I feel like I should be way more excited about this, but somehow I’m lukewarm at best. Persona 4 Revival was teased to no end last year, and Atlus has finally shown it off properly at the Xbox Games Showcase.
First, here’s the official trailer for Persona 4 Revival:
As expected, Atlus is giving this game the full P5 treatment. Character models have been updated, the UI and menus look a little prettier, and players can expect some quality-of-life updates too. Per the press release: “A full reimagining of the modern classic RPG, Persona 4 Revival features enhanced visuals, improved gameplay, modern aesthetics, and quality-of-life updates that bring the classic to life like never before.”
That all sounds good, but I think what’s holding me back from being more excited about a remake of one of my favorite games of all time is the fact that Persona 4 has gotten so much love already that I’m kinda struggling to understand why this remake needs to exist. Persona 4 Golden is already available on every modern platform, and it holds up extremely well. The only gameplay feature I’m missing is maybe Baton Pass (added to Persona 3 Reload as Shift), but even without it, I’d still be a happy camper.
With Atlus’ track record and the way Reload was handled, I’d say it’s likely that we’ll see some changes to the script with Revival. Most notably, I’d expect a lot of the homophobic dialogue surrounding Kanji to be completely rewritten or cut out entirely. That would be nice, but not quite enough to get me to really care about a remake.
But you know what would get me to care? If an overhaul of Kanji’s character and dungeon is too much to ask for, then you know what? I’d take that cut romance path for Yosuke Hanamura instead. Notably, it has long been rumored that Yosuke was originally one of the romance options for the protagonist, but that content got cut in the final release. Cutting it makes sense. The early 2000s were a different time, and I don’t know if the Japanese audience (or even the western audience, for that matter) would’ve been ready for something like that.
Times have changed now, though. If Revival ends up being just a straight remake of Golden with no meaningful changes beyond the surface and Baton Pass, I’ll be disappointed. But give me Yosuke, and I’ll worship Atlus forever.
Persona 4 Revival is set to be released for PS5, Xbox, and PC on Feb. 18, 2027.
