Learning From Persona 5's Dungeons: A Guide for Persona 6

Exploring the Best of Both Worlds in Persona 6's Dungeon Design
Learning From Persona 5's Dungeons: A Guide for Persona 6

Highlights

  • Persona 5 introduced diverse dungeon types - Palaces and Mementos - offering engaging experiences for players.
  • Handcrafted Palaces provide narrative depth and insights into bosses' characters, while the randomized Mementos keeps grinding fresh and offers plenty of side quests.
  • Persona 6 should enhance both dungeon varieties with more diverse themes, additional content, and increased randomization to make each type of dungeon more exciting to explore.

Persona 5 left an indelible mark as a groundbreaking JRPG, offering players an extensive 100+ hours of content. The game represented the culmination of Atlus' previous efforts, featuring upgraded systems and an extensive roster of social links. Notably, it introduced two distinct dungeon types: Palaces and Mementos, allowing players greater freedom in how they spent their time.

Previous titles, Persona 3 and Persona 4, featured randomized dungeons, providing an engaging experience for re-exploration and grinding due to constantly changing layouts and loot. Persona 5 adapted this approach, introducing Mementos alongside handcrafted Palaces, resulting in a diverse gameplay experience.

The Perfect Template for Persona 6

Persona 6 should adopt a similar approach, featuring both randomized and scripted dungeons. Handcrafted dungeons, exemplified by Persona 5's Palaces, are instrumental in building a compelling narrative, providing thematic insight into each boss' character. On the other hand, the randomized nature of Mementos offers a more engaging and varied grinding experience, also serving as the hub for numerous side quests.

Building on Persona 5's Foundations

Persona 6 can elevate both dungeon types by introducing diverse themes and additional content to Mementos, ensuring a fresh experience beyond combat. Furthermore, randomization could play a more significant role across all dungeons, injecting excitement and unpredictability into each exploration.

Ambitious Dungeons for Persona 6

Looking ahead, Persona 6 must embrace the strengths of both dungeon types seen in Persona 5. By enhancing the diversity and randomization in its dungeon design, Persona 6 can offer an even more captivating and immersive gameplay experience, building upon the solid foundations laid by its predecessor. While Persona 6's release is still on the horizon, Atlus has exciting offerings in the pipeline for fans to enjoy in the meantime.