Persona

From 1996

Video games — Atlus's role-playing series, a spin-off of Shin Megami Tensei

A Japanese role-playing series made by Atlus, begun in 1996 as a spin-off of Shin Megami Tensei and named for Carl Jung's term for the social mask a person presents to the world. Its distinctive structure, settled by Persona 3 in 2006, splits the game between an ordinary Japanese school year — lessons, exams, part-time jobs and friendships tracked on a calendar — and a supernatural dungeon entered at night, where characters fight by summoning manifestations of their own psyche. The series turned thirty in 2026, the year a sixth numbered game was finally announced.

How to spot them

▸A high-school calendar year of social links and exams, bolted to a nightly dungeon crawl
▸The Velvet Room, a blue space between dream and reality, run by the long-nosed Igor
▸Tarot arcana, fusion of one's inner selves, and stylish menu design
▸Atlus, the Shin Megami Tensei family, and music by Shoji Meguro

Key facts

A 1996 PlayStation spin-off of Shin Megami Tensei, released in the West as Revelations (1996)

Megami Ibunroku Persona, known in North America as Revelations: Persona; the Western version was heavily altered

A blue velvet room between dream and reality, presided over by a long-nosed man named Igor

The recurring hub where Personas are fused; Igor is attended by assistants such as Elizabeth, Margaret, Theodore and Lavenza

A 2006 game in which students summon their other selves by putting a gun-shaped Evoker to the head (2006)

Persona 3, which introduced the calendar structure and Social Links; remade as Persona 3 Reload in 2024

Tartarus, a tower that rises during a hidden twenty-fifth hour called the Dark Hour (2006)

The dungeon of Persona 3, climbed a few floors at a time across a school year

A 2008 murder mystery in the rural town of Inaba, where victims appear first on the Midnight Channel (2008)

Persona 4, whose dungeons lie inside a television; expanded as Persona 4 Golden in 2012

The Phantom Thieves of Hearts, who steal the distorted desires of corrupt adults from palaces in a metaverse (2016)

Persona 5, set in Tokyo; the Royal edition followed in 2019

Music by Shoji Meguro and character designs by Shigenori Soejima

Meguro's acid jazz and rock scores, and Soejima's designs from the third game onwards, define the series' style

A sixth numbered game announced at the Xbox Games Showcase on 7 June 2026, a decade after the fifth (2026)

Teased with a graveyard of headstones; announced for Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows and Xbox

Key ideas

The name is Jung's: the persona is the mask the self presents to others. In the games a character's power is literally the shadow side of that mask, which must be confronted and accepted before it can be used — the psychology is the mechanic.

Quick-fire facts

•Made by Atlus as a spin-off of the Shin Megami Tensei series; the first game appeared in Japan in 1996
•The name comes from Carl Jung's term for the outward social mask, and the games use Jungian shadows and tarot arcana throughout
•Persona 3 (2006) introduced the calendar structure, Social Links and the Evoker
•Persona 4 (2008) is set in the fictional rural town of Inaba, with dungeons inside a television
•Persona 5 (2016) is set in Tokyo and follows the Phantom Thieves of Hearts
•Katsura Hashino directed the third, fourth and fifth games before founding Studio Zero, which made Metaphor: ReFantazio in 2024
•Shoji Meguro composed the music; Shigenori Soejima has designed the characters since the third game
•The Velvet Room recurs throughout the series, presided over by Igor
•Persona 3 Reload, a full remake, was released in 2024
•Persona 6 was announced on 7 June 2026 at the Xbox Games Showcase, in the series' thirtieth anniversary year

Drill it — 9 cards

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Sources

Video Games Chronicle — Persona 6 announced at Xbox Games Showcase 2026 Consulted for the 2026 announcement; cited without URL
Atlus — Atlus — Persona official series pages Consulted for release history and credits; cited without URL