Persona 5 Royal changed the way that Persona awakenings have taken place in the series, and its new direction should become the default going forward. These awakenings are some of the game's most important moments, from a storyline perspective as well as gameplay. For that reason, the scenes and the characters involved must be afforded the proper respect. Persona 5 Royal is the game that has done the best to date in making sure that Persona awakenings are impactful moments in the game. Persona 6 and games beyond should be looking to it for inspiration for their own awakenings.

Across every game, every party member in the Persona series has a Persona of their own, for obvious reasons. Their Personas are what allow them to fight the Shadows and other monsters that they encounter during their respective journeys. Since each party member's Persona is usually customized to fit their owner, that adds an extra touch that makes them feel more special than most of the Personas that the player will pick up over the course of the game. Generally, their Persona will only change when it evolves, either through friendship or for storyline reasons, so players will be seeing them a lot.

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Persona 5 Had the Series' Best Take on Persona Awakenings So Far

Until Persona 5 came along, whenever new party members were introduced in Persona games, aside from the starting party, they would often awaken their Persona and become available after a major fight. The biggest example of this is in Persona 4, where aside from the protagonist, every party member is unlocked by having the player defeat their Shadow. On the surface, this does make sense as a way of unlocking characters, because by purging the doubts from their hearts, they are able to awaken their persona. However, aside from the cutscene after the fight, they don't get to be very active in their own recruitment.

This status quo saw a major change following Persona 4, with Persona 5 establishing a new story pattern. Instead of taking place after a major boss fight, the awakenings occur during tense moments in the story. As the character's emotions are reaching a fever pitch, often in threatening moments, they awaken their persona in impressive fashion and assume their own thief persona alongside it in order to jump into the fight. Rather than having to be rescued and recruited, they dredge up their own inner strength to give life to their persona, making them look strong even before they fight their first battle.

The way that Persona 5 handled its Persona awakenings includes another detail that could be an important lesson for Persona 6. In several instances, a character's Persona awakening would be followed shortly by a miniboss who the Persona, in particular, was strong against. This lets the player immediately see the party member in a great light, building them up and making them look strong. By taking this approach, even party members the player doesn't end up using get a chance to shine. Not to mention, it makes the scene where they awaken their Persona more satisfying in the process.

The awakening of a character's Persona is a vital moment. It's not only vital to their arc, but also acts as their Persona's introduction. These types of scenes would be sorely missed in Persona 6 if the party members there don't also get the opportunity to show off their Personas upon receiving them. While other types of awakenings can be effective in their own way, Persona 5's action-oriented approach makes for a much more satisfying experience. For that reason, Persona 5's version of Persona awakening scenes should be the blueprint for the series to follow.

Persona 5 Royal is available now for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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