Persona 4 Revival is an expected iteration on a well-worn formula, but the devil

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The remake of Persona 4 has a subtitle that fittingly doesn't imply a reinvention, but the changes are definitely present.

Lexi Luddy September 15, 2026 6:00 AM Sega 1

At this point, it feels a bit weird to preview Persona 4: Revival, because unless P-Studio and Atlus have totally changed their ethos in the last 18 months, I doubt this latest remake contains any major surprises. Moreover, since it builds on the same bones of Persona 3: Reload, it all feels even more familiar. Pretty much all the changes that applied to Persona 3 Reload to modernize it apply here too.

There are new voice actors, slightly more in-depth traversal in towns and dungeons, minor mechanical tweaks and additions, newly recorded versions of killer soundtracks, an art style that falls more in line with Persona 5, and the addition of P5’s baton pass significantly shifting the balance of power in combat towards the player. However, P4R is largely designed to be a more palatable version of games which (barring some very questionable characterizations and story beats) have mostly aged quite well.

A different muse

The most major shift seems to be that while Persona 3: Reload sought to be a definitive version of the second PS2 version of that game (Persona 3 FES), Persona 4: Revival is using its portable port (Persona 4: Golden) as a starting point. This is both a sensible and clear-cut choice, unlike the decision that had to be made for P3R. Persona 3’s two later versions, FES and Portable, are notably different in tone and execution. FES’ exclusive epilogue was somewhat divisive, and Portable’s implementation of the choice to play as a teenage girl, instead of Makoto Yuki, changed both character social links and romance options, and was met with a lot more positive fan feedback.

While the somewhat bemusing choice to go with FES over Portable could be dissected for hours, thankfully things are much more clear-cut for 4. Revival is adhering to the much more popular P4G thanks to the inclusion of fan favourite Marie… and Adachi is there too (don't worry about that guy). The rest of the changes are basically to take the tale of Midnight Channel in line with the modern series standards. Which is good: Persona 3: Reload is a snappy and responsive turn-based RPG, with industry-leading art and UI design fueling engaging social sim elements. If that can be carried over to P4R, that is an indisputable good thing.

Channel surfing

However, the result of all this was a Gamescom demo lacking any real surprise. The updates and changes that were here, ie the visuals, music, sound design, and modernized combat, were very nice, but felt like table stakes at this point. What remains to be seen is whether the parts of P4 that have pretty inarguably aged poorly have been adjusted. That is to say, both the original and Golden's depiction of Yosuke is, frankly, deeply off-putting in the 2020s; I say this as someone who played through P4G for the first time with the Steam release in 2020. Yosuke’s homophobic fearmongering has long been analyzed by fans as internalised homophobia towards himself. It makes him no more pleasant to be around in those original games, and applying that headcanon simply swaps out a character who is deeply unlikable for a character who is now a stereotype of self-hating queer men, and still unlikeable. Moreover, homophobia notwithstanding, Yosuke is just kind of a dick and a pain to be around, making him yet another in a long line of characters who are allegedly the protagonist's best friend despite being extremely annoying in a way that has become ongoing kryptonite to RPG fans.

Revival faces no shortage of challenges in adapting him for a modern audience. Atlus seemingly has two options: soften his less admirable character traits and remove his frequent homophobia, or address it head-on and dissect the conflict internalized in the character. While a brief, 45-minute demo of a near-100-hour RPG isn’t going to reveal much on that front, from the few lines of dialogue he delivered, my hunch is that Atlus has sought to smooth out the character's thorny qualities. As a queer person, this feels like something of a cop-out, avoiding an issue instead of addressing it, but it should not be too surprising, considering the solution to address Persona 3’s infamous transphobic beach scene was just to cut that part of the sequence out of the game.

Reading into it too much

It would be deeply unfair to use a 45-minute demo of a Persona 4 remake to start intuiting what shape Persona 6 might be taking, so I won’t do that. However, I will say that as I left the appointment, it began to dawn on me how familiar the series formula has become; even Studio-0’s much-lauded Metaphor: ReFantazio – which I really like – feels like a very familiar iteration on Persona in structure, looking back on it now.

Recently (I say recently, but it's been over the course of about two years), I have taken to dipping into the back catalogue of non-Persona, non-mainline Shin Megami Tensei RPGs, and it really highlights how diverse the expansive Megaten universe(s) can be. From Digital Devil Saga to Devil Summoner to Stranger Journey to Soul Hackers to Devil Survivor, and even Jack Bros., there was a plethora of tones and styles exploring ideas first found in Aya Nishitani's novels. And while 2022's Soul Hackers 2 was OK, and I liked last year's remake of Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Souless Army, it feels like there is so much more space to be explored, or even re-introduced to a new audience.

I like it when Atlus surprises me and gets weird, and pushes the vague confines of the SMT ruleset to its limits. Which is why it was so striking to me to notice that calendar in Yu Narukami’s bedroom featured iconic box art of the never-localised Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner for the Sega Saturn. This could obviously be a shallow easter egg for weirdos like me who will notice things like this; however, it did drive home that while there is nothing wrong with the familiarity of visiting Inaba, I would love to get back to exploring new and unexpected corners of this infinitely flexible universe. It would take a lot for a game as stylish as Persona 4 to feel stale; however, it certainly doesn't feel as fresh as it once did. Maybe we just need a bit more time to explore other parts of SMT before we go back to trying to recapture the magic of these games. 

This preview is based on an Xbox Series X demo played at Gamescom 2026. The final product is subject to change.

Shacknews staff does not use generative artificial intelligence (AI) in their content. Shacknews strictly prohibits the use of its content for AI training or to generate text, including text in the style or format used for this publication. Shacknews reserves all rights to this work.

Lexi Luddy Contributing Editor

Lex Luddy is a freelance writer and journalist. She has written for Vice, Fanbyte, PLAY Magazine, Gayming Magazine, Push Square, startmenu and more. She can be found on BlueSky @basicallilexi.bsky.social talking about Like A Dragon, Kirby, and queer representation in media.

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