Persona 5 is a game that is widely considered one of the greatest JRPGs of all time. The game took elements of traditional JRPGs and its own history and blended them with some more modern features and an undeniable amount of style. Critically and commercially successful, Persona 5 has already set expectations for the inevitable next entry in the stratosphere, yet reaching the heights that fans will expect is going to be a monumental task.
Fantasy games in general are in a renaissance right now. On the Western side, the ever-increasing popularity of Dungeons and Dragons is influencing development of games like the upcoming Dark Alliance and Diablo 4. Simultaneously, on the Eastern side, titles like Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Persona 5 have shown that there is huge demand. Persona 5 specifically exemplifies how far mechanics and style can go to making a game that still plays essentially the same as its predecessors feel fresh and wholly unique.
Persona 6 Will Need to be a JRPG Opus
The popularity of Persona 5 is hard to overstate, especially considering how niche the series has been over its history. The game has inspired tons of fan artwork, a spinoff title Persona 5 Strikers, and the protagonist Joker has made his way into the immensely popular Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on the Switch. The reasons for the game's crossover success are both obvious and hard to nail down in some ways. The game masterfully blended together traditional turn-based combat with some new mechanics that helped to make combat still feel quick and visceral. And its story tells a witty and intriguing tale set against the deep relationships that can be built and explored between the different characters met along the way.
Persona and Shin Megami Tensei are known by long-time fans as featuring some heady and sometimes heavy themes. Persona 5 is no different as it uses the series persona system of acquiring new abilities as a way to talk about Jungian archetypes and the psychology between the masks people wear versus their true selves. Persona 5 also features its Arcana system which adapts the tarot, another interesting archetypal subject, into a series of abilities and features that can be leveled up through relationship building and exploring the game's crafting systems. This mix of the thematical with the mechanical offers a system that's engaging for players who just want to explore the gameplay, and a sometimes deep conversation about more lofty ideas for those who are looking for it.
Any sequel comes with certain expectations from fans of the game before it. Even with its long history, the first Persona having released all the way back in 1996, Persona 5 is in a unique position as far as what's expected from its sequel. While many traditions of Persona's past games are likely to continue, Atlus will need to continue to innovate on those traditions if they hope to strike gold again with Persona 6. Finding ways to stay true to its past while charting towards its future will be the difference between Persona 6 being a standard sequel or an absolute masterpiece.
Persona 5 Royal is currently available on PlayStation 4.