## 2025-06-22 The **Raidou** duology on the [[PlayStation 2]] is part of [[Atlus]]’ incredible run from 2002 to 2008, which gave us those two games, as well as **Persona 3**, **SMTIII: Nocturne** and the **Digital Devil Saga** duology. However out of all of those games, I think **Raidou — The Mystery of the Soulless** is probably the game that needed to be remastered more than any of the others. It’s an [[Action-RPGs|Action-RPG]] where you hack and slash demons while having your own. Instead of extra turns, striking weaknesses gives you more MP to press your assault. This *sounds* cool, but **Raidou 1** had too many issues because it was the first entry and Atlus’ grasp of action combat was…I think non-existent when they were working on this game? Anyways the point is that it’s *very* rough to try to go back and play, which is why this remaster is so great. It adds so much QOL that reduces the game’s friction, and I haven’t been able to put it down as a result. Some of that is just making the game feel more like **Raidou 2**, which fixed a lot of those issues, but a lot of it is just general modernization. The addition of active skills and perfect dodges makes the game feel closer to what you expect from action games in 2025. It’s still a **PS2** game — you can tell by the pre-rendered backgrounds — but you can barely tell, which is high praise, at least for me. Plot-wise it’s kind of hard to get into without spoilers, but it takes place in an interesting point in time compared to other **Shin Megami Tensei** games: 1931, the fictional twentieth year of the Taishō era in Japan. It’s quite the change of pace to the usual post-apocalyptic vibes, and it even differs from **Persona** because of the historical back-drop. You’re a detective and also the coldest, most dripped out mfer on the planet, Raidou Kuzunoha, solving cases that the police can’t as a protector that fights demons. Stuff happens. It’s honestly more fun to discover it yourself! Definitely a game worth checking out if you like **SMT** though. Here’s hoping the second game gets remastered as well.