Raidou Remastered Switch 2 Hands-On Preview – Nostalgic Demon Summoning
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The Shin Megami Tensei franchise has been around since 1987, and the first release for the series on the PS2, Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army, launched all the way back in 2006. SEGA invited MP1st and select other outlets for a chance to play the Nintendo Switch 2 version of Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army. We left with an overall impression of how things are shaping up.
Shin Megami Tensei Spin-Off
I’ll be honest, prior to this event, I had never played any Devil Summoner games. However, I was vaguely familiar with the name thanks to the Shin Megami Tensei franchise it exists within. After a few minutes with the game, though, I was immediately reminded of Persona, with Raidou’s plucky cast of characters, including anthropomorphic creatures, catchy music, and simple-on-the-surface combat. In this case, however, the combat is in real time, which was a first for the series when the original game launched.
As mentioned, combat in Raidou Remastered happens in real time. Raidou has a sword for melee attacks, as well as a gun for longer-range attacks. Holding ZR allowed for a quick switch between attack types, which often came in handy whenever enemies moved away from me. The battles we encountered during our brief time with Raidou Remastered were quite easy, though as this is an Atlus RPG there is little doubt there will be plenty of challenge to be found for those who seek it.
Summoned Help
Beyond regular attacks, Raidou can also summon demons for help. As you might have guessed, these demons can be captured out in the wild once they are weakened enough in battle. Capturing is optional, though, and you can earn more rewards for defeating demons, which comes into play when you fight one you already possess. This should all feel like very familiar territory for Atlus fans specifically, and JRPG fans generally.
Graphically, Raidou Remastered does look a lot better than the 2006 original, which often relied on pre-rendered backgrounds in order to keep the action smooth (for the time, anyway – the PS2 game’s frame rate would make most of today’s gamers balk in disbelief). Areas have been essentially reimagined, and naturally are rendered in full 3D and realtime. The Switch 2 version we played runs at 1080p resolution, and targets 60 fps in both handheld and docked mode. While this isn’t the full 4K resolution that the system can output in docked mode, it does match the performance of the PS4 version, which the Switch 2 is reported to have a similar power level to (this is as of now unconfirmed).
Treads Familiar Ground
Overall, while our time with Raidou Remastered was quite brief, with a hands-on time of perhaps 40 minutes, it ran well, looked good, and combat also felt about as good as you could hope for in a game that’s almost old enough to drink in the States. We had enough time to peruse the setting of 1931 Tokyo, during a fictional twelfth year of the Taishō period of Japan. The immediate area had people to interact with, some of whom would have requests for the player, others who would freely give information or items that you conveniently needed. Typical JRPG tropes, and entertaining nonetheless.
Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army is fighting its way towards the launch window of the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2, and is currently scheduled to release on June 19th, 2025. This should be a great way to get your Atlus fix on the go, and even if you’re not familiar with the series, if you enjoy JRPGs with a focus on real-time combat, then this game should also be on your radar if you’re fortunate enough to pick up a Switch 2 during launch.
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