Atlus may be in the middle of celebrating Persona's 25th birthday, but it's far more than the maker of Persona. Atlus has built its reputation on the backs of the entire Megami Tensei family of RPGs, each of which offers some variety of demon-summing RPG adventures. Still, since Persona's anniversary is in full swing, nobody necessarily expected Atlus to announce a new game for another Megami Tensei franchise anytime soon. Nevertheless, Atlus just revealed Soul Hackers 2, a sequel to the 25-year-old Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers. Atlus fans will finally have an opportunity to fight demons in the digital world once again.
Soul Hackers 2 is a big deal for quite a few reasons. It's generally surprising that Atlus is reviving this Devil Summoner subseries, simply because of how old the original Soul Hackers is. Beyond that, it could also send a message about another major game Atlus has in development: Project Re Fantasy. When Atlus said it would release a pillar game in 2022, it seemed likely that Atlus meant Project Re Fantasy, its mysterious fantasy RPG that has been in development for some five years. However, it looks like Soul Hackers 2 is meant to be its major 2022 title, which means Project Re Fantasy must still be deep in development.
The Return of Soul Hackers
Soul Hackers 2 definitely seems like it could be the aforementioned pillar game joining Atlus' library this year. Atlus has plenty of successful franchises, but none of them quite share Soul Hackers' concept, in which tech-savvy vigilantes enter a virtual world to confront a supernatural invasion taking place there. The far-future sci-fi aesthetic of Soul Hackers makes it unique among Atlus IPs, which in turn makes it worth reintroducing to the company's IP library. As great as Persona and Shin Megami Tensei are, Soul Hackers could offer Atlus fans some valuable variety in their Megami Tensei RPG diet.
Notably, Soul Hackers 2 will release in 2022 towards the end of the Persona anniversary celebration. Therefore, Atlus may not plan to release another RPG this year. For the moment, it's unclear if Atlus has any new Persona games in development for this year, but rumors of a Persona 3 port have been floating around, and Altus' anniversary content has started ramping up in general, if the Persona 4 Arena Ultimax port is anything to go off of. With Soul Hackers 2 confirmed and other Persona games still on the table for the next six months, there's not much room for Project Re Fantasy to release this year without stepping on the toes of other Atlus games.
The Wait for Project Re Fantasy
Soul Hackers 2 getting announced for 2022 strongly suggests that Project Re Fantasy is still in the middle of development. That's not entirely surprising; even though Project Re Fantasy has been in the works for years, a company as historically cautious as Atlus might just be going through development very meticulously to ensure that its newest IP gets off to a good start. Still, it's a shame to think that the game might be far from release. A classic fantasy RPG would actually bring some solid variety to Atlus' library, too.
For now, it's still entirely possible that Project Re Fantasy will make a surprise appearance later in the year, whether it suddenly launches in the summer or waits until the very end of 2022. Atlus hasn't made clear just how much priority Persona gets during its anniversary celebration, so the fates of its other games are hard to predict. Fantasy RPG lovers will just have to wait and see if there's any hope for Re Fantasy debuting in 2022. In the meantime, though, Soul Hackers 2 definitely gives Atlus fans something to look forward to.
Soul Hackers 2 releases August 26, 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
