2013's certainly looking like being a good year for Shin Megami Tensei. While the series of role playing games has reached incredible levels of popularity in Japan, making it up there Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, it's always been a little bit more niche on these shores. But with two games coming out this year - Shin Megami Tensei IV, and the recently announced Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner, things may be about to look up for the hitherto overlooked series.
A remake of the 1997 Sega Saturn spin-off, the ludicrously long-named Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers takes place in the futuristic city of Amami, which has been chosen by the government to take part in the Next Generation Network City Development Project, starting with the roll-out of the virtual world of Paradigm X, which lets residents shop, socialise and practically live in an entirely online universe. Of course, such an ambitious project attracts hackers like a moth to a flame, and a group known as the 'Spookies' comes across a strange gun-shaped computer with a Demon Summoning Program installed on it - it's at this moment the demons which were thought to only exist in legends start appearing all over the city. With newly-found gun in hand, a young man and his fellow Spookies set off on a journey to reclaim their city from the demons and expose the shadowy forces operating behind the scenes.
You bet there is!
Soul Hackers sees you trawling through maze-like dungeons viewed through the eyes of your party, looking straight down the twisting, turning corridors of the planetariums, art galleries and large-scale chess boards in first-person, reminiscent of the Dungeon Master games (now we're showing our age). During your travels, you'll come across a huge variety of enemy demons, who you can choose to either fight or befriend, fusing some of the beasties together to make even more powerful additions to your team. Choose to battle, and you'll be thrown into a turn-based encounter, as you and your party - a mixture of your Spookies companions and monsters you've befriended - take it in turns to beat up any rough-necks you come across.
On the subject of demons, the 3DS' StreetPass functionality will become vital to your demon-hunting, as for each person you walk past, you'll collect 'D-Souls', which can be used to find rare, otherwise unobtainable, demons. You'll also have a cute green winged puff-ball companion called 'Nemechi' who can evolve into different forms depending on both how you raise it, and the StreetPass data you swap with other players - the two forms shown so far are a cheerful cat and a grumpy squid, although there are plenty more. Evolving Nemechi does have it's advantages though, as he unlocks some exclusive demons, ready for summoning into battle as he grows.
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoners: Soul Hackers hits the 3DS this autumn, although we don't have a definite date quite yet - in the meantime, why not check out the American trailer below:
