I really don’t think anyone out there does it like Atlus. For better or for worse, really. The studio marches to the beat of its own drum without a hint of self-consciousness, spinning weird tales about Satanic rites, the power of friendship, and the end of the world (localised to the city of Tokyo). Whether you’re looking at the parent Shin Megami Tensei series, the spin-off Persona games, or the Metaphor-shaped wunderkind that landed last year, Atlus always lands on its feet.
The developer is no stranger to remasters and remakes. Persona 3, weirdly, has had both within the last two years. MegaTen V got the standard ‘definitive’ edition re-release with the sublime Vengeance last year, and we all know about the likes of Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 5 Royal. It’s a quirk of Atlus’ – to address the flaws, round out the edges, and give you a little more bang for your buck on the second bite of the apple. Consumer friendliness quibbles aside, it does at least mean we get improved versions of solid games with cast iron regularity.
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With Atlus’ latest joint, Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army, the developer has muddied the waters a little between what a remaster and a remake is. That’s nothing new, of course; Square Enix remade Final Fantasy VIII without the original source code and dubbed it a remaster, and we’re getting the same with Final Fantasy Tactics later this year. But I have found the route Atlus has taken here quite fascinating.
The curious PS2 game (which originally enjoyed a 2006 release in Japan and North America, and 2007 in PAL regions) carries on Atlus’ fascination with the occult and the Satanic, but with one major variation from all the developer’s other titles (up to and including Metaphor): this one is an action-RPG. And ‘Raidou Remastered’ is a bit of a misnomer. What we’re getting here is more of an enhanced version, with a lot of significant changes to the PS2 original.