Atlus recently announced that seven new Persona projects will be unveiled during the series’ 25th anniversary celebration this September. While I think it’s important to temper our expectations – these could be anything from a Persona 6 trailer to new anime, to a clothing line inspired by Persona 5 Strikers – it’s worth speculating on what could hypothetically show up. I’d kill for a Persona 3 remake or Persona 5 Strikers DLC – the latter of which is somehow even more unlikely than the former – but I’m also naturally curious about what Sega and Atlus might have in store for us in terms of new experiences, especially given that Persona 6 appears to be all but confirmed based on an official recruitment page.
The first announcement for Atlus’ upcoming celebration is scheduled for September 21 later this year, although the vast majority of the rest are simply labeled as “coming soon” and the final reveal is set for August 2022. Given the ambiguity of the ones in the middle, it’s reasonable to assume that the last one is the big one – I reckon this is when we’ll probably see the first trailer for Persona 6, although evidence is currently mounting to support the suggestion we might get a peek at it even sooner.
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If I’m right about that last part, we could get a look at what’s next for Atlus’ revered series much sooner than expected. Persona 5 got the usual definitive edition treatment – which more games could probably benefit from – and even had an untypical sequel in Strikers, so Persona 6 could be further out than we might think. Still, given the series’ newfound prominence in the West after the enormous success of Persona 5 and its various spin-offs, it’s worth thinking about how Persona can capitalize on its current popularity while treading a delicate line between not repeating the series’ past mistakes and maintaining what makes it special in the first place.
Both Persona 4 and 5 have a male protagonist by default, which is a little odd when you consider that several earlier games in the series gave us the option to choose between two characters. Persona has been widely criticized for this shift, although Atlus has never officially put out a response to said criticism – at present, it remains unclear as to why Joker and Yu were written as fixed protagonists. It’s also worth directing attention to the fact that Atlus doesn't allow you to pursue same-sex relationships, despite the fact that Joker and Ryuji are clearly boyfriends. The only depiction of homsexuality in Persona 5 was irresponsible and actively harmful, and although it was technically changed for Royal, it still wasn’t much better. Atlus has a huge amount of work to do in order to ensure that Persona 6 is more diverse, respectful, and aware of its influential position in contemporary pop culture – if not, this will be a remarkably high-profile game that is ultimately stuck in the past.
These are the most important things that Persona 6 needs to do in order to rectify the mistakes of Persona 5, which is, admittedly, a great game for the most part. The art is stunning, the soundtrack slaps, the story is equally absurdist and compelling, and everything about moment-to-moment play from combat to dungeon traversal, to social links is near perfect – especially in Royal. Again, though, good mechanics and design don’t excuse poor thematic framing and tropes, which there should be absolutely no room for in 2021.
I do think Persona 6 could learn a few lessons from Strikers too, mind. The road trip idea was executed with real finesse, whereas all of the various combat animations designed for the musou reskin screamed style in such sheer Persona fashion that to deny them mainstay status in the series from here on out would be criminal. Sophia’s shop is excellent, the ability to rerun Palaces introduces a non-tedious grinding option to the game, and all of the various Velvet Room upgrades are essential to keep. A lot of hardcore Persona 5 fans dismissed Strikers for swapping from individual confidant relationships to the bond system – which I argued was a clever move in my review – but I think it’s impossible to denounce the fact that it introduced a variety of quality-of-life improvements that even Royal could have benefitted from. Revered Persona producer Naoto Hiraoka has stated that the studio needs to overcome serious “hurdles” in order to surpass Persona 5, but if the differences between Persona 5 and both Royal and Strikers are anything to go by – which, obviously, they are – then any rational person should be able to have legitimate faith in Atlus’ ability to develop a proper banger.
Persona 6 is probably still quite a way out. As I stated earlier, I initially thought it was pegged for that August 2022 reveal, but it’s seeming more and more likely that it could play a part in the 25th anniversary celebration itself. Either way, it probably won’t actually launch for another year or two after it’s unveiled, but that doesn’t mean having these conversations now is any less worthwhile. I really don’t think Atlus will come out with another default male protagonist, and I hope it’s washed its hands with the poor treatment of marginalized folks in both Persona 4 and Persona 5 – both of those things are worth consciously bringing up while the game is still in development in order to make sure that Atlus addresses them in the final product.
I also hope the gap in critical reception between Persona 5 Royal and Persona 5 Strikers doesn’t entice Atlus to totally ignore the latter, which championed several major successes and improvements over its predecessor and absolutely deserves a place in whatever comes next. If Persona 6 acknowledges these issues and is respectful towards a diverse cast of characters, it could blow even the most successful Persona game to date out of the water. That’s what Hiraoka wants, right? Mate, I’m telling you all about it right here. That will be a $1 million consulting fee, cheers.
Also, though – Persona 3 remake when?
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