Persona 4 Revival's first proper gameplay trailer is upon us, and as well as confirming that Atlus's upcoming remake looks stunning, it also showed off the return of content from Persona 4 Golden.
During today's Xbox Games Showcase, Persona 4 Revival's latest trailer confirmed a February 18 release date for the upcoming JRPG remake, and also showed a very important character. Around 50 seconds in, we see Velvet Room assistant Marie – a character who was added to Persona 4's expanded Golden re-release in 2012 along with her Aeon Social Link. Without getting into any spoilers, she also plays a big role in the new story content added to Golden, which was absent from the original 2008 game.
Up until now, it's not been clear if Persona 4 Revival was going to be a remake of the original or Golden. Notably, Persona 3 Reload fell into the former camp, controversially opting to remove the female protagonist introduced in Persona 3 Portable, as well as The Answer epilogue added to Persona 3 FES, though that did get added as post-launch paid DLC.
Persona 4 Golden's extra content couldn't really have been added as DLC in the remake given how interwoven it is throughout the main story, so I'm glad to see that it's made the cut. There were a couple of hints in the first reveal trailer last year to suggest this would be the case, namely, the use of the Golden-exclusive song, Time To Make History, and what appeared to be the protagonist's scooter outside the Dojima residence (which he didn't have in the OG release).
All in all, it seems like this has the potential to be the definitive way to experience Persona 4, which, really, is exactly what you'd want from a remake, and I couldn't be happier that Atlus is avoiding what I'd argue was its biggest mistake in its last remake.
Today's Xbox Games Showcase was a real treat for Persona fans – we also got confirmation that Persona 6 is real, green, and on its way to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC… at some point. Yeah, we really don't know much for now, but that didn't stop me from jumping out of my seat at the reveal.
The Persona series has sold 30 million copies, and an absurd chunk of that is from Persona 5.
