Shin Megami Tensei - Devil Summoner - Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army (Europe)
PlayStation 2
🇬🇧
Reviewed in 2007
84
✪ Reviewed on May 12, 2024
78
Devil Summoner Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army marries Megaten demons with sleuthing in Taisho Tokyo. Real-time action, a unique noir-fantasy mood and undeniable charm.
Your verdict
Category
Action RPG1 player16+
Description
An Atlus action RPG released in 2007, the first entry in the Devil Summoner Raidou sub-franchise. Detective Raidou Kuzunoha investigates disappearances in Taisho-era Tokyo (1920s) by summoning demons using mystical tubes. Real-time action combat, occult jidaigeki atmosphere, Japanese pulp aesthetics. A successful SMT franchise spin-off.
Shin Megami Tensei - Devil Summoner - Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
4/5
Music
★★★★★
"Excellent"
4/5
Story
★★★★★
"Captivating"
The first Raidou, this spin-off trades turn-based for real-time action. Its art direction stands out through its enemies: the Soulless, mass-produced soldiers without souls, uniform troops emptied of humanity that surge forward in unsettling ranks. Against them the detective releases demons held in tubes, creatures conjured mid-melee. This ballet of summonings against an army of puppets founds its visual identity.
Unlike the muffled atmosphere of investigation, the battle music pushes toward nerve and speed. Real-time action calls for percussive, brisk themes, taut with guitars and pressing brass that sustain the urgency of melees where one summons on the fly. Meguro thus opposes two registers, the detective's stroll and the fever of combat, and it is this switch that paces the adventure.
The plot opens with a chilling request: a young woman asks Raidou to kill her before she is abducted. From this thread unfolds an investigation that, from detective Narumi's office to the capital's underworld, reveals a conspiracy around the Soulless, that army of soulless men manufactured to refound the nation. The story advances as a criminal case, clue after clue, rather than a grand prophecy.
Gameplay
"Excellent"
Fun
"Pleasant"
Addictiveness
"Captivating"
Difficulty
"Balanced"
Lifespan
"Long"
Technical info
💾2,4 GB📅13/07/2007
Published by Atlus
Shin Megami Tensei - Devil Summoner - Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army (PS2) price, value & rarity
An Atlus action RPG set in a stylized Taisho-era Japan, where a detective-summoner investigates and captures demons, an atypical branch of the Shin Megami Tensei galaxy. Its appeal lies in a Western run limited by Atlus for a niche spin-off, making it a target hunted by fans of the house, the complete copy growing scarce. A piece for collectors of SMT and retro-Japanese atmosphere.
An underrated gem
Atlus transplanted its Megami Tensei mythology into a Taishō-era Japan, where a young detective summons demons in the heat of action combat. A spin-off that arrived late and in small numbers, it slipped under the radar. Its retro-occult setting and unique atmosphere will delight action-RPG fans willing to forgive a few repetitions.
A questionable morality
A detective from the roaring years who cracks his cases by unleashing demons on his opponents has a decidedly expedient approach to policing. You capture these spirits, file them away in tubes and recall them to battle like simple tools, all in the name of public order. The retro elegance smooths over this forced taming of the supernatural without a hitch.
Is Shin Megami Tensei - Devil Summoner - Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army still worth playing in 2026?
Released in 2006 on PS2, Atlus' project moves the Shin Megami Tensei saga into the imperial Japan of the nineteen twenties, where a young detective and summoner, Raidou Kuzunoha, unravels a case mixing kidnappings and occult conspiracy. The combat happens in real time, a novelty for the series, with the ability to summon captured demons to back up the blade. The Taisho atmosphere, retro and bewitching, and the serialised investigation give a unique flavour. The repetition of some fights weighs. An atypical and charming spin off, recommended for fans of SMT and of Japanese historical mystery with an occult twist.
