The “Persona” series has been in a bit of a hiatus for more than five years now, after the last major entry in it was released in 2008. “Persona 4” enjoyed tremendous success upon its release, and it set the bar for the genre very high – so high in fact, that some fans of the series were worried that the developers might be stuck trying to beat their own success.
However, there doesn’t seem to be any indication of that so far – according to recent reports, the development of “Persona 5” is coming along just fine, and its production hasn’t encountered any setbacks until now. The developers were reportedly a bit surprised by the way “Persona 4” was received, as they apparently didn’t expect that much positivity from all sides, so they found themselves trying to come up with a truly original concept for the next installment in the series, afraid that they might disappoint their fans otherwise.
From what we’ve seen about “Persona 5”, it’s a game with a lot of style, and it’s going to be a worthy successor of the last installment. Fans who’re worried that P-Studio would not be able to jump the bar obviously have nothing to worry about, although of course we won’t know for sure until the game has actually been released on the market.
According to Shigenori Soejima, art designer for the series, fans have actually been contacting the studio to note how much more stylish the game looks compared to previous entries in the series. The developers are apparently a bit confused by these response though, as they aren’t sure if they should treat them as an entirely positive thing, or if their fans are trying to tell them that they’re changing the game too much.
The overall sentiment about “Persona 5” definitely seems to be strongly positive however, and those who have made any negative remarks about the changes have been in a minority. So, from all we’re seeing, the series has been enjoying a lot of positivity, and its designers and developers have made lots of correct choices so far. All that’s left now is for them to continue the game’s development in the same style, pushing it to a successful release.
It also looks like the new “Persona” is going to explore themes like freedom and limitation on a deeper level than previous entries in the franchise, although it’s not clear how the designers have achieved that this time. According to interviews, the theme of people who want to do something great with their lives but are being held back by one major reason is going to be a central element to the plot.