Persona 4 Revival has big boots to fill, especially for me. Persona 4 Golden is my favorite game in Atlus's JRPG series, so I've been eager – though somewhat anxious – to see what the devs have done with the bubbly murder-mystery remake. Thankfully, an hour-long hands-on session with it at Gamescom 2026 has me thinking I might have been worried over nothing.
During my preview, I'm able to explore a handful of short sections from the opening hours of the JRPG, including some dungeon crawling, boss bashing, and enjoying daily life in Inaba. It's impossible to ignore the fuzzy warmth of familiarity as I watch beloved party members Yosuke and Chie awaken to their Personas and protagonist Yu Narukami explore the sleepy rural town that fans like myself have adored for the last 18 years. But this remake is more than a glossy new coat of paint. Quality-of-life improvements and tweaks are immediately apparent, and have me feeling confident that this will be the best way to experience Persona 4 come launch.
Developer: P-StudioPublisher: SegaPlatform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series XRelease date: February 18, 2026
Exploring dungeons is immediately a hundred times better than it was in Golden. Clunky sword swings completely missing Shadows in the overworld, leading to the enemies gaining the advantage in battle, is a thing of the past thanks to hitboxes that feel far more accurate. And you can now use your sword to defend from incoming Shadows, too – doing so will leave them stunned and let you get the upper hand, instead.
Similar to Persona 3 Reload, there are now new items you can smash with your sword while running around dungeons to restore small amounts of SP, too – a relief to someone who staggered through too many of Golden's dungeons after running out of SP-restoring items while refusing to call it a day. I also spotted a newly-added glowing path in the dungeons that led to the 'correct' way forward. I'm uncertain if this can be turned off, but I'd certainly hope so given that it was constantly on screen, and feels rather redundant given that you have a map of the dungeons anyway.
There are new additions to combat, too. Like in Persona 5, you can now Baton Pass to teammates after knocking an enemy down by hitting its weakness, allowing you to switch characters and hopefully strike even more weaknesses, making battles feel faster and more fluid than before. Although I didn't experience this during my demo, Persona 4 Revival also adds a new mechanic called Prime Time which lets you blast enemies with multiple attacks in a row, without costing any HP or SP to use your skills, and ignoring any resistances your foes might have. Prime Time also lets you whip out a fancy finishing move called Series Finale to deal some serious damage.
Visually, there's no doubt in my mind that this is the best-looking Persona game to date. Character models are more expressive than ever, both in cutscenes and during regular dialogue, and MAPPA's animated cutscenes (the studio behind the Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man anime series) look spectacular.
Things sound pretty different, too – Atlus has an entirely new English voice cast on board this time around, and while it's an odd feeling to see these cherished characters return not sounding quite like themselves, from what I've heard, all the new performances are very strong. Paul Castro Jr.'s take on Yosuke, for example, manages to match OG actor Yuri Lowenthal's outgoing vibe perfectly, even if the two don't sound exactly alike.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.gamesradar.com/games/persona/persona-4-revival-is-the-best-looking-persona-to-date-and-after-1-hour-playing-im-already-desperate-to-return-to-inaba/
