This is without question the best game I have played in the last decade and easily one of the best games I have played in my life. The writing below is as much a love letter to the game as it is a review. Even if this gets lost in the shuffle of other glowing reviews, I want to do my part to show my adoration for this masterpiece.


I never thought I’d be writing this review, much less playing a game like Persona 4 Golden in the first place. I don’t play JRPGs, I don’t consume visual novels, I don’t engage with the anime aesthetic. I’d heard about the Persona series a handful of times, but it was purely on a whim that I bought Persona 4 Golden.

I fell in love with the game within the first few minutes. Give me the perfect ingredients — soundtrack, atmosphere, characters, and plot, and suddenly I’m hooked. Suddenly, I’m staying up until 3 a.m. every night exploring each corner of the world, talking to every NPC, and keeping track of in-game events in writing. Below I’ll detail several components of the game without any spoilers or specific giveaways.


The game, and consequently the story, is delivered through a calendar system. Each day in-game is spent participating in the gameplay loop. When one day ends, you go on to the next one and have different options. The day matters — For example, you go to school on weekdays, and some NPCs are only available during certain days of the week. Similarly, weather and time of day also matter — For example, many quest NPCs won’t be available when it’s raining and some activities, like jobs, are only available during the night. You go through the gameplay loop each day; this lasts for roughly one calendar year.

I’d split the core gameplay loop into three parts — Free-roam, Visual Novel, and Dungeon Crawling.

Free-roam

A significant portion of the game is spent exploring various hubs in town. Yes, there’s still an overarching narrative that you’re following along, but there are moments in between for you to seek out and accomplish different things. You can interact with NPCs, spend time with companions, visit shops, collect items, complete quests, and more. This part of the gameplay loop is your chance to interact with the world.

Visual Novel

My favorite part of the core gameplay loop. These are your deep character interactions, cutscenes, and story exposition. This is the meat of the game. If you don’t like reading/listening to lengthy sections of dialogue, then I would not recommend this game to you because this is arguably the most important piece of the experience. I use the term “Visual Novel” for a reason!

Spending time with your companions and other residents of the town is a major component of the game as well. In doing so, you get really neat character development, storytelling, and upgrades to a gameplay mechanic called “Social Links” that affect combat and a couple other things.

During Visual Novel moments, you get opportunities to make dialogue choices in response to the other characters. Some responses are just for flavor, some affect how much other characters like you, and some even affect the plot in significant ways. In true RPG fashion, you’ll feel like your choices matter over the course of the game.

Dungeon Crawling

As you progress through the story, you unlock mandatory dungeons that must be beaten in order to avoid a game over. Thus, combat is central to the gameplay loop. In these dungeons you traverse floor after floor, fighting or evading enemies and collecting loot along the way until you reach a final boss. Your standard RPG fare.

Combat itself is your run-of-the-mill turn-based battling with some unique twists. I won’t spoil what those twists are, but there are enough aspects to the combat that keeps it interesting. If you’re playing on a harder difficulty, you are compelled to grind for experience, money, and items, as that is the only way you can prepare for boss fights. Depending on the kind of gamer you are, the grind could be a good or bad thing. I personally found myself lowering the difficulty so I could focus on the story of the dungeon rather than the challenging fights.


If you’re still with me to this point then that means a lot to me. I can write endlessly about this subject, but I want to make sure that this review is actually functional in informing you about the game. To that end, I’m going to highlight the most noteworthy parts of the game from my perspective.

Plot

The story of Persona 4 Golden can be best described as a rollercoaster. Constant twists, turns, ups, downs, and surprises. You will smile, laugh, cry, and feel sick to your stomach. Sometimes all of those feelings, multiple times, in one play session. Considering that the plot has to do with a mystery, that is a very good thing.

I was so emotionally and cognitively invested in this story that I would go about my day constantly thinking about what was going on. “Why did ‘x’ happen? Who did it? What does ‘y’ mean?” An embarrassingly high amount of my mental bandwidth was consumed by the going ons of this game even outside of playtime. I simply had to solve the mystery! Even if it meant losing sleep over it.

Characters

Perhaps the brightest highlight and selling point of this game. The characters you meet and interact with are what make everything worth it. They give purpose and meaning to the narrative. They give you, the player, opportunities to explore your own self through them. Their ideals, opinions, struggles, and reflections feel so brutally honest that you can’t help but feel something in response. There are countless examples of tear-jerking speeches, inspiring monologues, and heartwarming camaraderie in the cast. You’ll find yourself coming back to particular characters, spending time with them, learning about them, and even helping them with their personal challenges.

There was not a single character in this game that I disliked. Your companions, friends, love interests, enemies, and antagonists were all written expertly and beautifully.

Soundtrack

Music cannot be discounted. After all, it lends a great amount of atmosphere to the whole experience of Persona 4 Golden. Between the solo piano movements, funk bops, and symphonic rock and JPop tracks, there’s a lot of variety to be had here. I found myself falling in love with genres of music I had never explored before. Hell, I’d linger in certain areas and sections of the world merely to hear a particular track on loop. Each song had its place and carried meaning with it. Emotional scenes were complemented well by moving score while the battle music was great at conveying the right feeling — whether hope or dread.

Despite there being repeat tracks, I never once got sick of them. I grew to expect certain tracks at times, but they were always welcome. My favorite aspect to the soundtrack, though, was the remixing and editing of previously heard songs. A fast-paced rock song from a battle scene would later become a slow, dirge-like horn solo during a different scene. I always appreciated whenever I’d hear familiar notes delivered differently.


If you read through all of this tired man’s musings, then I thank you. I hope you got something of value from this review, even if only an itch to play (or replay) the game. If you’re anything like me — hungry for good storytelling, lovable characters, and deep, emotional experiences — then I guarantee that Persona 4 Golden is worth trying. You won’t be disappointed. If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to leave a reply or reach out to me.

Take care and thank you for your time.