Back بيرسونا 4 Arabic بيرسونا 4 ARZ Persona 4 German Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 Spanish Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 Finnish Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 French Persona 4 Hungarian Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 Italian ペルソナ4 Japanese 여신전생 페르소나 4 Korean
| Persona 4 | |
|---|---|
 Original cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Atlus |
| Publisher(s) |
|
| Director(s) | Katsura Hashino |
| Designer(s) |
|
| Programmer(s) | Yujiro Kosaka |
| Artist(s) | Shigenori Soejima |
| Writer(s) |
|
| Composer(s) | Shoji Meguro |
| Series | Persona |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Role-playing, social simulation |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Persona 4,[a] released outside Japan as Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4, is a 2008 role-playing video game by Atlus. It is chronologically the fifth installment in the Persona series, itself a part of the larger Megami Tensei franchise, and was released for the PlayStation 2 in Japan in July 2008, North America in December 2008, and in Europe and Australia in March 2009, being one of the final major exclusives for the system. It was re-released as a PlayStation 2 Classic for the PlayStation 3 in April 2014. Persona 4 takes place in a fictional Japanese countryside and is indirectly related to earlier Persona games. The player-named protagonist is a high-school student who moved into the countryside from the city for a year. During his year-long stay, he becomes involved in investigating mysterious murders with a group of friends while harnessing the power to summon physical manifestations of their psyches known as a Persona.
The plot of Persona 4 was inspired by the work of mystery novelists owing to its murder mystery premise. The rural setting was based on a town on the outskirts of Mount Fuji and intended as a "'nowhere' place" and is the central setting to have players sympathize with the daily life of the characters. The developers added many in-game events to prevent the game from becoming stale. During localization, numerous alterations to Japanese cultural references were made to preserve the effect as much as possible. The release of Persona 4 in Japan was accompanied by merchandise such as character costumes and accessories. The game's music was primarily composed by Shoji Meguro, with vocals performed by Shihoko Hirata. The North American and European releases came with a soundtrack CD with selected music from the game.
Persona 4 received critical acclaim and is considered one of the best video games ever made, with praise given towards its gameplay, story, emotional depth, characters, and music. An enhanced version of the game, Persona 4 Golden,[b] was released for PlayStation Vita in 2012. It was later ported to Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in the early 2020s, selling 2.5 million total copies worldwide. Various other manga and light novel adaptations and spin-offs have been produced. An anime adaptation by AIC ASTA, Persona 4: The Animation, began airing in Japan in 2011, with a Persona 4 Golden anime airing in 2014. The game also spawned two fighting game sequels, Persona 4 Arena and Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, as well as a rhythm game, Persona 4: Dancing All Night. Party members from Persona 4 are prominently featured as playable characters in Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth (2014) and Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth (2018).
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