Persona 3 Reload is only a little while away, but if you want your Persona fix here and now, then a little while is a little while too long. Here’s our choices for the 10 games to play while you wait for Persona 3 Reload.
The 10 games to play while you wait for Persona 3 Reload
Before we get started I think it’s important to state that there are not many games like Persona out there. Not many games combine the life-sim stuff with a JRPG, however much we wish more things would. So for this list, while there are a few that are pretty close to Persona on this list, I will also be looking at the different aspects of Persona, like the social/life-sim elements and the persona collection system, and hoping you can find the game in this list that appeals to what you’re looking for right now. Anyway, without further ado, here’s our list of the 10 games to play while you wait for Persona 3 Reload.
Persona 5 Royal
I know starting a list about playing games that aren’t Persona with a Persona game is very funny, but honestly, if you’re looking specifically for Persona, look no further than more Persona! Each Persona game is separate, with only extremely vague references to stuff that’s on TV or posters, and the Velvet Room/Tanaka’s shop tying things together. This means, if you haven’t played a Persona game, then you should play one of those if you’re really in the mood for a Persona game.
I listed Persona 5 Royal here, because I think it’s one of the best games of all time, and is my personal favorite game of all time. But if you’ve played Persona 5, but not Persona 4, then play 4! I would probably hold off on playing Persona 3 mind you, as Persona 3 Reload is getting pretty close to release. Playing games from the same series as the game you’re waiting for can sort of dull the excitement for the latest entry in my experience, so luckily there’s the rest of this list that can hopefully help with that.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is a part of Nihon Falcom’s esteemed Trails series, and has many ties to Persona at its core. In Cold Steel 1 and 3, you’re attending a school, doing social links, with a calendar system, and fighting off bad guys in a turn-based combat system. One of the best turn-based combat systems ever, too. Falcom really loves making games with aspects of Persona mixed in, and Trails of Cold Steel as a series has tons of them. They even have lines of dialogue that play during a dungeon that pop up in the corner of the screen, which I understand is a very niche reference, but it feels very Persona once you see it in-game!
Recommending Trails as a series
There is the other side to recommending Trails though, which is that it’s part of a longer series of games with an ongoing narrative. The Cold Steel arc of Trails is the third arc of the series and is luckily designed for newcomers to hop in and play it with basically no issues. There are currently four arcs in the series, with the fourth one starting in English in 2024 with Trails through Daybreak, and the first one starting in 2004 with Trails in the Sky. I’ll always recommend playing all of Trails, as it’s my favorite gaming series by a mile, and if you’re interested in playing them all, you can find a lot of guides on the internet and YouTube about playing them. But TL;DR though, you basically just go in order of their original release.
But all that aside, Cold Steel 1 and 2 are incredibly approachable without that prior knowledge. If you do end up making it to Cold Steel 3 however and really enjoy your time with it, you’re probably going to want to go back and play the rest of them, as Cold Steel 3 and 4 serve as the sort of Avengers Infinity War and Endgame of the first part of the series, with basically every character coming back from prior games in a big way.
Luckily enough though, while Trails is a pretty big investment if you plan to play them all, Falcom have made another game that’s incredibly Persona-like, which is…
Tokyo Xanadu eX+
Tokyo Xanadu eX+ is Falcom’s attempt at essentially making a full-on Persona game. The same things from Trails of Cold Steel apply here, you’re attending school, living on a calendar system, and even in this game going to a different plane of existence to fight off the looming threats, much like Atlus’s very own Persona series. While there isn’t an explicit Social Link system like Persona, there is a bonding element with the cast of characters that you have around you. The main difference between Trails of Cold Steel and Persona is that this game features an action combat system.
Tokyo Xanadu eX+ is an expanded rerelease of the original Vita game on PS4 and Steam, with a Switch version recently released in Japan. So there’s another similarity with Persona, it’s also a pretty great time, all things considered. While I haven’t finished it myself, it’s easily pretty high up on my backlog when I get some time from the endless barrage of new releases.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
The next entry into the list of games to play while you wait for Persona 3 Reload is Fire Emblem: Three Houses. This game is the 2019 entry into the series and is currently the highest-selling game in Fire Emblem’s history. It’s an incredible time, with four whole routes of content for you to see, if you want something as long as Persona. But the real reason why this is on the list is that it seemingly takes a lot of inspiration from Persona’s life/social-sim elements, implementing a calendar system and an area for you to run around and interact with students, do minigames, and complete support events.
Fire Emblem’s gameplay is a far cry from Persona, with it being something more akin to Persona 5 Tactica, an SRPG. Fire Emblem is my favorite SRPG franchise though, and every game I’ve played in the series has been a stellar time, with Three Houses being no different.
Sakura Wars (2019)
Sakura Wars, which is also known as Sakura Taisen in Japan, is a storied franchise going all the way back to the Sega Saturn. These games have generally been SRPGs with a social element revolving around a theater group, and they all look great. The only issue is that most of them aren’t officially available in English, but the most recent entry, Sakura Wars (2019), is available in English on PS4.
The newest entry serves as a sort of reboot, and it’s an underrated gem. The new game changes out the SRPG combat for a more hack-and-slash/musou approach, and while I prefer SRPGs in general, it’s still a really fun gameplay style. The main element of Sakura Wars though is the social sim stuff, you’ll be talking to characters during your time, learning about them, and making decisions during conversations that can change the relationships with those characters. The LIPS (Live & Interactive Picture System) system they use for interaction is really cool, and some of the animation on the characters makes it feel like you’re watching a cutscene during normal conversation scenes.
If you’re a fan of Bleach too, the main cast of characters in this game were designed by Tite Kubo. Speaking of that, there’s a bunch of guest character designers who created the cast of supporting characters. Examples include Ken Sugimori of Pokémon fame, BUNBUN from Sword Art Online, and, fittingly, Shigenori Soejima of Persona.
Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore
Another Atlus game for the list, and it’s probably the closest thing Atlus has made to Persona that doesn’t have the name attached. Another underrated favorite of mine, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE was a Wii U-exclusive crossover between Shin Megami Tensei (or SMT, the parent series of Persona), and Fire Emblem, with Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore being the version that was ported to the Switch in 2020. It features SMT combat and dungeon exploration, with Fire Emblem characters as this universe’s version of personas. For example, the main character’s persona (or Mirage, which is the actual name) is Chrom from Fire Emblem Awakening.
Not only is it close to Persona in the fact it has relatively similar gameplay and persona-adjacent things for you to use, but it also has very light social-sim elements and a similar premise to Persona. There are character side stories you can do between chapters, and you control a party of characters who, while working at their day jobs in a talent agency, wander into another world to solve a mystical threat.
Baldur’s Gate 3
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a bit of a wildcard pick for this list, but I think it has some merit to fill that Persona-shaped gap in your heart. It’s a turn-based RPG, with player influence as a main focus thanks to it being based on DnD. You’ve probably heard of Baldur’s Gate 3, so I don’t feel like I need to tell you what makes it great, but more so why it’s on this list. It’s a game with extensive character development, with those characters being really well fleshed out. Characters are the core of Persona for me, and an RPG that fleshes out characters like this makes me think of it being able to compare with Persona and deserves to be on a list of games to fill the gap while you wait for Persona 3 Reload.
Shin Megami Tensei V
As mentioned earlier, Shin Megami Tensei is the parent series of Persona, with Persona games like Persona 3 basically being a different kind of SMT game. This makes an SMT game an easy recommendation for games to play while you wait for Persona 3 Reload. SMT V is my favorite SMT, so I’ll be recommending that one. This game lets you explore a post-apocalyptic Tokyo with some fantastic exploration, combined with a challenging combat system, and even a pretty great story, this is a great time.
Rune Factory 5
Rune Factory 5 is the next game on the list of 10 games to play while you wait for Persona 3 Reload, and while you may see it as more of a Stardew Valley-like than anything else, I’d argue a lot of the life-sim elements of those games are quite similar to Persona. You spend time during the day farming, but you also spend time fighting monsters to make sure things remain calm around town. Rune Factory has always appealed to me, and while each game is in the same universe, you can start at whichever entry you want, and the newest entry in 5 seems like a great place to start. Other modern releases of the earlier titles like 4 and 3 are also available.
Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth
The final game on this initial list of 10 is Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth. This is on the list because I love Digimon, and this game shares a bit with the SMT/Persona loop. This game is set in modern Tokyo, with the player becoming a Cyber Sleuth. This means you end up going into the virtual world of this universe to fight Digimon, take down bad guys, and unravel a plot that’s happening behind the scenes.
The gameplay loop of this game is very similar to Persona/SMT, with you going to another world to solve crimes, and essentially going to a velvet room to get new digimon, digivolve/de-digivolve them, and raise them by taking care of them. People always say this game is very close to Digimon’s version of Pokémon, and while that’s partly true, I also think it shares a lot of DNA with Persona/SMT.
Honorable mentions
There are a few other games I want to highlight that have certain similar systems to Persona, but didn’t share enough to get on the list, or I simply haven’t played enough of them to recommend them. So here are those games:
- Shining Resonance Refrain
- Yakuza: Like a Dragon
- Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor
- Atelier Arland/Dusk Trilogy
- Xenoblade Chronicles 2
- Scarlet Nexus
- Ys VIII
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