend, Hitomi Tono, helps them.
Development of Soul Hackers began in 1996, following the success of the first Devil Summoner game. The original producer, Kouji Okada, and character designer, Kazuma Kaneko, returned to their roles. The first two versions of the game were not released outside Japan, but the Nintendo 3DS version was translated into English. Most reviews praised the game, though some critics mentioned issues with the visuals and music. A sequel, Soul Hackers 2, was released in August 2022.
Gameplay
Soul Hackers is a role-playing video game. Players explore dungeons using a first-person view, where they solve puzzles and fight enemy demons in turn-based battles. The player’s group always includes one or two human characters, and up to four demons who fight alongside them. Players gain access to demons by talking to enemy demons and making deals with them. These deals may involve answering questions, intimidating the demons, or giving them items they desire. Players can combine several allied demons into one new demon; the new demon gains abilities from the demons used to create it.
During battles, players must manage their demons based on their personalities, their types, and their abilities. For example, friendly demons often use healing or defensive magic, while sly demons prefer to attack enemies independently. If a player tells a demon to use an ability it does not want to use, the demon might refuse and act differently, or it might do nothing. Demons with different types may refuse to work together. To avoid this, players can increase the loyalty of their demons by giving them gifts or letting them choose their actions during battles. Players can earn magnetite, which is used as fuel for demons, by fighting in battles or trading at a special marketplace. If players run out of magnetite, any summoned demons begin to take damage.
Plot
The game is set in a small imaginary harbor town called Amami City in Japan. Algon Soft, the company that created the game, has made Amami City its main office. This has caused the city's technology to upgrade quickly. Algon Soft has connected every home and business in the city to its new network to show how a "city of tomorrow" could work. The Japanese government is impressed and allows Algon Soft to expand the network across the rest of Japan in the future. The game also takes place in a virtual world called Paradigm X, which is on Algon Soft's servers. In this virtual world, people from Amami can visit virtual attractions.
The player character is a young man who is part of a hacking group called Spookies. The group was started by a man named Spooky. The other members of the group are Six, Lunch, Yu-Ichi, and the player's friend, Hitomi Tono. The group mainly hacks the city's network for fun or to play harmless jokes. However, Spooky has a strong dislike for Algon Soft. Other characters that appear often include Nemissa, a demon who controls Hitomi, and Kinap, who teaches the player how to enter the souls of people who have recently died.
Development
Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers is the second game in the Devil Summoner series, which is part of the larger Megami Tensei series. Unlike other games in the series that take place in post-apocalyptic settings, this game follows a modern-day detective story. Development began in 1996 after the first Devil Summoner game was successful in sales and reviews. Kouji Okada, the original producer, and Kazuma Kaneko, the character and demon designer, returned to their roles. The idea for the game came from the rise of the internet, especially after the release of Windows 95. Okada and Kaneko were concerned about how the internet could be used for control and the problems that might arise if a widely used system failed. Kaneko created the game’s world view, while writer Shogo Isogai developed the story scenes. The team worked hard to balance the gameplay. Shigenori Soejima, who later designed characters for Persona, helped with sub-character designs, item graphics, and the main character’s dialogue portraits. Instead of focusing on one character’s perspective like earlier games, the team explored the viewpoints of multiple protagonists. Kaneko added a "devil" theme to some characters’ clothing, a style he later used for Isamu in Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne. Nemissa’s design was inspired by her role as a self-centered, childlike character.
The main character was not a trained Summoner, unlike the first Devil Summoner game. His use of the GUMP symbol showed the transfer of responsibilities tied to the Kuzunoha line. Amani City was not based on a real place. It was created by Kouji Okada to be a futuristic city on the opposite side of Japan from the first game’s setting. The original version of Amani City was smaller than the final version. Kinap’s character was inspired by how Native Americans were shown in North American movies, often as spiritual and upright people. His Japanese name, "Redman," symbolized his origins. The main antagonist, Manitou, was based on a Native American concept similar to major deities in other religions, such as the Abrahamic God. Its human form showed how much humanity had changed it. Other elements of Native American folklore were also included. Dr. Victor, a helper from the first Devil Summoner game, returned in a redesigned version, along with a new assistant named Mary. Her journey to gain consciousness was compared by Kaneko to the attainment of gnosis. The music was composed by Shoji Meguro, Toshiko Tasaki, and Tsukasa Masuko. Meguro focused on the game’s cyberpunk and futuristic setting, blending jazz and techno styles to create a haunting atmosphere. He composed about fifty pieces for the game but had less creative freedom and memory space than in his work on Maken X. He found the project very challenging.
Release
Soul Hackers was first released for the Sega Saturn on November 13, 1997. A bonus disc called Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers – Akuma Zensho 2 was released on December 23, 1997. This disc included a postcard entry for a chance to win one of 1,000 copies of an extra dungeon. Because the game was popular, a version for the PlayStation was released on April 8, 1999. A budget version for Sony’s PlayStation series followed on July 27, 2000. The PlayStation version included new story events, a Paradigm X casino, and a version of the Devil Zensho 2 dungeon.
A version for the Nintendo 3DS was announced in 2012 and released on August 30, 2012. Directed by Kazuyuki Yamai, this version was based on the PlayStation edition but included improvements, such as full voice acting and gameplay features unique to the 3DS. Masayuki Doi created a new demon for the game, and Eiji Ishida was the art director. Original writers Masumi Suzuki and Yusuke Gonda returned to write new content. A new opening movie was made by animation studio Satelight, known for their work on Macross Frontier. The opening’s theme song, "#X," was written by Yamai and included themes from Soul Hackers. The song was composed by Ryota Kozuka and translated into English by Toshihiro Takeuchi. Singer Wink Wink performed the song and helped with the translation. The 3DS version was released digitally on the Nintendo eShop on December 25, 2014.
The game was announced for a North American release in December 2012, with the title Shin Megami Tensei. It was published on April 16, 2013, by Atlus USA and later released as a digital download on July 2. Soul Hackers was one of ten original Megami Tensei titles rated "M for Mature" by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. In Europe, the game was published by NIS America. It was originally planned for release on September 13, 2013, but was delayed to September 20. The digital version was released on September 25. In 2021, Sega Sammy Holdings, Atlus’ parent company, listed Soul Hackers as one of several "dormant" intellectual properties that could be remade or remastered.
The Sega Saturn and PlayStation versions of Soul Hackers were never officially released outside Japan. Although efforts were made to localize the PlayStation version, it was not released overseas due to Sony of America’s content approval rules. The 3DS version was the first time the game was available outside Japan. Atlus USA handled the localization, with project leader Sammy Matsushima, editors Mike Meeker and Clayton Chan, and QA lead Rob Stone. Because the game had never been released in the West, the team treated it like a new game to ensure the story was accurately translated. The translation took about a month, and the full localization process took eight months. While the story was serious, the team added humor where possible, sometimes changing jokes or adding fourth-wall breaking moments not in the original script.
The team, who were fans of cyberpunk fiction, recognized the game’s futuristic style. They used their knowledge of computers to make technical dialogue sound professional. At times, they were amazed by the game’s vision of future technology, comparing it to an old film about future developments. The English version had less voice acting than the Japanese release, as some NPCs on the world map were voiced by the same two actors, which sounded unusual. This choice saved costs on additional casting and recording. To highlight differences between Nemissa and Hitomi, the team used two different actresses. Nemissa had a more outgoing tone and a ghostly voice, while Hitomi was more reserved and normal-sounding. Nemissa’s habit of referring to herself in the third person was kept from the original script.
Reception
The 3DS version of Soul Hackers received "mixed or average reviews" according to Metacritic, a website that collects game reviews. Some critics praised the game's battles. Danielle Riendau from Polygon, Joe Czop from RPGFan, and Kimberley Wallace from Game Informer all liked how challenging the battles were. Riendau said boss battles require careful testing and planning, and that defeating tough enemies feels rewarding. Wallace said larger battles create excitement and make players think carefully about their choices each turn. Both Riendau and Chris Charter from Destructoid enjoyed the dialogue during demon negotiations, and Wallace said these conversations add more depth to battles.
The dungeons were less appreciated. Riendau said the dungeon designs are repetitive, with boring and unclear visuals that become tiring, especially in late-game areas that require returning to earlier parts of the game. Wallace said the dungeons are not as well-designed as they were in 1997, calling them dull, though she noted exceptions like the art museum, where players enter paintings. Unlike Riendau, Wallace did not find backtracking tiring because players can sometimes avoid battles through dialogue. Famitsu, a Japanese gaming magazine, said the map and difficulty settings made it easy for new players to explore dungeons.
Riendau liked the game's setting and visuals, saying they reminded her of science fiction anime from the late 1990s. Wallace said the idea of exploring a cyberpunk city is not new, but she enjoyed the game's atmosphere. Jeremy Parish from IGN also liked the atmosphere, calling the mix of cyberpunk and mysticism interesting. Famitsu said the visuals looked outdated but praised the story. Czop liked the story, especially the vision quests, but said the Spookies characters, though often present, do not develop much through their dialogue. Charter and Wallace also liked the story but had different opinions about the Spookies: Charter called them timeless characters and praised Hitomi and Nemissa for carrying the story, while Wallace said their dialogue was well-written and appreciated the story's focus on family. Riendau criticized the character Beta, calling him a "gross stereotype" and saying he takes attention away from the game.
Czop was not impressed with the game's music, saying it fit the game's areas but was average and not memorable. Charter said the music was not the best in the genre but matched the game's mood. Parish was more critical, saying the music sounded like it was "performed on a digital chainsaw."
Upon its release, Soul Hackers sold 160,850 copies in its first week. By 2007, it had sold 258,679 units, making it the 27th best-selling Saturn game in Japan. The PlayStation version sold 137,458 units by the end of 1999, ranking as the 114th best-selling game that year. The 3DS version sold 69,365 units in its first week, debuting at #2 behind Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F for the PlayStation Vita. This was considered a strong performance for a port of an older game, outperforming the initial sales of Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor for the Nintendo DS. In the following weeks, the game dropped to #9 and then #17 on Media Create's top 15 games chart, selling 12,589 and 5,910 units, respectively, for a total of 87,865 units. By October of that year, Atlus reported sales of over 90,000 units, surpassing the 2013 sales of the PSP version of Persona 2: Eternal Punishment but falling behind Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan. According to a 2014 report by the NPD Group, Soul Hackers sold 36,000 units in the United States during 2013.
Legacy
The mobile game Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers – Intruder was released only in Japan on August 30, 2007. It is a tactical role-playing game that includes adventure elements, adapting features from Soul Hackers for mobile devices. Another mobile game, Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers – New Generation, was released in Japan on July 22, 2008. It is set in a virtual world.
A sequel, Soul Hackers 2, was released for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows on August 25, 2022, in Japan, and on August 26 outside of Japan. The game is set in the near future and follows agents of a supernatural being named Aion as they gather summoners to fight an evil force.
The original game had a manga version written by Fumio Sasahara and illustrated by Kazumi Takasawa. It was published in two volumes by Kadokawa Shoten in March and August 1999. It also had two novel adaptations: Devil Summoner Soul Hackers: Death City Korin by Osamu Makino, published by Aspect Books in April 1998, and Devil Summoner Soul Hackers: Nightmare of the Butterfly by Shinya Kasai, published by Famitsu Bunko in May 1999.