In a world full of corrupt politicians, crooked cops, and sleazy criminals; a world where ones very perception of reality manifests their dark desires - who wouldn’t want to change the world? Persona 5 is the story of (your name here) a high school boy who has been screwed over by the world countless times - most likely because he never speaks up and says maybe 5 sentences the entire game.
Work that runway.
Wrongly convicted of a crime, ________ is forced to move in with a family friend who just stuffs him in the attic, but don’t worry - you have a mysterious power: You can summon a persona - a manifestation of your will to change the world. You can only do so, however, in a place called the Metaverse, which is a place where an individual's perception of reality comes to life. While in the Metaverse, you are tasked with stealing the hearts of those with distorted desires in order to forcefully “change their hearts” and essentially force them to have a conscience.
A distorted palace in the metaverse.
When not in the Metaverse, however, you are just a plain high school student tasked with living your daily life studying, hanging out with friends, and being harshly judged in general. Don’t worry though - you aren’t alone. You will soon find yourself making new friends with other people, having also been screwed over and a kindred desire to change the world. You will join a cast of characters, all with vivid back stories and unique personalities - but you won’t have time to discover that in one play through because Persona also teaches you that there is not enough time for anything. What’s that? You wanted to spend time with your friends? Too bad, this cat says you are tired. Want to improve your social skills? Sorry, you only have time for about 2 activities a day
You're not my mom Morgana!
Watch as you and your friends become The Phantom Thieves of Heart - a sort of vigilante group charged with changing the world by stealing hearts. In addition to your actual teammates, you gain confidants - people who support you and help you - sometimes without knowing - to become better thieves.
Persona 5 shows numerous times how almost every person sucks. Teachers? All secretly hate their students. Police? All corrupt. The general public? Fine with murder as long as it doesn’t affect them directly. On second thought, Persona 5 might be more realistic than I thought.
Now as someone who had previously never played a Persona, I absolutely loved this game. The story had me excited to know what sinister dealings were going down in the world and I was excited every time the phantom thieves got a new target. Every character was really fun and interesting to learn more about - from an honor student tired of everyone telling her who to be, to a depressed shut-in with crippling anxiety and agoraphobia, and even a slightly pretentious painter wanting to find the beauty in the world.
A colorful cast.
Persona 5 found a way to make a mundane high school life fun. While the time management aspect can sometimes be a little annoying, it sorta makes it a bit more realistic; like how in real life there never seems to be enough time to do everything you want. With so many things to do you will be struggling to decide whether to hang out with your friend to develop a deeper bond, or study for your finals so you aren’t a complete sack of potatoes.
The combat system, while in the Metaverse, was fairly easy to grasp with most commands being linked to a single button. The turn based combat and elemental affinities make each battle reminiscent of Pokemon, with Persona 5 having you find the enemies weakness and taking them down low enough to either capture, rob, or simply kill them. If I had any criticism to the combat, it would be when the protagonist falls in combat results in an immediate game over - regardless of your allies health. In a game where certain moves are made to be a one-hit kill it can be kind of irritating hitting a string of bad luck from enemies focusing on your character to take him down first (seriously am I the only one capable of throwing a revive at someone?).
All combat options are hot-keyed making the battle system more accessible.
In terms of design, the real world feels a bit claustrophobic at times. However, it does take place in a dense area of japan so perhaps that’s fitting. The Metaverse, however, is always a treat to visit. With its bright colors, unique concepts (like a bank that flies through the air and sucks up money), and stealthy means of infiltration, I can say with certainty that my stents in the Metaverse were probably my favorite parts of the game.
Now, I wanted to wait to talk about the music because my god, very few games have ever had soundtracks that I just have to listen to even when not playing. Every song fits in perfectly with the heist theme. The blend of funk and jazz accompanied by some powerful vocals by Lyn Inaizumi make me want to buy the entire 110-song soundtrack.
One of the best video game soundtracks in my opinion.
