Atlus’ Megami Tensei series is an incredibly diverse franchise of game releases, much like Square Enix’s Final Fantasy franchise. Since the original Megami Tensei’s release in 1987, subseries have included Shin Megami Tensei, Devil Summoner, Devil Survivor, Persona, and more. Where exactly Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers fits in that genealogy is complicated, but what matters is that the JRPG is unique and has its own cult fanbase. That’s probably why it appears Atlus is teasing the announcement of a new Soul Hackers game coming next week.
An official website from Atlus and Sega with the URL soul-hackers.jp has appeared online featuring a countdown. There are two important parts to the countdown. First, a handy message above the countdown reading, “Hack Begins: 2022.2.18 FRI. 12:00.” Then there’s the countdown, which should expire at 7:00 PM on Monday, February 21. In other words, the “Hack Begins” this Friday, but the countdown will end next Monday.
What Atlus will likely do is release a teaser or trailer for its upcoming Soul Hackers announcement on Friday, or perhaps something smaller having to do with the website. Then, Atlus could fully unveil the project next Monday, whatever it could be. It’s a unique way to host a countdown, which is typically used to build up hype using mystery and speculation. Atlus and Sega appear to have already given away the heart of the announcement. Now it’s just a matter of waiting for the meat of the reveal.
One lingering significant question is whether this new Soul Hackers project is planned for a global release or for a western release at all. While the countdown website itself does feature English, the social media account linked on the website is Japanese-only. However, it’s also true that Atlus self-publishes in Japan. Sega’s involvement would mean that the game is being published in North America, too.
Some Shin Megami Tensei and Atlus JRPG fans may be wondering what exactly Soul Hackers is. That’s an answer complicated by Atlus’ historically flakey localization efforts and the resulting confusing naming conventions. Fans in North America may only recognize Devil Summoner as the name of two PS2 action-RPGs, Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army and Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon. The truth is, these are two prequel games for the main Devil Summoner series. There’s Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner, a 1995 RPG for Sega Saturn that was never localized, and its sequel, Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, another Sega Saturn RPG that was only ported to the west in 2013 for Nintendo 3DS.
What that means is that Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers is technically Devil Summoner 2, a sequel to a game never released in the USA. The brand has been muddied by the action games that took the Devil Summoner name, so Atlus appears to be releasing this new title as just a new Soul Hackers game with no mention of Devil Summoner. It could, at its heart, be a Devil Summoner game, or it could be nothing like the original Devil Summoner or the first Soul Hackers, either. It’ll be interesting to see what Atlus has put together.
A Soul Hackers project appears to be planned for an announcement soon.
