Persona in the information age

I am so glad to see a game that tackles the information age in such a head on way. Besides Persona 5, the only game in recent memory that uses this a lot is Watch Dogs 2, and even then that’s mainly just a way to call your experience points a “follower count”.

Spoiler warning

Persona 5 doesn’t do much with it to influence the gameplay, but when I realized it was gonna impact the story, I almost squealed. A very long RPG is the perfect medium to see how information spreads day by day, and how public opinion changes. And to see how your actions influence what the public is saying, and how your group reacts to that, is simply one of the best parts of the game’s story.

It is absolutely drenched in public opinion. You walk down the street and you hear public chatter about whatever news is on their minds. Gossip and rumors abound when you’re in school. Sometimes at the end or start of the day the game will cut to more public whispers. And finally, you’ve always got the Phantom Thieves popularity bar down in the right corner, with messages from users on their opinion of you.

Before I go any further, this is excellent worldbuilding by itself! I honestly wouldn’t care if this was all there was. It makes the world feel alive and breathing, it tells you what others think, it gives even a basic walk down the street to buy some medicine a worldbuilding experience. Simply going about your day is how the game builds character for the city, and it’s brilliant. There’s no need for exposition on the world when you get it every few seconds naturally.

However, there’s more to it than that. Besides just being good worldbuilding, it’s also integrated into the story quite well. The slow climb at the start making your fights seem important yet unknown. Your skyrocketing popularity that almost proves to be your group’s undoing. We see a fantastic showing of how public opinions swings almost overnight after you’re framed for murder.

People react realistically to it too. It ends up being a great source of character development and understanding. Ryuji, for example, lets a lot of it go to his head. He wants to be a source of hope for people, and have their exploits be shown and appreciated by all. But through that, he understands that this sort of world is very volatile, and public opinion swings like mad.

This is all, well, very realistic? It’s one of the main reasons why Persona 5 is so grounded, because we live that world of information every day. It’s refreshing to see a game not strictly about communication tackle it so head on, because this is a part of life nowadays that affects everything. It leads to one of the most realized worlds I’ve experienced in a game, and I really do hope that it leads to more games set in a more modern world. It’s a brilliant tool for storytelling.