Before you say it, I know. Persona 4 Golden is often hailed as one of the greatest RPGs ever made. It was a pivotal moment for the series, where many mechanical and thematic threads finally came together. You step into the shoes of Yu Narukami, a Japanese transfer student who uses his time to make friends, study, and battle metaphysical manifestations of his friends’ inner struggles.
A New Entry Point
At Gamescom, I had the opportunity to play a little of its remake, Persona 4 Revival, and interview series producer Kazuhisa Wada (via interpreter) to gain insights into remaking such an iconic game. When I mentioned it was my first time playing Persona 4, Wada raised an eyebrow and assured me, “We wanted this to be an excellent entry point for those who want their first taste of the game, but in order to do that, we need to get to the essence of what made Persona 4 great, and for that we need to grab the hearts of existing fans and make this game something they would remember.”
Shadows and Social Links
During my brief time with Revival, I played through part of the main story early in the game. As Yu Narukami, I teamed up with classmate Yosuke and fought several enemies before encountering his Shadow form. In the metaphysical realm, Yosuke’s Shadow represents his fear of loneliness, hidden behind a class clown mask. His shadow is defeated only when Yosuke accepts both his inner and outer self.
In another section, I explored a realm created by Yukiko’s subconscious and faced the Shadow of Chie. Enveloped by her envy of the conventionally beautiful Yukiko, the dominatrix-themed shadow claimed their friendship was a lie, purely for Chie’s gain.
Combat Reimagined
The combat system feels fantastic and visually stunning. While Persona 4 was a PS2/PS Vita game, seeing its incredible art direction enhanced with modern models and effects is remarkable, especially compared to Persona 3 Reload and Persona 5 Royal. I’m late to the party saying Persona 4 has excellent turn-based combat, but the rhythm of finding weaknesses and playing around patterns keeps me engaged. Even as a newcomer, I struggled against Shadow Chie. Small intricacies like choosing between spending mana or health on spells kept me on my toes. Wada explained that “as the original system is quite old now, especially compared to the modern standards of Persona 3 Reload and Persona 5 Royal, there’s elements in there that will feel a little frustrating. We did our best to remove those stressful moments of the battle systems and update it to modern expectations.” The system feels fair, although I was obliterated by Shadow Yosuke’s two critical hits thanks to the ‘One More’ system.
A Familiar Story
Despite knowing a lot about Persona 4 due to its cultural impact, actually experiencing the story and characters in their remake is special. The central conflict across the cast’s inner and outer selves pulls you in instantly, and I’m impressed by how uncompromising the writing is about denying your true self. Yosuke gently admitting “When you get down to it, all of this is me” and Chie yelling out “Don’t look at me!” while her Shadow took over were brilliant insights into their different approaches to their true selves.
Dating in Inaba
I also had the joy of experiencing Persona 4’s writing and story for the first time, witnessing Yu’s attempt to make his date with Marie exciting in their quiet town. It was as touching as it was painfully funny. Social links, a bond-making mechanic that builds relationships between Yu and his party members, are core to Persona 4 and won’t be changing much. The story and social links will remain largely the same, with some minor tweaks: “Our approach was to not touch the elements that made the game really special, so the characters and story are exactly as they were. That said, there are things that, when we looked at the script, seemed unclear or didn’t have as much information as we wanted to, so we tweaked things a little for additional nuance.”
Wada’s note about the story and social links being largely untouched interests me, especially regarding Yosuke’s characterization. While changes wouldn’s be unwelcome, Revival has also seen a full recast of its voice actors. From what I heard, the new performances are great, but it’s difficult to ignore that several members of the original cast openly stated they wanted to return. Wada revealed that “there were quite a few people we weren’t able to get.” He shed no more light on that disconnect, but revealed that the auditions for Revival weren’t labelled as such for the actors auditioning, but the team were “listening to the auditions and trying to pick people who matched the vibe of the characters, but at the same time giving them room to take them in their own direction.”
Why Remake?
I asked Wada why remake Persona 4 at all. “When we originally conceived the idea of Persona 3 Reload, we knew we wanted to do P4R as well; we had to put it on the backburner, but it was something we thought of at the same time. For me, I think a remaster or remake is some kind of cultural preservation. As a creator, it’s your duty to take the things you’ve done and make sure they’re not lost, and are still around in the modern day. From that same perspective, Persona 1 and 2 are something we’ll probably eventually do too.”
I’m grateful for my time with Revival and Wada, and I think this experience has finally convinced me to give Persona 4 Golden a shot. I’m installing it as I write this!
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