Persona 5
2016
- role-playing (rpg)
- adventure
- fantasy
- comedy
- drama
- mystery
- single player
The story
Persona 5, a turn-based JRPG with visual novel elements, follows a high school student with a criminal record for a crime he didn't commit. Soon he meets several characters who share similar fates to him, and discovers a metaphysical realm which allows him and his friends to channel their pent-up frustrations into becoming a group of vigilantes reveling in aesthetics and rebellion while fighting corruption.
What it’s like
Glossy, stylised and loud on purpose: a pop-art collage of hot reds, black and electric blue, with comic-book panels, sharp typographic title cards and rotating animated menus that snap into place with a jazzy flourish. Palace interiors turn into baroque, fever-dream hallways full of paint-spatter and gilt, while Tokyo by day and night is rendered in crisp anime-style backdrops, rain-slick streets and neon-lit alleys that feel warm rather than bleak. The soundtrack is its signature: funky jazz-pop, big brass and driving rhythm that carries across hours of combat, and quiet, wistful piano when the story slows down. Combat is turn-based and card-like, with flashy, bright hits and bursts of cheeky animation, while the social calendar of cafés, classes, part-time work and rooftop chats unfolds at a relaxed, looping pace. Its vibe is stylish rebellion with a warm, mischievous heart: playful and cool, with a tender undercurrent. Violence is cartoonish and stylised, with blood-free clashes and occasional grim cutscenes; themes of injustice, coercion and abuse, plus some implied death, are handled seriously but never gratuitously. Suits long evenings with a controller, grinders who enjoy systems, and anyone who wants a stylish story about found family and rebelling against unfair adults.
More games like Persona 5
Closest in mood, pacing and theme. Tell us why you loved Persona 5and we’ll explain which ones fit you.
