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#5 — Persona 5
After playing a single narrative-focused game for 130+ hours, you’d think that one would be ready for it to conclude. This was not the case with Persona 5. I often find that if a game is too long, my interest begins to wane quite quickly. This was not the case with Persona 5. I much prefer real-time combat to turn-based alternatives. This was not the case with Persona 5. Having dialogue boxes instead of voice acting is a major turn-off for me. This was not the case with Persona 5. On paper, many of Persona 5’s most pertinent and prevalent characteristics fall counter to what I look for in a video game. So why is it my 5th favourite game of the entire generation?
In an endless sea of video game experiences, where one person could in theory play a new game every single day for the rest of their life and still not have experienced all of them, Persona 5 stands out with one of the most confident and self-assured senses of personality across the entire industry. Every minute detail of Persona 5 is so meticulously Persona – from the colourful and highly stylised UI, to the animations, characters and the world surrounding them. Even the smooth and slick transitions used between every flick of the stick and press of a button stand out. Not a single element of Persona 5 was left untouched – and I've only spoken of the menus so far.
Traversal through dungeons is clear yet highly flashy and stylised. Combat itself strikes the perfect balance between strategy and fun, letting you garner that sense of satisfaction when pulling off combos or elemental moves, without bogging you down too hard with enemy stats and numbers. Not to mention the finishers and post-encounter splash screens which never failed to get me excited thanks to their perfect blending of music and visuals.
Speaking of music, while some may find the repetitive nature of certain songs in the soundtrack to be annoying, to me it showed that the game’s developers, Atlus, were confident in the strength of all the independent elements of the game – as they should be. Despite being repetitive, every single track is a certified banger, and so whether you are fighting enemies deep in mementos, or simply eating at Big Bang Burger, every action arrived with a level of comfort, as if you were a part of this world. This then allowed the game to use the familiarity to subvert expectations. The first time you encountered an enemy and the music playing was different to what you expected, that’s when you knew something was wrong.
I have yet to even touch on the characters. All of the people that you encounter throughout the game have their own sense of personality. These personalities line up alongside your own interactions with them in gameplay. Persona 5 is a social sim just as much as it is a turn-based dungeon crawler. As such, more than half of your time playing Persona 5 will see you performing seemingly mundane activities such as eating ramen with Ryuji or helping Makoto to make more friends. The thing about Persona 5 though is that none of these tasks feel mundane. I experienced a genuine sense of excitement any time one of my ‘confidants’ texted me in game, asking to meet up – just as I would in real life if a friend wanted to hang out. On top of this, spending more time with these characters actually serves a functional purpose too, as the closer you are to a ‘confidant’ the more skills they unlock in battle – blending the two sides to Persona 5 seamlessly.
The story of Persona 5 is great too, including many funny, exciting and genuinely heartfelt moments throughout. That being said, when I finally finished the game, after over 130 hours of playtime, and watched the final cutscene play, I felt a genuine sadness at the fact that I couldn't spend more time with my friends Ryuji, Anne, Makoto, Yusuke, and everyone else.
