Persona fans have been waiting a long time for any sort of news on the next game in the franchise, Persona 6, but it looks like they will be waiting a while longer. The live musical event for the franchise, called Persona Super Live P-Sound Wish 2022 ~Intersecting Journey~, will be held on October 8 and 9. It will feature some life-size character statues, a live DJ, and both Teddie and Morgana will be greeting guests.
With all of the fun and excitement on offer, the one thing that will not be featured is a new game announcement. In a new announcement from the PR team on the official Persona website, they made it clear that “there are no plans to announce new game titles at this live show.” Persona 5 was released in Japan in 2016, so fans have been waiting 6 years to get some Persona 6 news. While disappointing, this long wait is not a new thing for long-time fans of the games. Persona 4 was released 8 years before Persona 5. It’s a bummer, but clearly not a dealbreaker to the loyal fans of this series.
At least there is the good news that the franchise will be coming to more platforms. Earlier this summer, it was announced that Persona 5 Royal would be coming to Xbox and Nintendo Switch on October 21. The remastered game will include all 40+ DLC packs that the game has released over time. While most of these are costumes, there are still plenty of cool materials included with the DLCs. Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden will also be available for Xbox and Nintendo Switch eventually but not until sometime next year.
The Persona games are single-player RPGs that home in on the human psyche. The heroes of each game use physical manifestations of their psyches to battle whatever psychological malevolence they face in each game. For example, in Persona 5, a group of high school students use their personas, the manifestations of their individual psyches, to travel in a subconscious realm. There they steal the ill-intent from the hearts of sleeping adults to make the waking world a better place.
That is a lot to explore! The series has dungeon-crawler elements, but it is a lot about sociology and social simulation. Since the heroes can swap out personas, it says a lot about how humans are complex creatures capable of a multitude of actions, good and evil. We are not one thing at all times. Also, the art style is very cool and engaging. It mixes a 3D modern Tokyo with moments that look straight out of a comic book. It’s an interesting mix of styles that really works for an RPG that deals a lot with reading choices and menus.
The Persona games are hugely popular around the world, and while it is sad to not get an update, we can all agree that a great quality game is worth the wait.
