Apparently, Persona 6 is real.
Just a few thoughts regarding the persona series, their latest announcements, and why I'm not as hyped as I'd assumed I'd be.
Since I hadn't watched the Xbox Games Showcase on June 7th 2026, I hadn't actually seen anything tangible until June 8th. Not only did it catch me by surprise, but I'd also immediately assumed that it was fake.
It's been a decade since the original Persona 5 had been released, but with the focus on all these remasters and the launch of Metaphor: ReFantazio in 2024, I'd somewhat stopped believing in another main line title.
Another reason I'd assumed it'd been fake had been because I'd seen people speculate on fan pages often enough - and just recently people had been mentioning allegedly leaked logos and character images for this new persona game. To me, it read as the conclusion of some wishful thinking in the form of an ambitious fan project.
Lastly, people had been talking about the 30th anniversary of the series, naturally people would be antsy. Naturally, people would create fan myths.
For some reason I'd not considered that ATLUS could use this to their advantage. Then again, maybe I would have given these alleged leaks more time, if I hadn't been unaware about the studio's tendency to have their games leaked before any sort of official reveal.
Hindsight is 20/20.
Luke Plunkett
Zack Zwiezen
Thus, I'd innocently brushed aside any notion of that potential title, while browsing through the Persona 5 tags on my social media on June 2nd as one does on Goro Akechi's birthday.
I'd already been thinking not only about Persona 5 Royal and the many spin-offs that I hadn't yet played, but also my unplayed copies of P3P (2009) and P3R (2024) that were still lying around.
However, engagement - on the internet - relies on relevancy. Thus, my pool of topics is suddenly limited as well as time gated. People have potentially long since moved on, while I still try and formulate and present my thesis.
- Mischief, How I learned to stop worrying and love the hydra.
It had been the work on my last Ristretto that had led me to consider finally playing through another Persona title. Even if I'd already missed the window of opportunity to talk about P3P or P3R, there was no reason to constantly reject the notion due to their respective playtime.
It's better to have played the games 'late' than not having played them at all. Moreover, most communities do not mind if someone joins in late, as long as they respect the game.
Thus, I'd finally found the motivation to boot the game up; Though, I hadn't been sure where to start. Because even if P3R was the latest entry, it did not include everything; Meanwhile, P3P had received its own pile of arguments against it; Mostly due to the PSP's hardware limitations having caused quite a few 'downgrades' regarding the game's visuals.
Unsurprisingly, I decided to play the games incorrectly. Partially out of spite, as my search regarding this topic led to some rather uncouth words spoken about the FemC route that P3P had introduced. Her route was praised by many - not to take paint a fully bleak picture - but there was this insistence that her playthrough could be disregarded as 'unnecessary fluff' or 'non-canon' simply due to her addition in a re-release...
Even the game itself notes that her playthrough was 'meant' for a secondary playthrough. However, I wonder. Why would that be the case? If the plot remains mostly the same, if not slightly adapted due to the gender choice, shouldn't the result be close enough to bring forth an experience that is noteworthy on its own? Why does her experience have to come secondary? Shouldn't they be considered on equal footing?
The way I read this really is as such: If you wished to experience the story as closely as possible as it had been told in Persona 3 (2006) then one should play through the male route.
However, that is not what I want. With P3R in the future, I'll have that experience that will reflect the story of Persona 3 then. There's no need for me to hurry, is there?
Regarding the differences in the routes - all the comparisons and contrasting elements should in theory also still be present even if their appearance is 'in reverse'.
Moreover, on a hardware and presentation level, I do believe that my experience will be better if I play through the games in this order. Why wouldn't I start with the older version and then enjoy the quality of life improvements that P3R has to offer? If I were to play them in reverse order, it'd be far more likely to have less patience with the game.
...I know this to be the case since I had similar struggles when I'd started to play P4G after just having finished P5R. If I am to be playing both games without much of a break in-between, then this will be the better order.
Why am I willing to play through the game twice? Because I really wanted to give the FeMC a chance. It is sad to be made aware of the fact that P3R had dropped her entirely.
George Foster
Looking further into P3P, I was lucky to be notified about the many modding projects that had long since created to improve some of the issues that people had with the game originally. From the graphics to the much larger issue regarding the game's presentation: The lack of cutscenes.
Originally they had been removed in favour of a more visual novel-esque style. Nowadays, there are means to insert them back. However, this would only entail cutscenes for the Male route, as the FeMC had never had the chance to receive her own scenes.
Once again, the modding community was prepared to do the work. Enough people cared about this route that they managed to create a whole new cutscene set adapted to her.
All because there were enough fans that cared; And what an amazing job they've done.
As a result, I had no qualms playing this game in the incorrect way. This is a complete experience, and I was ready to enjoy it.
So far, I've been playing it for nearly 40 hours, and it's been quite fun so far. No complaints as of yet.
I've made a few notes regarding the way the player's gender identity is handled, but I won't go into this until I've played P3R to compare.
Another thing that I'd only become aware of due to my research into P3P on June 3rd had been the fact that P4 Revival was apparently a real game as well. That game, too, had received a spot during the Xbox Live Showcase, and there will even be another broadcast about it later tonight.
And here I'd assumed that P4G would have been the last of it. Golden had been heralded as the definite version for so long, and yet here we are with another title!
Then again, it seems like while P3P shares its similarities with P4G due to their release windows; P3R and P4R are supposed to be more in line with P5R. I did previously mention my initial struggle with P4G, so maybe P4R is meant to lessen the blow. People that enjoyed P5R can now be bedazzled with those new and modernised UIs. At least, that's an assumption - I'll be able to say more about that claim after having played P3R...
However, on June 3rd, after learning about P4R there had been this moment where I'd found myself thinking about a timeline that would offer P5RR as its next step: Persona 5 REAL Royal.
Not that this thought was allowed to stay for long, considering we'd received confirmation for Persona 6 just days after - for real!
Maybe I should have expected it considering that this year was the 30th anniversary of the series, but after the many spin-offs and re-releases it just wasn't really something that I thought possible.
It's kind of fun to be wrong.
Personally, I do think the trailer looks really fun. It doesn't say that much, but I liked the eerie atmosphere. Some hints at horror are always appreciated, and I do think they would lend themselves really well to a Persona game.
However, I won't waste too much time on excitement, considering that it'll take a while until the game will be released - and there's enough time for things to change. The only thing I believe in is that the colour green will probably be staying.
It's neat to know that it's actually something that has been worked on, and it's something to keep an eye out. However, I don't really see myself running after it like I'd done with some of the other ATLUS titles. There is a certain interest present, more than for Persona 4 Revival at least. I can't help but wonder if this will turn into another instances where P4R will include a few improvements but lack something essential until it is resold once again as DLC.
Maybe I should wait with P6 until after P5RR is also out and the teaser for P6R is ready.
Truly, it's hard to remain excited when I feel like whichever experience I'd be given will never be the actual 'intended' experience. Not that I'd personally experienced this more than once, but once was enough.
There is some trepidation, where years ago there would have only been excitement. While I am happy about the announcement, I do not trust the studio that much. Nor do I trust them with P4R if I'm completely honest.
My curiosity will ensure that I'll keep an eye out on more info regarding these releases, but the likelihood for me playing either of these newer titles during their initial release window is low.
Though, for now, I'll simply be playing P3P while laughing about the timing of it all. I can't believe that all of this happened within one week.
Moreover, I can't believe that I wouldn't even have known about it if I hadn't started reblogging Goro Akechi birthday posts again.
