Atlus’s Persona 5 takes players down the well-worn trope of teenagers saving the world, but with a stylistic twist. While this heroic theme is common throughout Japanese RPGs, this game uniquely blends a mix of fantastical dungeon-crawling conflicts with your everyday mundane tasks, as you play as a second-year high school student named Ren Amamiya.
The Washington Post describes Persona 5 as “a game for the cool kids,” listing it as one of the top games to wait out the coronavirus with. By day, you get by doing the average monotonous tasks: Keeping your room clean, passing your classes and even getting a job. By night, however, you’re Joker — leader of the Phantom Thieves. These masked vigilantes fight injustices by venturing into the Metaverse and stealing dark desires from the hearts of corrupt individuals, which manifest into their respective “palaces.” This contrasting duality of Atlus’s most recent project covers all aspects this JRPG’s series leading up to it could hope to achieve.
This 100-hour game has been heavily praised for its rendition on tackling complicated themes with the complexity of its cast, as it starts by throwing the player immediately into a fast-paced chase through a colorful Tokyo casino. The stylized scene emblematically foreshadows what the experience of the rest of the game will be, as the complex battle elements of this particular game has a slight step-up of that of Persona 3 and 4’s. With the references of previous games as well as hints to the newer additions, players can feel a sense of nostalgia as well as excitement for what’s ahead.
Cast as this teenager, you discover a weird app on your phone that you delete before going to sleep. Awakened to find yourself shackled behind bars and in a prisoner’s uniform, you see an old man named Igor who is the master of the Velvet Room. This room is a setting between both reality and dreams, as well as the projection of Ren’s heart.
”It may sound boring, but the mundanity is alleviated by just how effortlessly sleek and polished Persona 5 is.” // The Verge
Considered as “one of the greatest role-playing games of all time,” this JRPG weaves in components from Jungian psychology and tarot cards with events from your average teenager’s life. Drawing from Dr. Carl Jung’s idea that individual as well as societal expectations drive people to adopt different “personas” to get by in the world, and with high school being a time of many insecurities and anxieties, it’s no surprise that this fits. In the Persona games, these identity conflicts are what set the stage for psychological battles between people’s projected versions of themselves.
The collective unconscious of Persona is a literal mental dreamworld inspired by Jung's claims. He proposed the idea that there were two types of unconsciousness – the personal unconscious, which were the instincts and repressed thoughts a person has, and the “collective unconscious,” a mental world that is shared by all of humanity, a source of dreams, visions and “archetypes,” or the primal symbols that reoccur universally in mythology, human history, art, and literature.
The Persona series portrays the “collective unconsciousness” as its own reality created by the human mind, containing archetypal gods, monsters, and demons. The protagonists of each game protect themselves in this altered reality by calling on their own “personas,” tarot-themed spirits that have the ability to cast magical spells.
“True to the core tenants of Jungian psychology, each main villain in the Persona series represents a negative aspect of the human psyche, a twisted desire that must be fought and brought back into balance. The in-game stories of teenage heroes fighting archetypal gods and demons represent the mental battles waged within human hearts: the struggle against depression and despair in Persona 3, the struggle to confront harsh truths in Persona 4, or the struggle to reject unjust authority in Persona 5. Carl Jung called this lifelong struggle ‘individuation,’ the painful yet worthwhile journey to become the best, truest version of one’s own self, and the Persona games show this perfectly.”
— Coleman Gailloreto via Screenrant
“Carl Jung pioneered the idea of the unconscious not just as a well of repressed desire, but also as a spring of inspiration and personal power.” // Screen Rant
The Arcana are the different classes of tarot card, which are also a major thematic element of the Persona series. Each confidant in the game matches their Arcana based on the similarities they have among the characters. Reveling in Jungian archetypes with sprinkles of tarot card symbolism, these complex elements add a certain spice to the game making it no surprise that the Shin Megami Tensei spin-off franchise has received so much praise.
“The series is widely known for featuring a near-perfect mix of some good ol’ dungeon-crawling mixed with life simulation elements to craft a gaming experience that one can’t really experience with other types of games,” Ritwik Mitra from The Gamer writes. “This is what separates the Persona series from the rest of the gaming world, carving a niche that most imitators have found near-impossible to replicate.”
“Persona 5’s impossibly cool sense of style helps set it apart.” // The Verge
Persona 5’s stylish visuals immediately grab the viewer with their contrasting black and red color palette. This bold color scheme interlaced with the art’s cel-shaded style makes the graphics come off as confident, having taken inspiration from noir aesthetics. With the use of minimalism mixed with pop-art styling, and less distinction to detail but more to color, the graphics allow your mind to fill in the gaps and have a “suave” look.
The in-game graphics take photorealism with an artistic twist, added with anime-style cutscenes to give the game a timeless feel as you play through it. The use of these cartoon effects give the game the right amount of realism as well as escapism, as you play through what could feel like a movie. Persona 5 effortlessly blends its obvious anime style with chiaroscuro, neo-noir, and comic book elements with a pinch of dadaist and graffito influence to create an aesthetic of its very own that continues to captivate players nearly three years after its release.
Ren Amamiya, protagonist of Persona 5
Of course, with the stunning visuals Persona 5 has laid out for its audience to enjoy, it has to have an equally engaging soundtrack. Atlus’s masterpiece does not disappoint, as the music throughout the game does a satisfying job of complementing both the game’s art style and overall plot. Moving away from the synthetic digital style many other games use, Persona 5 produces a “cool” sound that’s both a mix of energetic and relaxed.
With its soft acid jazz powered by the rich vocals of Japanese jazz and soul vocalist Lyn Inaizumi, The Verge reflects on the music, saying, “The Persona 5 soundtrack makes everyday life feel cool.” Turning your mundane tasks like watering a plant or reading a book into an adventure, the music for this intricately designed JRPG sweeps players into a world of ambiguous outcomes.
While most games tend to have melodic songs consisting of just instrumental tracks, Persona 5 manages to blend both a voice and music together. “Even the music that functions as background noise has enough flair to it that you come away noticing it. What’s more, the flashiness of the music, much like other areas of the game, manages not to overstep,” Graham Banas writes in an article on Push Square.
“It’s one thing to be stylish and draw attention away from other areas, but the music walks a fine line. It works in harmony with the core elements of the experience rather than detracting from them. It’s the kind of music that immediately catches the ear of any Persona fans in the vicinity when it’s on. Those heads perk right up once the connection is made. It takes something truly special to pull that off.”
— Graham Banas via Push Square
“Take Your Heart,” a Persona 5 slogan
Whether you’re into intricate conflicts, soft romance, or just the fun simplicity of everyday obligations, Persona 5 has something for everyone. The game’s imaginative ambiguity paints a saturated picture in showing how people can be led astray by their own projections and fixations on distorted desires. Atlus’s newest release is sure to take your heart, with Android Central calling it “a powerful blend of the mundane and apocalyptic.”
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