Japanese roleplaying games have generally been relegated to niche status in the west, though with the latest entry in the Persona series from Atlus, that may change a bit. Persona 5, which arrived on April 4, 2017, somehow has managed to strike the perfect balance between style and substance in what is honestly one of the most perfectly-crafted JRPGs I’ve ever played.

The game follows the protagonist, who is trying to start a new life in Tokyo after being put on probation for assaulting a man (though in reality, he was protecting a woman who that guy was assaulting). As a new transfer student, he has to make new friends to support him while fighting against his reputation as a criminal. The first bit of the story looks at the formation of the “Phantom Thieves of Hearts” as the protagonist and his new friends at school look to take down an abusive teacher at school, Kamoshida, by “stealing his heart.” This is done by heading into a metaverse and taking on Kamoshida’s shadow self – his subconscious – and forcing him to have a change of heart.

Between trips to the metaverse, it’s up to the player to live a somewhat normal high school life. You make friends – building “confidant” bonds with schoolmates and other people around town in what’s a rebranded version of past Persona games’ “social link” system. You can pick up part-time jobs, and learn what’s happening around town. All of the supporting characters are pretty well-developed, though that’s fairly standard for the Persona franchise.

Battle is turn-based, as it has been. Gaining and fusing new Personas to use in battle are also still there. If you’ve played a Persona title, you’re probably going to be familiar with how the gameplay is – it’s a carbon copy of past entries, but if it’s not broke, why fix it? There are four difficulty levels to choose from, though even newbies should avoid the “Safe” option unless they’ve literally never played a single other RPG before in their life. It’s too easy, and once you choose that option, you can’t switch to a different difficulty (meanwhile, if you choose Easy, Normal or Hard mode, you can change at any time).

Overall, Persona 5 is one of the best JRPGs to come out in quite some time. Available on both the PS3 and PS4, it’s making its mark on the industry in a big way already. Anyone with even a passing interest in JRPGs should definitely pick this one up.

-Carrie Wood