Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth

Genre: First-Person Dungeon Crawler / Turn-Based JRPG

Players: 1

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Review:

Like its predecessor, Persona Q2, released on Nintendo 3DS in 2019, is a game that combines the characters of the Persona franchise (specifically, Persona 3, 4, and 5, with Persona 5’s characters taking center-stage) with the First-Person Dungeon Crawler gameplay of the Etrian Odyssey series, with this game’s development team comprised of veterans of both franchises.

For those who have not yet played the Persona games in question, this may be a bit perplexing, as it pretty much tosses you into the middle of this group of characters’ story, with their established relationship dynamics already in place, and doesn’t make any attempt to try to get you up to speed. This feels very much like a game specifically meant for fans of the franchise. At the very least this time around the story and localization are a bit better than what we saw in the first Persona Q title, though the story still does ultimately feel like an excuse to have these characters interacting in one self-contained world.

When it comes to the presentation, this game makes use of a slightly chibi art style for its characters that’s undoubtedly going to be an acquired taste that not everyone will appreciate. The rest of the game definitely bears the marks of the Persona franchise, from the imaginative and bizarre 3D world that characters must navigate to the stylized menu design, to the solid anime-style Japanese-language voice acting, to the jazzy soundtrack. I felt this game’s stylish look fit the gameplay much better this time, with the dungeons you’re exploring seeming a bit less like a random mess of elements.

As far as that gameplay goes, this is once again very much in line with the Etrian Odyssey-style First-Person Dungeon Crawler RPGs, with players using the 3DS’s touchscreen to draw out the map as they explore, adding in various elements to make future navigation easier. It works great in the Etrian games, and similarly so here. Likewise, the combat in this game is similar to the Etrian Odyssey games as well, including the front and back rows of combatants and the high level of difficulty. Persona Q adds in the traditional Shin Megami Tensei elemental-based system and collectable interchangeable demons (the Personas themselves), but otherwise this is very much in line with the Etrian Odyssey games.

And yet again, I will complain that players here don’t really have any influence over when they gain the new Personas they need to customize their characters, and as a result, player choice often seems more limited than it needs to be. However, I think this game’s pace is overall much better than the first Persona Q, the difficulty level more forgiving, and numerous elements of the gameplay have been tweaked and adjusted to make for a smoother experience.

In the end, Persona Q2 is still very similar to the previous game in the series, being once again a successful marriage of the Persona and Etrian Odyssey franchises that brings Persona’s characters and style into the Etrian Odyssey style of First-Person Dungeon Crawler RPG gameplay. However, Q2 improves on its predecessor subtly in multiple areas, in its story, presentation, and its gameplay, making for what is ultimately an all-around better game. While this is still an experience that seems meant for fans of the Persona series, I’d still argue that this is an all-around excellent Dungeon Crawler, and worth looking at even if you’re not a fan of that franchise.

tl;dr – Persona Q2 is a game that combines the Persona franchise’s art style and chibi versions of its characters (with Persona 5’s characters taking the lead role), and sticks them in First-Person Dungeon Crawler RPG gameplay straight out of the Etrian Odyssey series. This is an overall improved version of the same formula we saw in the first Persona Q, with slight tweaks that make the gameplay, the presentation, and the overall experience better. This is still a game that’s meant for Persona fans specifically, but even Dungeon Crawler fans who aren’t already familiar with Persona will want to give this game a try.

Grade: B+

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