The Coolest Game About Teenage Rebellion
Persona 5 released to the world in April of 2017. It was released to an uproar of praise, from critics and players alike. This is despite other heavy-hitters like Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Horizon: Zero Dawn releasing around the same time. Additionally, the shonen anime style is in no short supply these days. However, Atlus is not known for being a slip-shod or lazy developer. Persona 5 marks the second major Persona game to be a hit in the West, but P5 in particular reached a broader audience than past entries, pulling in fans from places like South America! Joker's later appearance in Super Smash Bros Ultimate via DLC practically confirms Persona 5's place in gaming history as one of The Greats.
That said, I am writing this review in 2024, after P5 Royal, P5 Strikers, Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, P5 Tactica, and P5 Dancing in Starlight have all come out. Some are side-stories, but some are soft prequels or sequels, so if JRPGs aren't your thing, Persona 5 has a few other genres that it shows up in. This review will focus exclusively on the base Persona 5, for Playstation 3. This means I won't be addressing the new content in Royal, which is a remix or director's cut of sorts.