REVIEW

Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth Review

by Rob Pritchard, June 9th, 2019

The Persona franchise has come on leaps and bounds since it was soft-rebooted in 2006 with the release of Persona 3. This is thanks in part to its deep philosophical plotlines, a cast of relatable characters and addictive RPG mechanics combined with social networking side quests. The mainline series is now on it’s fifth main entry, with an updated version due to arrive in the west next year. Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth is the long awaited follow up to Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, which we reviewed on its’ release back in 2014. Is it the sequel we have been waiting for, or a mere carbon copy of the original experience?

Persona Q2 once again combines the cast of multiple Persona games into one streamlined experience. This time around, we have every playable main character from the Phantom Thieves of Persona 5, the Investigation Team from Persona 4 and the S.E.E.S. team from Persona 3. One of the biggest surprise additions to the cast is the optional female protagonist from Persona 3 Portable, who has been mostly ignored by Atlus since her arrival in 2011. This leaves the player with a list of twenty-five playable characters when they are all obtained, all having their own strengths, weaknesses and a vibrant dialogue bank that stays true to their original personalities. Although the number may seem intimidating at first, they are gradually fed into your roster throughout the narrative, so you have time to build up each character without being spoilt for choice by an unwelcome protagonist overload.

After being transported into a mysterious cinema by unknown forces, the Phantom Thieves find that their only way to escape is Along the way, they encounter the Investigation Team and S.E.E.S, as well as the FeMC from P3P, and a mysterious white-haired girl named Hikari, who is being looked after by Nagi, the owner of the otherworldly multiplex. Along with a mysterious being named Doe, and the several residents of the ethereal Velvet Room, it is up to the various Persona users to go into each of the four movies to receive the keys that will allow them to return to their respective homes. The storyline of the game retains the balance of light hearted and dark tones that the original Persona Q portrayed, especially when dealing with Hikari’s identity and how perception of a situation can be paramount to your cognition of reality.

Like the various class projects in Persona Q, each of the movies in the cinema have been transformed into a vast labyrinth filled with enemy Shadows, traps and obtainable treasures. As you progress down through each of the floors of the labyrinths, you will encounter stronger enemies as well as puzzles that will require efficient use of the shortcuts to navigate. From superheroes to artificial intelligence, and dinosaurs to flower filled paradises, the labyrinths are all vibrant and colourful, and have enough distinct areas within them to prevent you from becoming bored as you traverse their interiors.

The familiar system of utilizing an enemy’s weakness to particular elemental attacks returns in fine form, with the addition of the Nuclear and Psychic elements which were also added into Persona 5. In combination with various cinema themed healing items such as Sodas and Honey Popcorn, and Persona series styled weapons with varying strengths and special abilities, Persona Q2’s battle system is hands down one of the best in the series to date.

One of the key gameplay mechanics in the Persona series has always been fusing old Personas together to create new entities. The Velvet Room is once again designed for this purpose, taking on the form of an indie cinema with several film projectors. Instead of Tarot Cards, you can now obtain Personas after battles from pieces of camera film. These clippings can be loaded into projectors and shone at one place to create a brand new Persona, or equipped as a Sub Persona to any of your playable characters. The fusion system has been effectively perfected over the years, especially with the addition of sacrificing older Personas to obtain new moves and extra experience points without needing to go back into the labyrinths.

The side-quests from the original game have received an overhaul, where you are now transported to a specific area of a labyrinth instead of having to traverse through it by yourself. These quests, known as Special Screenings, require you to have certain characters in your party before you will be allowed to participate in them. Most of them are traditional fetch quests or optional boss battles with a narrative focus on the characters that are required, such as the rivalry that emerges between Kanji Tatsumi and Ryuji Sakamoto, or the unlikely friendship that spawns between Yusuke Kitagawa and Yukiko Amagi. Completing specific Special Screenings will unlock Unison attacks, which will activate at random when the characters involved in them managed to trigger their Boost state in battle. One of the best parts of this system is that they may also activated at the same time as an All-Out Attack, meaning that you will sometimes gain two special attacks in the same turn.

The mapmaking feature from Etrian Odyssey also makes a return from Shadows of the Labyrinth, with very little changes made to how it helps the player navigate the vast labyrinths with its icons and drawing tools. The only minor addition, albeit a helpful one, is that you can add specially coloured icons to maps to indicate the changes made during Special Screening missions.

The graphics of Persona Q2 use the same chibi styled character models from the original Persona Q, in combination with cel-shaded 3D models and 2D cut outs in the dungeon areas. The frame rate remains steady, except for a few occasions when the battle graphics become slightly too intense for the aging 3DS hardware to comprehend. The only minor chink in Persona Q2’s armour is the lack of English dialogue track in the game, which is understandable considering that this game is the last major title to be arriving for the system for the foreseeable future. Despite this, the Japanese voices are perfect for the characters that they portray, to be honest do not sound overly different to their localised alternatives.

One of the best elements of any Persona title is always the soundtrack, and it would be fair to say that the team have outdone themselves yet again. With several remixes of older songs from the series such as the unmistakable Velvet Room aria, to the new vocal tracks from Lyn that populate the credits sequences and the various menu screens when you are not inside the cinema’s labyrinths. If you fancy a trip down memory lane with the battle themes, you may download them as DLC using the Nintendo eShop, alongside a few additional Personas and some helpful items to give you a head start in your labyrinth traversing adventures.

Overall, Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth is one of the best RPG’s to be released for the Nintendo 3DS in its eight-year lifespan. All the rough edges from the previous instalment have been removed, leaving behind a hybrid experience that combines addictive gameplay with a stellar soundtrack and a refined graphical style that does the Persona brand proud. As a final farewell to one of Nintendo’s best performing handhelds, Persona Q2 is the swansong that the system rightfully deserves.

If you are looking for one final RPG to say goodbye to your Nintendo 3DS, Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth is a masterpiece that deserves every minute of your precious attention span.