The Persona series has become a fan favourite not only worldwide but also in my house. I’m not a huge JRPG fan, but this series, along with Xenoblade Chronicles, just gets me. Hearing about Persona 4 Revival bringing with it a massive overhaul to the graphics system, voice acting and improved combat system, I was excited to get my hands on this demo and let me tell you, it did not disappoint.
There were two parts to the demo: a narrative story element and a dungeon. I was fortunate enough to be able to play through both parts in my playthrough. The narrative story starts off in the isolated streets, with the annoying creature Teddy who consistently asks irrelevant questions and really, genuinely seems to be the least helpful creature who ever existed for this portion of the preview.
Enough about that, the first thing to notice is how incredible the cinematics are in this revival. The colours pop, and the voice acting completely immerses you in the atmosphere. As you explore the deserted shopping village, I couldn’t help but be amazed at how much has been done here to make it look completely new.
After completing this short narrative section and learning how to find the weak spots on enemies and use the right Personas to defeat them, I was then thrown into the dungeon mode of the demo. You explore your way through a castle with a faint red trail showing you which way to go through the labyrinth. It did feel very Wolverine fart-trail-esque so we will see how that lands when the game releases. You make your way through various rooms, destroying cubes to find items and XP to go up against your first boss battle.
The camera has also been upgraded here; it sweeps around the action, making sure to only hone in on what’s important and when it’s necessary. This, combined with the upgraded powers, Persona and graphics truly blew me away completely. The demo i played was 20 minutes long for both sections, and I easily could have stayed there for the rest of the day and played the whole game happily, which I think is the highest compliment I could give it.
The new voice cast was a bit of an adjustment, and the fast-forward feature felt a little like cheating these beautifully animated and performed sequences. There is also an auto feature that will cycle through these sections for you automatically so you don’t have to keep manually advancing forward.
Persona 4 Revival is shaping up to be, in my opinion, one of the biggest releases of 2027. The massively improved graphics, new voice cast and combat system should be enough to show how much has been improved to warrant this release. It feels deeper than just a remake; the devs here have shown that they are truly working on something special, and I can’t wait to see more.
Persona 4 Revival will launch on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on the 18th of February, 2027.
Featured header image provided by the publisher.
