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For decades, Atlus’ Persona series is unlike almost anything else on the market. Their willingness to embrace horror styles, along with incorporating urban fantasy, has led the series to stand out and become one of the few JRPG series that non-fans are aware of.


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as the Persona series matured, adding new elements such as social ties, the popularity of the franchise skyrocketed. Unlike most franchises that became less acclaimed with the passage of time, Persona achieved the opposite. According to reviewers on Metacritic, Persona only grew in quality with each new title.

11 SMT: Persona recreated the original persona title

Metacritical score: 78

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona is a remake of Revelations: Persona, the game that started it all for the franchise. Released in 2009, SMT: Persona featured additional cutscenes and much better localization than the original release. like everything Persona games, it started with a group of high school students who suddenly developed the ability to summon their inner selves, known as Personas.

While most franchises struggle to get out of the gate, reviewers noted: Persona was a quality RPG from the start. The series did things that few other series tried at the time, and although the PlayStation Portable version came out then Persona‘s ideas weren’t that unique, this first game felt special anyway.

10 Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth took the persona cast to the movies

Metacritical score: 81

While fans kept waiting for the next episode in the Persona franchise, developer P-Studio released the dungeon crawler Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth in 2018. Persona Q2 took the cast of the last three main games and set them in a theater where they were forced to travel through multiple films in different settings.

While Q2 lacked the same horror sensibilities as the main titles, it still had Personas trademark focus on existential questions about the life and nature of humanity. The game didn’t set the world on fire, mainly because it was a Nintendo 3DS title released a year after the Nintendo Switch came out, but it performed well.

9 Persona 5 Strikers Merged Dynasty Warriors Fighting Persona Characters

Metacritical score: 83

Atlus has mastered working with other developers to ensure that fans of different genres can experience their main franchise. Persona 5 Strikers is a musou game courtesy of Omega Force and P-Studio, combining elements from classic Dynasty Warriors play with Personas world and characters.

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Interestingly enough, the game is a real sequel to Persona 5‘s story, which takes place several months after the main game. Although adapting the RPG style to the hack-and-slash combat Dynasty Warriors is known sounds like a challenge, critics enjoyed this game enough to consider it a good sequel to the beloved Persona 5. It’s hard to find games this good for people who love attackersbut there are still some available for fans.

8 Persona 2: Eternal Punishment Is An Urban Mystery About The Joker Curse

Metacritical score: 83

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment is the sequel to Persona 2: Innocent Sin, a game that wasn’t released in the west until the late 2000s. In Eternal Punishmentthe player takes on the role of Maya Amano, a reporter investigating the truth behind the dangerous Joker Curse.

critics of Eternal Punishment loved the dark, urban fantasy approach, along with the branching storytelling and immersive gameplay systems. Interestingly, although this game was remade for the PSP, that remake was never localized. Instead, Sony was forced to put the title on PlayStation Network for those who wanted to experience the game.

7 Persona Q: Shadow Of The Labyrinth Brought Dungeon Crawling To Persona

Metacritical score: 83

While fans eagerly awaited the release of Persona 5Atlus and P-Studio dropped Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth in 2014 for the Nintendo 3DS. Using characters from Persona 3 and persona 4, Persona Q strayed from the usual formula of creating a dungeon crawler that stood on its own.

While this was a huge departure from what people were used to, critics didn’t seem to mind using the game’s card-drawing system. Etrian Odyssey series. One of the many games released leading up to Persona 5, Persona Q proved the voracious appetite the internet had for the Persona franchisee.

6 Persona 4 Arena created a great fighting game with a great story

Metacritical score: 86

Combine ArcSystemWorks’ skills in fighting games with Atlus’ characters and world Persona series and the result is one of the most memorable fighting games of the 2010s Arena, ArcSystemWorks takes thirteen characters from persona 4 and Persona 3 and pit them against each other in a stunning 2D anime fighter with surprising depth.

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Most Persona fans expect a focus on the story, and Arena does not disappoint. The game has a detailed single-player mode that tells a story using visual novel-like backgrounds. Even Persona 4 Arena Ultimax would add new characters and more story, it’s the original version that critics love the most.

Metacritical score: 89

4 An image of promotional art for Persona 3 Portable featuring the two main members of the SEES

Persona 3 was the first step to Persona become a huge franchise. The game introduced the social ties, allowing players to bond with characters in the game, and it gave them in-game bonuses for doing so. The social links aspect catered to fans’ desire to be more immersed in the worlds they’ve spent so much time in.

Persona 3 focused on an unnamed high school student who was drawn into the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad to deal with monsters known as Shadows. Although the original game was popular, Persona 3 Portable helped the series take off by adding the option to change the main character’s gender, difficulty options and much more.

3 Persona 5 introduced the stylish Phantom Thieves in JRPGs

Metacritical score: 93

Except for Square-Enix, no developer had a more eagerly anticipated JRPG than Atlus with Persona 5. Fans were already in love with Persona 4 Golden and were hungry for the next installment of the franchise. To Atlus’ credit, they did not disappoint.

This massive RPG introduced an all-new cast, the Phantom Thieves. The group of vigilantes could travel within the Metaverse, a location of humanity’s subconscious desires, and vast labyrinthine dungeons called palaces. that spanking Persona 5lasted at least 100 hours and critics who were still raving about it spoke of the incredible the game offered.

2 Persona 4 Golden is the ideal way to experience Persona 4 . to experience

Metacritical score: 93

At the end of the PlayStation 2’s popularity, a handful of titles came out that forced players to keep playing the older console. a wash God of war 2and the other was persona 4. persona 4 took everything that worked on it Persona 3 and enhanced by challenging players to solve a murder mystery in the countryside surrounding Mount Fuji.

Persona 4 Golden gave Atlus a chance to improve the game by porting it to the PlayStation Vita. This new version added an all-new character, more cutscenes and social links, and an expanded storyline. In fact, all the additions to the game made those who beat the title come back for more.

1 Persona 5 Royal improves on an already perfect game

Metacritical score: 95

much like with Persona 4 Golden, Persona 5 Royal took what critics already believed was a perfect game and improved it. Players had to come back to the Phantom Thieves one more time, this time with a new member added to the group. That wasn’t the only big change, though.

An entire third semester was added, along with an expansion to the city, and more story and social link elements allowing players to spend even more time in the stylish world of Atlus. Usually a game that adds more content when it lasts for 100 hours can turn players away, but somehow Atlus made every moment of it Royal feel just as important as the original.

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