Persona 4 Revival feels like another safe remake from Atlus, but it's not blowing me away yet
Persona 4 Revival feels like exactly what it says on the tin: a revival. I went hands-on with the game for an hour at Gamescom and while the changes feel minimal for the moment, they don’t feel any less exceptional.
The launch of Persona 5 Royal was the start of something beautiful for Atlus. The Persona series has always had its fans, but the fifth mainline game was the first stop for many new players, myself included.
After Persona 3 Reload, it was only a matter of time before Persona 4 was next, and while it’s taking a long, long time to come out, the end result is looking worth it.
My hands-on time with Persona 4 Revival at Gamescom felt like everything a Persona game should be. Three individual chapters took me through the core elements of the RPG: combat, dungeon-crawling, and some bonus slice-of-life content with Marie.
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Now, unlike the first time I saw someone whisper ‘Persona…” before unleashing their true-self, I can’t say I was blown away by what I played. I’ve done this dance a few times now and while the voice acting was impactful and the graphics were very pretty, none of it felt new. By that I mean a lot of it is new for Persona 4, but not the Persona series as a whole.
The real measure of success for one of these Persona remakes is the post-game content and unfortunately that hasn’t been shown off to us just yet.
What Persona 4 Revival has in abundance, however, is consistency. Based on what I played, it’s shaping up to be remake that’s both rewarding for long-time fans and newcomers alike.
There’s an argument to made that consistency is boring, but in Persona’s case, I can’t blame Atlus for playing to its strengths. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel in a remake, the upgrades and overhauls can wait until Persona 6.
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If I was to ask anything of Atlus for this remake it’d be to litter the world with more things to do like in Persona 5. While I enjoyed Persona 3 Reload, the daily exploration felt like a step back, and given the smaller scale of Inuba compared to other settings in the series, I’m doubtful much will change this time around either.
Like I said though, the post-game is where Persona 4 Revival will either stand or fall for many people. I’m not worried. I have faith in Atlus to succeed with flying colours. But, I swear to God if they had Joker as another boss fight I might just lose it…
All in all, Persona 4 Revival is shaping up to be another banger, and I’m excited for those who are still relatively new to the series to experience it for the first time.
The full-game will confirm it, but based on my hands-on preview alone, I’m convinced this remake will do the original PlayStation 2 game justice.
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