Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers

Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers belongs to Atlus's discipline of JRPGs combining demon collecting and fusion, as popularized by the Shin Megami Tensei series, this time set in a cyberpunk metropolis steeped in virtual reality and hacker subculture. Playing a young hacker, the player fights alongside summoned demons, which he catches, negotiates with, and merges into stronger forms using a fusion system that requires thinking through combinations of traits, resistances, and inherited skills. First-person dungeon exploration is complemented by puzzle solving, hacking computer terminals, and conversations with characters that develop an intricate sci-fi story about the control of information, artificial intelligence, and human freedom in the near future.

The Saturn version benefits from the hardware in rendering more detailed city backgrounds and enemies, as well as smoother transitions between exploration and battles, which are turn-based and emphasize the tactical exploitation of enemy weaknesses, elemental affinities, and teamwork among summoned demons. Electronic, atmospheric music underscores the story's cold, technological mood, and together with the darkly toned art style that combines gritty streets with neon virtual reality, it creates one of the most distinctive sci-fi atmospheres among the JRPGs of its time, further enhanced by an unusually large number of cinematic sequences and strong characterization of the supporting hackers.

The game was released only in Japan and did not officially reach the West until years later, in a reworked and expanded version for the PSP, so on the Saturn it long held a cult reputation among importers willing to overcome the language barrier. Today it is valued as one of the high points of the Saturn's JRPG library and as an important milestone in the development of the fusion system that still defines modern Shin Megami Tensei and Persona games, having influenced the whole genre's move toward more elaborate monster-collecting and combining systems.

Why play it: For fans of Shin Megami Tensei and Persona, it's a key milestone in the development of the demon fusion system, though the game requires a willingness to overcome the language barrier of the Japanese original.