Personamay be known to mainstream audiences today thanks to its recent successes, but this wasn’t always the case. The series was seen as niche for a long while, since it was a spin-off from the acclaimed, yet occasionally overlookedShin Megami Tenseigames. Thankfully, new players have seen the light asPersonahas seen a surge in popularity, which arguably began withPersona 4 Goldenon thePlayStation Vita. It improved upon its pioneering predecessor and was a suitable stepping stone to the quality ofPersona 5, and one of its best factors is the setting it presents.Persona 6has a huge legacy to uphold, and returning to a town now abandoned may be a key to keeping all fans happy.
Though the magic of Tokyo inPersona 5is one of the sources of its charm,Persona 4offers something truly different. Inaba is small, unassuming, and otherwise run-of-the-mill place in rural Japan, so when the grizzly TV murders start, it thoroughly upsets the harmony.Persona 6can go in any number of different directions, but Inaba presented such intrigue that the ending left players with more questions about it than they had at the game’s outset. Isolated to just one mainline outing, Inaba is wasted potential, and making a return in the next entry would prove to be quite the exciting curveball.
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Inaba’s Unique Character was Persona 4’s Best Feature
Set in a quaint Japanese town far away from the hustle-and-bustle of modern city life,Persona 4is different from of its contemporaries. Inaba’s charm was more than skin-deep, with its local inhabitants feeling like essential sources of genuine curiosity rather than window dressing. Much of the story inPersona 4feels important because the happenings are so out of the ordinary in such a small, tight-knit community.
Persona 6should, at the very least, adopt a similar philosophy to make its story feel truly impactful. For all it did well narratively, inPersona 5it always felt as though the Phantom Thieves were fighting a losing battle, as the speed of Tokyo was often too hard to keep up with. The exploits of the Investigation Team inPersona 4felt like they truly mattered, and real people’s lives were being saved. It’s far easier to see the ripples a stone makes in a small pond than in the ocean, and theTokyo presented inPersona 5was, in many ways, too dense for its own good.
Persona 6 Needs More than Just a City
Personacarries more than just the burden of its own name, as it has quickly eclipsed the popularity ofits parent franchise,Shin Megami Tensei. Plenty of those games take place in a city, as doPersona 3and5, and Inaba inPersona 4was a breath of fresh air away from stifling city settings. It still has so much to give, and taking a return trip in either a small or substantial way could elevate the story while giving fans of the fourth entry something to be excited about.
Rapture’s surprise cameo in 2013’sBioShock Infiniteand Shadow Moses making a chilling reappearance inMetal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriotsshow that returning to old stomping grounds can provide great story moments, offering a stark change in tone while pleasing long time fans, and rarely isolating new ones.Persona 6by no means needs to be a sequel toPersona 4, but Inaba excelled on a tonal and narrative level, and as such it would be a shame to see it lost in time.
Persona 6is in development.
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