Persona 5 was so damn successful, it’s unsurprising that Atlus has spent the years since A) milking the hell out of it and B) using its incredibly stylish visuals as a template to remake the other two games in its modern trilogy.
Persona 3 Reload was the first utilisation of that template, and now we’re doing it all over again with Persona 4 Revival. Its cast of characters un-chibified, ready to be unleashed upon a far more highly detailed rendition of the cosy town of Inaba.
Honestly, I was a little worried sitting down to play Persona 4 Revival at Gamescom. Its predecessor, Persona 4 Golden, was my introduction to the series and hugely formative for me. It’s a game I hold incredibly close to my heart, one I’ve played countless times over. I’ve been carrying around this gnawing feeling that Atlus’ ongoing attempts to bring a cohesive art style to the series was going to be its undoing. Would Revival still feel like the Persona 4 I know and love?
I’m incredibly relieved to say that the answer to that is: it absolutely does. It’s a little different, sure—most of the English voice cast has been swapped out, the soundtrack has been re-recorded and rearranged, and I’m still not totally sold on its updated character portraits (seriously, where is Yosuke’s jawline?)
But as I played my way through small snippets of the game’s early hours—retreading the familiar territory of Yukiko’s castle and facing off against Shadow Chie—I was getting those same giddy feelings that I felt the first time I booted up Persona 4 Golden on my PS Vita.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t new things to awe at and explore for veterans of Inaba’s streets, mind you. The foggy town is now fully explorable in 3D, and plodding up and down its winding roads revealed to me a faithfully recreated space with all the fun details and finesse that older hardware couldn’t afford. It’s still got those wonderful vibes that teeter between cosy and mildly unsettling.
And while Persona 4 Revival’s dungeons have stayed true to the original’s procedurally-generated corridor format (something I’m still unsure about), there are plenty of tweaks to exploration and combat that shake things up. Shadows are still as relentlessly aggressive as they were the first time around, but Revival has added in a guard mechanic that lets you stun them to get the upper hand. It’s a nice addition for those that are perhaps more used to the covert sneaking promoted in Persona 5, and saves me from endlessly trying to get around their back for an advantage.
The game’s modern makeover truly shines in the heart of Persona 4 Revival’s battles. The shadow designs are fantastic—the tongue-lolling Hablerie looks even more disturbing in the best possible way, and the extra details and textures on Shadow Chie make its already-incredible visuals pop. Pretty much every shadow has been elevated with a few tweaks here and there instead of going for full-blown remakes, a decision I’m really pleased about.
Then there’s the actual combat stuff. The classic “1 More” system returns, but it’s now folded in with Persona 5’s Baton Pass that lets you pass the extra attack onto an ally. There’s also a brand-new mechanic that lets you send shadows flying into each other to pass on status ailments and deal extra damage, something I didn’t get to play around with in my time with the demo but I’m very excited about regardless.
Prime Time seems to be the main addition to combat, another one I didn’t really get to use during the demo—filling a gauge lets you perform a whole bunch of actions and skills without coughing up the HP or MP for them, as well as ignoring resistances and freely using Baton Passes. It seems like something that’s going to be utterly broken as a concept, and I’m interested in seeing how Atlus plans on balancing something that seems so bonkers powerful.
Mostly, I’m just ridiculously excited to jump back in and play more. Persona 5 may be the most well-known in the series at this point, but Persona 4 is easily my favourite in terms of raw vibes and storytelling. Being able to recapture that feeling 16 years after Golden is no easy feat, but from the small parts of Revival I’ve played so far, Atlus has absolutely nailed it.