Just a Small Number of Reasons Why ‘Persona 5’ Is Incredible

Persona 5, the latest entry in its long running franchise has seen overwhelming fan and critical praise following both its Japanese and Western releases. Unlike many other JRPG titles, Persona 5 utilises various unique forms of gameplay. Being both an extensively detailed simulation of Japanese high school life, and a dungeon exploring monster slaying thrill ride, Persona 5 is an odd, but truly magical game that is thoroughly engrossing. Here are just a small number of reasons why it is more than worth your time and money.

The Interface Is Outrageously Creative

Persona 5’s interface will swiftly absorb you with its spattering of vibrant reds, contrasting against pitch blacks and stark whites. Both the dramatically suave colour scheme, and the design of Persona 5’s interface overall, is mind bogglingly smart. Bringing up the save data menu causes a silhouette of your protagonist to energetically soar across the screen, and besting your foes in combat results in your acquired experience points, money, and item information being flaunted brashly in your face, as if to emphasise your achievement of victory. Subtlety is not a word within Persona 5’s dictionary, and whilst at times the screen can feel cluttered with an overabundance of bells and whistles, it‘s one-of-a-kind interface deserves heaps of praise for its stupendous exercise in originality.

It Boldly Explores Dark Themes

Physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual assault, suicide, drug trafficking; Persona 5 has all of this and more. It confidently engrosses you in the plight of its protagonists by refusing to shy away from such subjects, which serves as a flawless juxtaposition to the jovial moments of watching a movie called The Cake Knight Rises at the cinema, or witnessing a comical argument between the hotheaded but misunderstood Ryuji, and the bossy but charming talking cat Morgana. Very few games explore the morbid themes aforementioned with such confident realism, whilst simultaneously showing sensitivity and restraint when necessary. Persona 5’s handling of its mature subject matter is expertly executed, and serves to create an engrossing narrative with sky high stakes.

It Provides Genuine Reasons To Loathe The Antagonists

By effectively utilising its previously mentioned dark themes, Persona 5 creates a plethora of reasons to despise each and every antagonist. As each narrative surrounding Persona 5’s despicable villains gradually unravels, your hatred for them grows stronger. Whilst you may initially dislike an antagonist for their base motives, you will in time become aware that their crimes and twisted minds are far more sickening than you had initially anticipated. Upon this realisation, you will more than likely be desperate to decimate them in a fierce battle to the death. This sensation of truly despising the evil within an antagonist’s personality bears similarity to Game of Thrones’s repulsively bratty Joffrey, or The Walking Dead’s baseball bat wielding Negan.

The Combat Is Ridiculously Enjoyable

The main attraction of any action game is naturally its combat. Fortunately, Persona 5 delivers yet another breathtaking experience within this category. Offering the methodical strategy of turn based combat, while simultaneously minimising the frequency of endlessly long lists via the implementation of the earlier mentioned sublime interface, Persona 5 sets a new standard for the turn based JRPG genre. By providing you regular opportunities to collaborate with your teammates on unique attacks, and allowing you to trigger a visual treat in the form of an ‘All Out Attack’ in the majority of battles, destroying your opponents in Persona 5 feels consistently satisfying and addictive.

You Won’t Be Able To Put It Down

By offering such a humongous quantity of content, but whilst simultaneously drip feeding it to you at a moderate pace, Persona 5 engrosses you in a gradual crescendo of addictive gameplay, until eventually enveloping you in an experience that you will be hard pressed to walk away from. Whether you wish to invest time in activities directly relating to your prowess in combat, or indulge in experiences that will benefit you outside of this and unlock further details of various character’s backstories, the world is your oyster. Due to not everything being completable in just one playthroughs, as a result of the time management mechanic within Persona 5, further playthroughs via New Game + are encouraged if you wish to witness everything that is on offer. Given that Persona 5 is already a staggeringly long game, it provides more than enough value for your money in the quantity of playtime that it demands. Clear your calendar, because you will be neck deep in Persona 5’s stellar gameplay for the foreseeable future, and this is most certainly a good thing!