Atlus may be in the middle of celebratingPersona’s 25th birthday, but it’s far more than the maker ofPersona.Atlus has built its reputation on the backs of the entireMegami Tenseifamily of RPGs, each of which offers some variety of demon-summing RPG adventures. Still, sincePersona’s anniversary is in full swing, nobody necessarily expected Atlus to announce a new game for anotherMegami Tenseifranchise anytime soon. Nevertheless, Atlus just revealedSoul Hackers 2, a sequel to the 25-year-oldDevil Summoner: Soul Hackers.Atlus fans will finally have an opportunity to fight demons in the digital world once again.
Soul Hackers 2is a big deal for quite a few reasons. It’s generally surprising that Atlus is reviving thisDevil Summonersubseries, simply because of how old the originalSoul Hackersis. Beyond that, it could also send a message about another major game Atlus has in development:Project Re Fantasy.WhenAtlus said it would release a pillar gamein 2022, it seemed likely that Atlus meantProject Re Fantasy,its mysterious fantasy RPG that has been in development for some five years. However, it looks likeSoul Hackers 2is meant to be its major 2022 title, which meansProject Re Fantasymust still be deep in development.
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The Return of Soul Hackers
Soul Hackers 2definitely 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 shareSoul 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 ofSoul Hackersmakes it unique among Atlus IPs, which in turn makes it worth reintroducing to the company’s IP library. As great asPersonaandShin Megami Tenseiare,Soul Hackerscould offer Atlus fans some valuable variety in theirMegami TenseiRPG diet.
Notably,Soul Hackers 2will release in 2022 towards the end of thePersonaanniversary celebration. Therefore, Atlus may not plan to release another RPG this year. For the moment, it’s unclear if Atlus has any newPersonagames in development for this year, butrumors of aPersona 3porthave been floating around, and Altus' anniversary content has started ramping up in general, if thePersona 4 Arena Ultimaxport is anything to go off of. WithSoul Hackers 2confirmed and otherPersonagames still on the table for the next six months, there’s not much room forProject Re Fantasyto release this year without stepping on the toes of other Atlus games.
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The Wait for Project Re Fantasy
Soul Hackers 2getting announced for 2022 strongly suggests thatProject Re Fantasyis still in the middle of development. That’s not entirely surprising; even thoughProject Re Fantasyhas been in the worksfor 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 thatProject Re Fantasywill 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 justhow much priorityPersonagetsduring 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 forRe Fantasydebuting in 2022. In the meantime, though,Soul Hackers 2definitely gives Atlus fans something to look forward to.
Soul Hackers 2releases July 21, 2025 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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