Atlus may only have revealedSoul Hackers 2recently, but it has released a lot of important details about the game since then. It has provided fans with major spotlights on all the game’s central characters, ranging from protagonist Ringo and her fellow Devil Summoners to the mysterious antagonist Iron Mask.Soul Hackers 2have also gotten a look at the game’s mechanics, which combine demon management in the style ofShin Megami Tenseiwith social elements fromPersona.Even though the broaderDevil Summonerfranchise stands on its own two feet in the Atlus RPG family,Soul Hackers 2still seems like an interesting bridge betweenSMTandPersona.
ItsPersonainfluences are particularly notable because of howSoul Hackers 2could affectPersona’s future.Soul Hackers 2trailers strongly suggest that the game will be far darker than recentPersonagames overall, and while that isn’t inherently surprising, it does feel significant when paired with the game’s potential appeal toPersonafans. Atlus may intentionally be trying to warmPersonafans up for future titles that involve a lot more graphic violence and other dark themes thanthePersona 5suite of gamesinvolved.Persona 6could be tapping into the franchise’s darker past.
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Soul Hackers 2 as a Persona Warmup
Trailers forSoul Hackers 2haven’t pulled punches in terms of violence. As a Soul Hacker, Ringo has the power to bring people back from the dead, meaning there’ll be several sequences where she brings supporting characters like Arrow back to life while they’re still lying in their own blood;Soul Hackers 2trailershave already shown off some of these sequences. AnotherSoul Hackers 2trailer has shown Iron Mask blasting Ringo in the leg with a shotgun, leaving her with serious wounds. Aside from this graphic violence,Soul Hackers 2seems to have a pretty heavy tone overall, based on the game’s impending apocalypse and the distrust that some of its protagonists have for each other.
Nevertheless,Soul Hackers 2is clearly trying to tap intothe growingPersonafanbasewith its social sim elements, focus on human teammates, and All-Out Attack twin, Sabbath. Even thoughPersonadeals with plenty of mature subjects, it’s rarely as dark asSoul Hackers 2seems to be, so intersecting the two so heavily seems a little strange. The decision may make more sense ifPersona 6intends to be a little darker than recent games, involving more intense violence and direr circumstances than recent games.
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Bringing Back Persona’s Dark Side
Persona 5certainly has some grim moments, like the deaths caused by mental shutdowns, but on the whole, it’s defined by the Phantom Thieves' optimism and determination in their mission to fix society. Because of this, it’s a bit lighter in tone than the likes ofPersona 4,where players grapple with a murderer’s schemes and even come close to killing another person, orPersona 3,in which death is a central theme. It’s possible thatPersona 6will try to recapture the essence of thesePersona 5predecessors by introducing even more menacing enemies and giving players cause to fear for characters' lives.
Atlus has yet to confirm or deny much aboutPersona 6,andPersonahas definitely been trending toward lighter stories on the whole, but it’s still possible thatPersona 6will work with some heavy themes. If nothing else,Soul Hackers 2can at least be taken as a sign of Atlus' interest in telling mature stories with high stakes.The inclusion ofPersonamechanicscertainly implies that Atlus wantsSoul Hackers 2to have a relationship withPersona,so there’s a real chance thatSoul Hackers 2will define futurePersonaexperiences. UntilPersona 6rears its head, fans will just have to keep their eyes onSoul Hackers 2and its possible implications.
Soul Hackers 2releases July 28, 2025 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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