The final time I performed Persona 4, it was Persona 4 Golden on the Vita, and I used to be on my first flight to Japan, unaware that I’d nonetheless be dwelling right here a decade later. Because it does for me, Persona 4 holds a particular place in lots of followers’ hearts. Remakes of any beloved property face the laborious activity of respecting what made the unique nice, whereas restoring and bettering on it by fashionable requirements. Atlus did a superb job with Persona 3 Reload in 2024, although in that case there have been a lot clearer methods to enhance on the unique (and main additions and content material sadly nonetheless omitted within the chilly).
My skepticism going into Persona 4 Revival at Tokyo Sport Present this yr was that the unique was on no account damaged and in no want of fixing. Maybe that’s the rose-tinted (learn: yellow-tinted) glasses speaking. Both approach, within the 20-minute story demo I had with Persona 4 Revival, the sport completely pops in all of the methods we’ve come to count on, even when the enhancements are additionally restricted to what we’ve come to count on.
The story demo opens on April fifteenth, the day the teenage protagonist stumbles into the cursed TV dimension of the Midnight Channel alongside the bubbly bear(?) Teddie and one other excessive schooler, Yosuke. The in depth dialogue appeared unchanged from Golden, although the way in which I used to be set to discover the 3D rendition of the Midnight Channel was model new, if within the vein of Persona 5.
The 2D character portraits react and emote throughout dialogue as at all times, but now the 3D character fashions within the background present a cutscene’s degree of expression and motion, which actually heightened the bodily comedy bits between Teddie and Yosuke.
One other notable change was the brand new and tremendously improved anime cutscenes courtesy of MAPPA (Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man, Vinland Saga), right here to indicate the protagonist’s persona, Izanagi, awakening inside him. The demo continues via the returning boss battle towards Yosuke’s shadowy different self and the next awakening of his persona, Jiraiya. Every thing from Persona 4 Golden is claimed to be included, although followers shouldn’t count on many extra additions by way of story beats.
Persona 4 Revival’s menu interfaces are beautiful, in line with Atlus’ latest observe document (hi there, Metaphor: ReFantazio), and the fight comes alive with a punchy vibrancy not wholly current within the unique.
Perhaps the largest gripe with the unique Persona 4 is the tasteless degree design for dungeon crawling segments—sadly, that sees little enchancment right here. Dungeons might look prettier, however they’re nonetheless boxy, flat, and have not one of the intelligent traversal or puzzles as in Persona 5 or Metaphor. The music, equally, felt rerecorded and with a brand new vocalist, although it doesn’t change the unique sufficient to distract or cease listeners of their tracks.
Total, Persona 4 Revival is what I believed it will be: a non-essential remake of an important JRPG. I’m glad to play it once more after a few years, and glad extra individuals will get to play it for the primary time, although I’m hoping to see one thing bolder from it as we draw nearer to its February 18th, 2027 launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Sequence X|S, and PC by way of Steam.
Take a peek at Atlus/SEGA’s Tokyo Sport Present sales space beneath, alongside a number of new screenshots (all of the screenshots above are brand-new as properly!).
Persona 4 Revival Sales space Space at TGS 2026
Persona 4 Revival – TGS 2026 Screenshots
