Game : Persona 4 Golden Review

Persona 4, originally released on the PlayStation 2, was an instant hit among JRPG and RPG fans. Its narrative, art style, music, and characters remaining highly memorable throughout the years.

Atlus eventually released Persona 4 Golden for the PlayStation Vita, an all-new remake of the original, but featuring a lot more content and broadening the narrative. The same blissful experience, with new characters and story.

Persona 4 (Golden) follows a student from the city that has had to move in with his uncle in a small, well-kept rural town in Japan. He attends to the local highschool, and slowly befriends the students. The students begin to realise that a strange set of murders and disappearances are arising, with each person that disappears appearing on television on what's called 'the midnight channel'.

A killer appears to be throwing people into the shadow world, found inside televisions. The shadow world is a reversed reality in which people appear in shadow forms, displaying their true colours and thoughts. Their insecurities and weaknesses.

The group of friends have to travel throughout dungeons, eventually finding the shadow of those missing, and must defeat them in order to save them and take them back to the real world. This is how the game introduces its RPG elements: dungeons means item drops, and item drops means the ability to sell and buy new items outside of the shadow world.

In order to continue gaining strength and upgrading your character, the game follows a 'social link' set of elements, which means that socialising outside of the shadow world will strengthen your ability to work with others. There's also several hobbies which will strengthen particular parts of your personality. Reading can increase your diligence, as well as intelligence.

As the game progresses, the dangers of entering the shadow world rise as threats get stronger, and the police continue searching for suspicious activities surrounding the victims which are disappearing; and it just so happens that the midnight channel displays the next person to disappear before they do, meaning attempting to stop them from going missing can make the group look suspicious. Tensions rise more and more.

Overall, Persona 4 (Golden) is a story about friendships, and accepting your weaknesses and flaws; allowing them to be addressed and accepted so that you can become more transparent and happy, all while ensuring those you care for are doing the same. It's all very Japanese, sure, but it's a heartfelt experience and is sure to entertain.