It’s Hard To Get Excited For Persona 4 Revival

Video game remakes used to be a genuine surprise, whereas now they have become as common in the release schedule as new titles. But I don't think I've ever felt as unexcited about an upcoming remake as I have for Persona 4 Revival. That says a lot when I hold the original as one of my favorite JRPGs of all time, which I've sunk several hundred hours into across multiple playthroughs. On paper, you can see why a remake makes sense. Persona 4 is, after all, a beloved classic that's about to be old enough to vote (or at least get a part-time job, if we're going by its 2012 expanded edition, Persona 4 Golden). In other words, plenty of time has passed to introduce it to newcomers, and it provides something to tide over longtime fans who will likely have to wait several more years for the newly announced Persona 6. The thing is that everyone already did get reintroduced to Persona 4 just a few years ago when Persona 4 Golden finally made its way to all modern platforms, after breaking free of its Vita exclusivity with a Steam port in 2020. Golden, for me, is one of the best expanded versions of a game ever, not just throwing in new content but meaningfully integrating it into the original story, along with a host of quality-of-life improvements. Later ports providing the option to play this game set in Japan with Japanese audio made it an even more definitive edition. To call this remake a 'Revival' then feels a little disingenuous when the original is far from dormant, inaccessible, or dated. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH1QsxBjXyk Revival may boast shinier Unreal visuals, but from the latest trailer at the Xbox Games Showcase, it doesn't even feel like a significant overhaul to me. That is perhaps credit to the incredible style of Persona 4, whose character designs and art direction still ooze so much personality almost two decades later. Sure, Revival's character models and environments are at a higher fidelity than the PS2 visuals of the original, but it feels a moot point when anime character portraits, though redrawn, are still the primary means of presenting much of the story's dialogue. Were these cutscenes that felt on par with watching an anime, I might have been more impressed. You might say this was similar for Persona 3 Reload, given both original games debuted on PlayStation 2. But I felt there was more justification for giving that game the remake treatment, with the potential to deliver a definitive version that combined the content of Persona 3 FES and Persona 3 Portable. That Atlus failed to do--not including a choice of a female protagonist, and then subsequently added Aigis's storyline as a paid expansion--felt like a hugely missed opportunity. Considering that fumble, you can understand why I'm skeptical that Revival can improve upon Persona 4 Golden's already immaculate package. For instance, it's confirmed that Revival will include new events during your time as a high schooler in Inaba, just like Golden did, but that risks adding bloat to an already long game or upsetting fans by cutting existing content. As for what else is changing, it seems like there will be a new English voice cast, as was the case with Persona 3 Reload, though it may not be surprising given how original voice actors Yuri Lowenthal and Troy Baker have become huge stars in the years since. More contentious is whether the script will make any changes to the way the game's queer-coded characters' arcs are represented, but given how this continues to come up in criticism and debate amongst fans, it's hard to imagine any changes or lack thereof that won't just lead to more arguments. With so many more remakes on the horizon biding for attention, it feels ever more important to update or reimagine a classic that justifies its existence, especially if the original is already on modern platforms. With Resident Evil Veronica, I get to see my best girl Claire Redfield back in the limelight, while Capcom seems to be hinting at significant changes, from a new first-person perspective to potentially making the initial raid on Umbrella's Paris facility fully playable. Likewise, there's a greater canvas for reimagining Lara Croft's original adventure in Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, including a modern control scheme that leaves tank controls in the dust. But if I want to revisit Persona 4's smalltown Japanese charms while battling shadows in the TV world, I'm still searching for a reason to drop 70 for a shinier version of it in 2027 when I can fire up the very best version of Persona 4 on my Switch, laptop, or even my Vita today.