Metacritic's highest-rated release of 2023 so far is a PS2 game

According to Metacritic, the best game of 2023 thus far is... a re-release of a classic PS2 title.

In fairness, we're only one month into the year but it looks like Persona 4 Golden has outclassed successes like One Piece Odyssey, Fire Emblem Engage, A Space for the Unbound and Monster Hunter Rise. Given that we gave One Piece Odyssey and Fire Emblem Engage very positive reviews, it's understandable that you might wonder what you're missing out on if you aren't familiar with the original game.

Check out the announcement for Persona 4 Golden and Persona 3 Portable on Xbox consoles here:

Persona 4 Golden, which is funnily enough the fifth game in the series, follows a series of strange murders that strike a small town, apparently arising from an urban legend where you can see your soulmate in the screen of a dark television at midnight. It turns out that the protagonist and their high school friends are able to travel into the TV World and unlock powerful Personas that allow them to defeat the darkness that plagues the town.

However, the game has not surpassed scrutiny. The character of Naoto Shirogane has been criticised for exploring the possibility of a positive portrayal transgender man in Persona 4 Golden then ending their arc with the emphatic announcement that they are a woman. Moreover, Kanji Tatsumi is clearly a symbol of internalised homophobia in a small town setting and rather than resolving that with Kanji's acceptance of his sexuality, he's seen to be an oddity in need of rescue by the group of characters.

Other female characters like Yukiko Amagi express ambitions to stray outside of social norms but ultimately stay where they are without achieving their dreams. Persona 4 Golden is still an entertaining game, but it's worth bearing in mind that it's a product of its time.