Which Persona game should I play first?

Hi Mother!

I’ve always been intrigued by the Persona series but it feels so daunting and there’s a lot of titles, and remakes, and spinoffs, and gold and royal editions… where should a Persona Neophyte start? I’m mildly familiar with turn based games and RPGs but I’m not sure I’ve ever played something like Persona.

- Persona Neophyte

Hi Persona Neophyte,

I’m excited for your interest in the Persona series, which is such a unique blend of monster-battling through dungeons and surviving daily life. Persona 3, Persona 4, and Persona 5 all have somewhat similar arcs: a high school student moves to a new city and new school, and just as they arrive they have a supernatural encounter and awaken to a new power, the ability to summon monsters called personas when in a fight. They’ll eventually build a group of friends with the same power, and spend their time after school delving into dungeons. But your character also needs to do real-life stuff: build relationships with friends, work at part-time jobs, and study for exams. All these activities build stats and social links, which are critical for building your persona-weilding powers, but it’s also during these activities that you see how your story unfolds with each of your new friends. (Persona games do build a sense of FOMO as you juggle your character’s schedule, so my biggest tip — whichever game you choose — is don’t sweat about completing it all, because you probably can’t. Just like life.)