Persona 4 was my belated introduction to Atlus’s Japanese highschool RPG sequence, so it nonetheless has a particular place in my coronary heart.
The PlayStation 2 authentic was, nevertheless, additionally usurped by the significantly expanded and much superior Persona 4 Golden, which is the place I racked up my New Sport+ playthroughs. Whilst I’ve turn into extra time-poor over time, I’d nonetheless dip into its subsequent post-Vita ports.
That does, nevertheless, current an issue for Persona 4 Revival. When an ideal expanded model of the sport already exists and is out there on all present platforms, is a $70 trendy remake actually wanted?
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The elephant within the room is that that is additionally a approach for Sega to plug the hole for the long-anticipated Persona 6, although provided that it was solely given the briefest announcement this yr, followers will doubtless have a for much longer wait forward.
However after about an hour of hands-on time with Persona 4 Revival at Gamescom 2026, I can recognize the totally different touches which have gone into making this JRPG traditional extra palatable to trendy audiences, whereas nonetheless preserving key components of the unique.
Yet another remake
Persona 4 Revival‘s hands-on demo was break up into three components: the primary centered on story, the second on its dungeon-based battles, and the final let me select easy methods to spend a number of calendar days as a switch highschool scholar within the rural city of Inaba.
As a remake, it follows an identical strategy to Persona 3 Reload. Character fashions aren’t simply an enormous visible improve over their authentic lower-poly PS2 counterparts; they’re even higher than Persona 5‘s and look nearly on par with the character portraits that usually accompany dialogue bins. Flip-based battles, in the meantime, have been up to date to reflect Persona 5’s management scheme, the place instructions are mapped to totally different buttons fairly than scrolling up and down a menu.
Similar to Persona 3 Reload, Persona 4 Revival has additionally up to date its audio with a totally new voice solid and a re-recorded soundtrack, together with at the very least one or two brand-new songs. I do not thoughts a lot the choice to recast the roles, particularly as a number of of the unique voice actors have turn into a lot larger profile (together with Troy Baker, Laura Bailey, and Yuri Lowenthal).
Nonetheless, the voice of Teddy takes time to get used to as a result of whereas some might have discovered his authentic voice a tad annoying, now he simply sounds a bit an excessive amount of like one other teenager fairly than a mysterious being inside a mascot swimsuit.
From what I performed, the story appears to unfold nearly beat-for-beat in keeping with the unique. I feel that is nice, and given how lengthy the sport already was, the script actually would not want fleshing out in the identical approach because the Final Fantasy 7 Remake sequence, for instance. However there are nonetheless some attention-grabbing adjustments inside that.
Essentially the most notable is the extra attention-grabbing camerawork happening, together with close-ups, that make intensive cutscenes extra partaking to sit down by way of as an alternative of simply prolonged dialogue you is likely to be inclined to skip when you can learn quicker than the characters communicate.
The script itself has additionally undergone some delicate changes within the localization course of. It may appear very minor, however I picked up on how Yosuke now addresses the opposite feminine college students like Chie and Yukiko extra formally by their household names, which is nearer to how real-life Japanese classmates who aren’t shut mates behave.
I am nonetheless intrigued by how and to what extent Yosuke’s character is up to date in Persona 4 Revival, as within the authentic, he behaves like a creep and is fairly insensitive at instances. Given there is a second within the story demo the place he will get irritated with Teddy and pushes him over, my guess is P Studio remains to be retaining at the very least among the extra abrasive aspect of his character.
Holding on to the previous
Persona 4 Revival’s visible upgrades apply to the environments too. With a totally free-looking 3D digital camera, you may recognize extra of the main points within the Dojima family, whereas within the Twisted Procuring District, you may search for and see the unusual crimson and black vortex as an alternative of a sky that signifies you are within the Midnight Channel’s parallel dimension.
Nonetheless, the locations you go to are nonetheless very a lot as I bear in mind them. Rooms are nonetheless separated by loading screens; Inaba’s predominant industrial district has the identical companies, together with the merchandise store that turns right into a bar at night time. That is additionally nice for me, as I do not suppose it will essentially profit the sport to immediately increase the actual property.
Whereas seemingly nonetheless randomly generated fairly than having the bespoke design of Persona 5‘s palaces, the dungeons you discover have nonetheless been adjusted to be rather less tedious, from having objects you may break to collect sources to a delicate wayfinder when you simply wish to get to the following flooring ASAP. Sarcastically, I took this as a cue to go the opposite path to discover extra of the map.
When encountering enemy shadows on the map, the sport even clearly signifies whether or not you have received the drop on them to get a pre-emptive assault. Failing that, Persona 4 Revival additionally provides the power to protect towards a shadow’s assault so that you just’re much less prone to begin a turn-based battle at an obstacle.
Throughout battle, the Baton Move mechanic has additionally been handed down from Persona 5 and Persona 3 Reload, which lets you assault once more when you’ve hit an enemy with their weak point, however go that flip onto one other social gathering member who might have the proper assault to use a special enemy’s weak point.
However whereas Persona 3 Reload was criticized for not being a very definitive remake, given the shortage of an choice for a feminine protagonist like in Persona 3 Moveable, Persona 4 Revival at the very least is confirmed particularly as a remake of Persona 4 Golden. Meaning it can embody that expanded model’s further story content material, resembling Marie, the mysterious and temperamental visitor within the Velvet Room.
Regardless of these sensible updates, I am nonetheless curious why another components have been left untouched. As an example, character portraits had been used prominently in JRPGs as they had been extra expressive than in-game fashions. However when Persona 4 Revival‘s character fashions are higher animated and expressive, having these portraits appears arbitrary.
Equally, once you knock down all enemies and set off an all-out assault, Persona 4 would initially cowl the enemies in a cartoon cloud for comical impact, but the remake opts to maintain this visible regardless of additionally having social gathering members operating in to carry out quite a lot of flashier animations alongside it.
There is likely to be some nostalgic attraction to retaining these conventions, nevertheless it additionally feels pointless within the context of a contemporary remake. Equally, as soon as my hands-on time was up, I got here away impressed with what I had performed, but nonetheless not satisfied why I’d drop $70 on it when Persona 4 Golden is correct there for a fraction of the value.
Persona 4 Revival releases on February 18, 2027, on Xbox Collection X and Collection S, PlayStation 5, and PC.
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