The last time I played Persona 4, it was Persona 4 Golden on the Vita, and I was on my first flight to Japan, unaware that I’d still be living here a decade later. As it does for me, Persona 4 holds a special place in many fans’ hearts. Remakes of any beloved property face the hard task of respecting what made the original great, while restoring and improving on it by modern standards. Atlus did a fine job with Persona 3 Reload in 2024, though in that case there were much clearer ways to improve on the original (and major additions and content unfortunately still left out in the cold).
My skepticism going into Persona 4 Revival at Tokyo Game Show this year was that the original was in no way broken and in no need of fixing. Perhaps that’s the rose-tinted (read: yellow-tinted) glasses talking. Either way, in the 20-minute story demo I had with Persona 4 Revival, the game absolutely pops in all the ways we’ve come to expect, even if the improvements are also limited to what we’ve come to expect.
The story demo opens on April 15th, the day the teenage protagonist stumbles into the cursed TV dimension of the Midnight Channel alongside the bubbly bear(?) Teddie and another high schooler, Yosuke. The extensive dialogue seemed unchanged from Golden, though the way I was set to explore the 3D rendition of the Midnight Channel was brand new, if in the vein of Persona 5.
The 2D character portraits react and emote during dialogue as always, yet now the 3D character models in the background show a cutscene’s level of expression and movement, which really heightened the physical comedy bits between Teddie and Yosuke.
Another notable change was the new and greatly improved anime cutscenes courtesy of MAPPA (Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man, Vinland Saga), here to show the protagonist’s persona, Izanagi, awakening within him. The demo continues through the returning boss battle against Yosuke’s shadowy other self and the subsequent awakening of his persona, Jiraiya. Everything from Persona 4 Golden is said to be included, though fans shouldn’t expect many more additions in terms of story beats.
Persona 4 Revival’s menu interfaces are gorgeous, in keeping with Atlus’ recent track record (hello, Metaphor: ReFantazio), and the combat comes alive with a punchy vibrancy not wholly present in the original.
Maybe the biggest gripe with the original Persona 4 is the bland level design for dungeon crawling segments—sadly, that sees little improvement here. Dungeons may look prettier, but they’re still boxy, flat, and feature none of the clever traversal or puzzles as in Persona 5 or Metaphor. The music, similarly, felt rerecorded and with a new vocalist, though it doesn’t change the original enough to distract or stop listeners in their tracks.
Overall, Persona 4 Revival is what I thought it would be: a non-essential remake of an essential JRPG. I’m happy to play it again after many years, and happy more people will get to play it for the first time, though I’m hoping to see something bolder from it as we draw closer to its February 18th, 2027 release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam.
Take a peek at Atlus/SEGA’s Tokyo Game Show booth below, alongside several new screenshots (all the screenshots above are brand-new as well!).
Persona 4 Revival Booth Area at TGS 2026
Persona 4 Revival – TGS 2026 Screenshots
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