BecausePersonagames don’t all belong to a single story, they’re always at liberty to reinvent themselves in a variety of ways. Atlus has made the most of this; everything from the appearance of Persona users to the structure of the Shadow world to the process of accessing this other reality has constantly changed in the last 25 years.Persona 5is no exception, and it has made its mark on the franchise for a markedly unique depiction of this parallel world. Framing the protagonists as noble thieves conducting heists in fantastical Palaces gavePersona 5a debonair flair that makes it completely unlike the rest of the franchise.
Persona 5did much more than add a new aesthetic to this other world, however. Over the course of this game, the human world interacts with the Shadow world to an extent that’s rather alarming. UsuallyPersonapresents this other worldas a secret shared by Persona users, butPersona 5sets the precedent that a huge number of people have at least passing knowledge of a cognitive world outside reality.Persona 5’s willingness to blur the lines between these two worlds could set up any number of major plot points or lore shifts inPersona 6.
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How Persona 5 Bridges Humanity and the Shadow World
Persona 5makes a big deal out of a new scientific field called cognitive psience. Futaba’s mother, Wakaba Isshiki, was a major cognitive psience researcher before her death; she delved deeply into the existence and impact of the cognitive world. Masayoshi Shido had her killed so that he could steal her research and use it for his own nefarious ends.Persona 5 Royalexpands on this field’s importance by introducing Takuto Maruki, another cognitive psience researcher whose work was thwarted by Shido. This lore continues being important inPersona 5 Strikers,where it’s revealed that EMMA was modified with cognitive psience technology by Madicce.
ThePersona 5family of gameseven goes as far as letting some normal people experience the cognitive world. At the start ofPersona 5, Joker gets arrested by a horde of real, human police officers who were let into the cognitive world, meaning dozens of people got a taste of this other reality without ever awakening to a Persona. Similarly, Kuon Ichinose spends a lot of time in the depths of the Shadow world at the end ofPersona 5 Strikers,even commanding several Shadows, despite lacking a Persona. Due to cognitive psience and these vivid non-Persona user experiences
The active study of the cognitive world by normal human scientists isn’t strictly a new concept in thePersonafranchise. Those who playedPersona 3likely remember the Kirijo Group, a huge company whose research on Shadows contributed significantly to the game’s plot.Persona 4also sees a couple notable characters spend time in the Shadow world without getting Personas. However,Persona 5seems to raise these concepts to an entirely new scale. Tons of influential people, including a wide variety of independent scientists, businesses, and government agents, all seem to have some knowledge of the cognitive world, and some even have first-hand experience.
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Cognitive Psience Might Matter in Persona 6
Even though Masayoshi Shido’s circle of conspirators and Madicce will be long defunct by the beginning ofPersona 6,it’s hard to imagine that cognitive psience and broader experience with the Shadow world won’t impactthe nextPersonagamesomehow. These groups have established that cognitive psience research is happening behind the scenes everywhere, meaning the world of Shadows and Personas isn’t exactly the secret that it used to be. In other words, players may have to deal with more human interference than they’re used to.
Persona 5featured a lot more human antagonists than most recentPersonagames, andPersona 6may follow suit if cognitive psience falls into the wrong hands again. The group of Persona users that lead the new game might find themselves facing autonomous weapons created by cognitive psientists, possibly taking inspiration fromPersona 3’s Aigis, or the cognitive world might change around them as researchers manipulate it using psychology or medicine.The real Shido’s attempt to destroy the Phantom Thieveswhile they’re in the cognitive world may have only been a taste of the type of interdimensional interference thatPersona 6’s protagonists have to deal with.
The plot ofPersona 6could involve more central human antagonists than ever as well.Persona 5saw players technically defeat a lot of real humans, but the game had something of a revolving-door policy for its antagonists, with villains like Kamoshida and Kaneshiro appearing and disappearing in sequence.Persona 6might have a more central, consistent series of human enemies that players have to grapple with, perhaps even fighting them multiple times over the course of the game. WhilePersonais known for its godly final bosses,Persona 6might use cognitive science to make a human antagonist the true antagonist, bucking franchise tradition by imitating the inventivePersona 5 Royalfinal boss.
More Human Villains Would Benefit Persona 6
Further misuse of cognitive psience would be a great direction forPersona 6.The misguided but well-meaning Takuto Marukihas made a strong case for letting human antagonists play a bigger part in thePersonauniverse, and thePersona 5games generally show the potential of letting characters other than teenagers interfere with the Shadow world. Greater human agency might helpPersona 6tell the fresh, gripping story that it needs to be a worthy successor to the best-sellingPersona 5.
Atlus has set the stage well for cognitive psience to stay important, butPersonais a franchise that avoids change, so an even more human-centric story may be unlikely. Instead,Persona 6may go the way ofPersona 4,letting human knowledge of the other world ebb to create a sense of mystery. That would be something of a waste of the lore established byPersona 5,however, and it would be a little illogical for this field of research to disappear betweenPersonagames. Hopefully Atlus doubles down on this lore concept in the next game, exploring what scientists can actually accomplish with cognitive psience and what that implies for the Persona-wielding protagonists.
Persona 5is available now for PS3 and PS4.
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