Persona 5 spawned beloved characters, a catchy soundtrack, an eye-catching art style with a red-and-black motif and numerous memes (“You’ll Never See It Coming,” transposing the stylish battle menu over other people for fun and more), spreading interest to new audiences by word of mouth. But it wasn’t until the release of Persona 5 in 2017 that the series truly took off in the West, turning into a cultural phenomenon. In 2012, the unexpected success of Persona 4 Golden on the PlayStation Vita brought this social-simulator-turned-RPG into the mainstream. While popular in Japan, the Persona games remained somewhat obscure overseas, much like Shin Megami Tensei did. The games also tackle mature story themes such as death and suicide, psychological issues and social justice, with friendship prevailing at the end of the day.
The Persona games are unique for this blend of RPG and social sim elements, giving players a novel sense of living as a high schooler with a double life. The protagonists use their personas, or alter-ego summons, to defeat shadowy forces and save the day, all while managing their schoolwork and social schedules with friends, family and love interests. The games typically focus on a group of high schoolers banding together to take down supernatural forces of evil within modern-day Japan. The Persona franchise is at once unique and formulaic, rarely deviating from what works.Īs a spin-off of the cult classic Shin Megami Tensei series from Atlus, the Persona games have steadily grown into juggernauts in the RPG and social simulator genres.
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