Highlights
- 2024 promises to be a great year for Persona fans with the remake of Persona 3 and the highly anticipated release of Persona 6.
- In the meantime, fans can enjoy other games that capture the essence of the Persona series, such as Affogato, Scarlet Nexus, and Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
- Persona 5 Tactica, a turn-based tactics spin-off, will also be released soon, adding to the excitement for Persona fans.
2024 is quickly shaping up to be a banner year for the Persona series. Between the remake of Persona 3 and the anticipated release of Persona 6 (not to mention other rumored Persona spin-offs in development), next year promises to provide fans of the excellent JRPG franchise with plenty to celebrate. Still, the gap between now and 2024 is far and wide, with plenty of intervening time between fans and the earliest of the upcoming Persona releases. Fortunately, there are some excellent games that fans can get their hands on right now to help ease the wait for the next entry in the groundbreaking RPG/social sim hybrid.
Ask any fan of the Persona series what their favorite aspect of the franchise is and it's likely to yield varying answers across the board. While some keep coming back to each entry in anticipation of its use of social systems and forming bonds with party members, others enjoy the monster-taming aspect of collecting and merging Personas. Still, others enjoy the aesthetic, particularly the visual template and incredible soundtrack of both Persona 4 and Persona 5. Whichever aspect of the series fans happen to enjoy most, multiple games bring one (or more) of these criteria to the table, making the wait for new Persona titles that much more bearable.
Affogato
Out of the games featured here, the recently released Affogato absolutely wears its Persona inspirations on its sleeve the loudest. Thankfully though, those inspirations are more heartfelt homage than shameless imitation. Part coffee shop management sim and part reverse tower defense deck-builder, Affogato is an excellent merging of genres that also happens to feature menus, soundtrack, and presentation very reminiscent of Persona 5. Add to that the ability to deepen bonds with characters and increase stats through mundane activities like reading and visiting arcades, and the Persona similarities become even more apparent. Despite having just been released, the title holds a Very Positive aggregate score on Steam and is definitely resonating well with fans of Persona.
Scarlet Nexus
Coming from some of the developers behind both the Tales series and the God Eater games is Bandai Namco's Scarlet Nexus. Despite featuring real-time combat that's reminiscent of Devil May Cry with a dash of Control's psychic abilities thrown in for good measure, Scarlet Nexus is a JRPG through and through. Further, the game places an emphasis on strengthening the bonds between one of the two playable main characters and their companions through conversation and gift-giving. With a great story, engaging combat, incredible visuals, and worthwhile and captivating social link systems, Scarlet Nexus is absolutely worth the time for any Persona fan.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
After years of seeing the series' prominence continue to rise in the West, Fire Emblem: Three Houses goes big for the franchise and sees its peak in terms of popularity and critical reception in the same way that Persona 5 did for its namesake. Taking the tried-and-true gameplay mechanics established in previous Fire Emblem games and adding in a schoolyard simulator, Three Houses shares as much with Persona as it does with its own franchise. The end result is one of the best Fire Emblem games ever made, where the social systems and classroom activities at the academy are just as entertaining and worthwhile as the on-field combat.
Persona 5 Tactica
Despite not being currently available, it's just a short wait before fans will get their hands on the next Persona 5 spin-off in Persona 5 Tactica. That it's taken this long to get a turn-based tactics spin-off for the Persona franchise is certainly a head-scratcher, but thankfully fans are finally getting one this November. The tactics subgenre is a perfect fit for the Persona series, and using Persona 5's incredible cast and aesthetic only speaks to the continued popularity of one of the best JRPGs in decades. It may not be a mainline Persona title, but fans have plenty of reason to be excited about Persona 5Tactica's release.
Persona 3 Reload is set to release in early 2024 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.