Sega and Atlus USA have just rereleased Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 5 Royal on all modern video game platforms, including Steam, Xbox Series X, PS5, and on the Nintendo Switch. But what is Persona about?

Each game in the Persona series follows a group of students as they utilize the power of personas (which are essentially unique physical representations of the user’s soul) to combat enemies in a randomly-generated dungeon. One of the primary features of the games is the Social Link system, where players evolve personas by building relationships with characters. The overall theme of the series is the exploration of the human psyche and how characters find their true selves. Each entry has been praised for its well-written characters, excellent music, and unique art style.

Previously, there were only a few ways to play these games. Persona 3 was only playable on the PS2 and PSP upon release, and Persona 4 was on the PS2 and PSVita. This changed when Atlus USA randomly uploaded Persona 4 Golden to Steam in 2020. Although the game had received overwhelmingly positive reviews at its initial launch in 2012, Atlus and Sega were still somehow impressed by the game selling 500,000 copies in less than a month. Executives at Sega stated that sales were “much stronger than expected,” and that they will “continue to actively promote porting previously released titles to Steam and new platforms.”

Fans have speculated since the announcement of these ports that other Atlus titles may be uploaded to modern platforms. They believe that Revelations: Persona (the first game in the series), Persona 2: Innocent Sin, Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, as well as early Shin Megami Tensei titles may come to newer-gen consoles. This allows a much wider audience to experience these games that were once hard to find, or on outdated hardware.

Whether you’ve just gotten into the Persona series or have been playing them for years, it sure is an exciting time to be an Atlus fan.