What's your opinion of Persona 5? It's a stylish game, right? Has a perfect game loop and all that. Bopping music. You've heard all that before though. It's a game that achieves a great many things but at this point, it would be pretty cool if it just kinda moved on with itself, yeah?
Well wrong, because Atlus is showing no signs of slowing down on new Persona 5 games with a China-exclusive game with a new protagonist on the list. Persona 5 should never end actually. There are plenty more genres it could give a whirl before moving on to the next entry.
7 Collectible Card Game - Persona 5 Royal Flush
If you've played Persona 5 or been hit with the onslaught of fan frenzy of people who think the game invented the colour red, you'll be aware of the very prevalent iconography of cards and their various suits. Joker is, well, the Joker card. Makoto is Queen and so on. Then there are all the tarot cards on top, and you've got a strong visual identity.
Why not take it a step further though? Persona 5 Royal Flush could be a standalone card game akin to Gwent. You collect various persona in the form of cards and could have different leaders based on the characters in the base game. There's a treasure trove of content just waiting to be utilised. You could even add a campaign to it where your deck comprises the persona you have available for battles.
6 Visual Novel - Persona 5 Coda
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Visual novels are a typically misunderstood genre in that many people seem to think they're all dating sims. Plenty are, but something like Ace Attorney is far from that (unless you're a Wrightworth fan), and is one of the highlights of the visual novel genre. Persona 5 already takes plenty from visual novels in its stylisation, so it may as well dedicate itself fully.
With Persona 5 as a visual novel, maybe that would make it contend with its hilariously paradoxical messaging and poor character writing. Making characters and their interactions the core of it all might actually improve Persona 5, and make you see these characters as more than just stats and set dressing. A strong art style already exists, plus the student-by-day, phantom thief-by-night loop would work great in offering new ways to see the world.
5 Tactical Strategy - Persona 5 Gambit
For many people, Persona 5 was the game that made them, realise 'wait a minute, turn-based games are great!' Weird that it took Persona 5 for them to realise it, but that's a separate matter. It's a pretty damn fun turn-based game after all! Building and fusing all your personas across the game gives you a system that keeps on building itself.
Meanwhile, a world where a tactical strategy Persona 5 game akin to Final Fantasy Tactics exists feels like a dream. The core of the system already exists, characters could have their abilities determined by their persona, with things like All-out Attacks and surprise attacks determined by party positioning. It could even introduce environmental effects unique to each palace to give each battle a stronger identity.
4 Fighting - Persona 5 Palace Rumble
Fighting games have had an incredible resurgence in recent years, with games like Guilty Gear and BlazBlue hitting the mainstream in a way they never have before. Persona 5 getting a fighting game might at first glance seem like nothing more than jumping on a popular genre, but let's not forget that Persona 4 already has a fighting game.
Persona 5 Palace Rumble already has an incredible cast of characters to choose from, such as a drunk journalist or the prime minister hopeful of Japan. Of course, there are some great arenas to be created from the pre-existing palaces too, like um...a bank, or school.. Characters like Joker or Akechi could choose from multiple personas, or Shido could simply annihilate you with his freakish muscles.
3 Dungeon Crawler - Persona 5 Odyssey
Persona, despite being a spin-off of the larger Megami Tensei series, has vastly trumped its parent franchise in terms of popularity and recognition. It's hard to imagine the series letting you be gay once upon a time with how homophobic the latest Persona games have been. Maybe returning to its roots might be a good thing.
The original Megami Tensei game, Digital Devil Stor,y was itself a dungeon crawler, so why shouldn't Persona 5 try being one? Now you might be thinking that Persona Q2 exists already featuring Persona 5 characters, but that's just a crossover. We need a dedicated game featuring the cast of Persona 5 exclusively, playing off the game themes (and actually understanding them this time) and mechanics but in a dramatically different environment. And an Akechi and Joker romance, to really bring the series back to its foundations.
2 Puzzle - Persona 5 Phantom Enigma
As of the last while, puzzle games haven't really been in the mainstream, instead restricted to indie games. That's fine because indie developers have immaculate taste when it comes to enjoyable small-scale games that haven't quite graced AAA games in a while either. Persona 5 though feels perfectly suited to the genre already.
Think about it. It has environments built around the machinations of people's minds, as well as discovering the secret at the core of it all. It requires the party to actually understand the target and area. A puzzle game would be a great way for you to actually learn about a target and their palace through solving the puzzles they've subconsciously created, all to steal their treasure at the end. Envision it as something like Myst or The Room, traversing freely through the palace to uncover the solutions.
1 Racing - Persona 5 Kart
We all love a good racing game. There's a reason everyone has their own exclusive racing game, from the best-selling Mario Kart to the enthusiast's dream which is Gran Turismo. There's a large margin between those two games, showing that there is absolutely a niche for Persona 5 to carve out in this space.
Picture it: You're in Shido's palace, the grand cruise ship. Japan (and the rest of the world) is flooded. Suddenly, Morgana in car form comes dashing across the deck, Mara (the giant penis in a cart) close on their heels. It's a rush to the finish line, dangerous corners punished with drivers falling in the rising sea. Shido enters the race, his bulging muscles fit to demolish the comedically small vehicle he's driving. Persona are littered across the track, which gives you temporary powers. If that doesn't hammer home the themes of societal injustice, then frankly nothing will.