Key Preview Takeaways:
- A brand new breadcrumb path that leads you to your subsequent quest or goal is a pleasant accessibility characteristic, however we hope there’s an choice to show it off for gamers already aware of Persona 4.
- The huge new fight characteristic in Revival is available in the kind of “Prime Time,” a form of super-mode which you can activate after filling a particular bar.
- The new voice performing is a bit of an adjustment, however we appreciated what/who we heard.
Final yr’s Persona 3 Reload was a contemporary revamp of the recreation that wound up defining the core pillars of what the Persona would turn into. P3 Reload proved that Atlus might modernize its older Persona titles whereas sustaining its really feel and id, and now it’s Persona 4’s flip with Persona 4 Revival. Based mostly on the PlayStation Vita’s enhanced “Golden” model of the recreation, Revival will as soon as once more see your small group of Persona customers work out the trigger of a mysterious set of disappearances and murders happening in the small city of Inaba, Japan. The demo I checked out dropped me into a couple of completely different factors set throughout the early hours of the story, letting me get a sampling of the story, together with a style of the new anime cutscenes from MAPPA (the identical studio that did Persona 5 Royal’s opening), tackle some Shadows, and even do some exploring round Inaba. It’s been some time since I final visited the foggy city, and I used to be excited to test in and see how this new tackle the RPG had modified issues up.
I opted to start out my time with Revival getting straight into the motion and exploring Yukiko’s citadel.
The dungeon felt largely as I remembered it from Persona 4 and Golden. The construction stays, consisting of tight hallways with rooms containing chests and shadows that direct you in the direction of the boss room. New to this model was a form of pathing graphic, resembling one thing like fairy mud pointing me the place to go. I’m undecided if this was one thing strictly added to this demo to assist me see content material with the quick time we had or if it’s a characteristic that can be current in the Revival’s closing launch, however I hope which you can flip it off. I’ve all the time felt like the mini-maps in Persona 3 by means of 5 do an excellent job in conserving me from getting misplaced, so having a constantly-on breadcrumb path telling me the place to go feels a bit pointless. I’m high-quality with the help being in the recreation, I simply would have a problem whether it is all the time energetic. It’d be like having Teddie always speaking to you with no strategy to get him to close up.
However what would a dungeon be with out some baddies getting in your approach and attempting to take you out, and that is the place I’m reminded that I’ve all the time been a fan of the fashionable Persona’s fight system. Revival adopts and brings over a really comparable system to final yr’s Persona 3 Reload, which tailored some of the intricacies from Persona 5, which itself was expanded from the unique 3 and 4 releases. The huge bombastic notices while you hit an enemy’s weak spot, knocking them down, the spectacular all-out crew assaults, and Persona 4 Golden’s method to Shuffle Time (the post-combat choice that may web you new personas for the fundamental character and different goodies to choose from) all return in the new remake. That stated, Revival nonetheless has some new twists to sit up for as properly.
The huge new fight characteristic in Revival is available in the kind of “Prime Time.” Suppose of it as a form of super-mode which you can activate after filling a particular bar. Prime Time provides a personality three back-to-back turns the place all the prices for his or her expertise and spells are lowered to zero, whereas additionally granting you entry to a dramatic all-target particular assault. You fill the bar by performing actions and taking injury, with issues like hitting an enemy’s weak spot filling extra of the bar, making the complete factor really feel a bit like Revival’s tackle a Restrict Break system. The demo had the Prime Time bar filling actually shortly, simply to provide me an opportunity to test it out, even letting me get a number of triggers of it throughout a single struggle if I needed to, and I used to be promised that, come launch, this highly effective instrument wouldn’t be one thing you possibly can simply convey out fairly so willy-nilly as on this particular construct. That stated, I can solely begin to think about simply how highly effective this can get once I begin having personas with higher-level expertise – a full stack of debuffs or buffs utilizing Debilitate or Warmth Riser without cost and executed all of sudden or hitting three Courageous Blades with out the well being loss? Um, sure please! One caveat is that whereas in Prime Time you lose entry to utilizing the All-Out Assault in case you knock down all enemies. It’s a small value to pay for one thing so robust, and I’m curious to see how properly Revival manages to steadiness this new Prime Time mechanic, because it appears like it’s balancing on a knife’s edge and might simply slip into making many of the more difficult fights really feel extra trivial.
Baton Move additionally makes its Persona 4 debut, the nifty characteristic that means that you can swap to a different occasion member in case you strike an enemy’s weak spot. First launched in Persona 5, and with Persona 3 Reload incorporating an analogous system with “Shifting,” it’s a robust instrument that has already confirmed its price in earlier titles, and it’s a welcome addition to Revival. As a result of of the demo happening so early in the recreation, I actually didn’t discover a lot else in the approach of variations in how battles performed out, which I’m completely pleased with, since Persona 4 already had such a strong system to start with!
My time wasn’t spent simply taking out shadows, although, as I acquired to do some gentle exploring round Inaba itself. Effectively, no less than as a lot as you actually can do at that time in the story, as most shops are all closed or or had another given motive stopping me from going inside. I acquired to go to Igor and crew in the Velvet Room, fuse some Personas, and even begin Marie’s Social Hyperlink. It felt good getting to take a look at the previous stomping grounds like Junes and the Samegawa, and I even noticed slightly Easter egg (I used to be instructed I used to be the first one to note it throughout the occasion) of Kyouji Kuzunoha, a satan summoner and the (sort-of) protagonist of Megami Tensei: Satan Summoner, which launched on the Sega Saturn and PSP. I can’t wait to stroll round this new Inaba extra and see what different goodies there are to find.
In the meantime, Revival options brand-new voice actors for the forged alongside rerecorded music tracks, which can take a while to get used to. Seeing Yosuke’s portrait speaking and not listening to Yuri Lowenthal’s voice popping out, even realizing it was coming, took me abruptly a bit. Whereas I solely acquired a really small sampling of the voice performing and new variations of the soundtrack, every part I heard, corresponding to Yosuke’s new actor Paul Castro Jr., was properly executed. It is going to take me a bit to regulate to all of the new actors and tunes in Revival, however I’m curious to listen to how the full soundtrack and relaxation of the forged come out.
From a visible standpoint, Revival is certainly a step up from the vanilla and Golden releases of Persona 4, however I’m not bought on all of the adjustments. The new character fashions all look unbelievable and are positively as much as the identical high quality as these in P3 Reload and Persona 5, however I discover that the character portraits themselves lack some depth and shading. The battle portraits for the forged really feel like a bit of a downgrade as properly. In the earlier editions, these had been bigger and coloured on the aspect of the display, whereas Revival’s are fairly small and black and white, with the solely coloration seeming to be the character’s hair, and solely if you find yourself giving them instructions.
Persona 3 and its follow-up, Persona 3 FES, when launched on the PS2, shone the gentle on the collection and acquired so much of eyes wanting in its route, however Persona 4 is the place the collection actually began bringing in the followers. That development continues on with the Persona collection as a complete, with the franchise lately surpassing 30 million copies bought. 2027 is setting itself up as a extremely good yr for followers of RPGs, and Persona 4 Revival can be main the pack when it releases in February. I’m hopeful that issues like the glowing goal path being toggleable or some tweaks to the portraits and UI can be included, and I’m maybe the most intrigued to see how Atlus manages to steadiness Prime Time throughout late recreation.
In the pantheon of the Persona collection, its fourth entry is held in excessive regard, and time will inform if this third iteration will show to be the finest of the bunch. The little bit I acquired to see is no less than making it a reasonably robust contender for that award, and it nonetheless very a lot appears like Persona 4. However anybody who has performed it earlier than is aware of it’s a really lengthy recreation, so we must wait and see whether or not it is price tuning in for or altering the channel.
Whilst you’re right here, try these previews of different huge upcoming video games we have performed lately!
Scott White is a contract contributor to IGN, aiding with tabletop video games and information protection. Comply with him on X/Twitter or Bluesky.