ThePersonafranchise leans on a lot of tropes and traditions, but by framing them in unique ways, it makes them feel compelling anyway. For instance,Personaenemiesand Personas themselves all draw on familiar, real-life mythological creatures and characters like the Greek gods, but Atlus gives these enemies a unique presence by presenting them as incarnations of human ideas, turned into Shadows through their own importance in culture.Persona 5 Royalsimilarly freshens up the seven deadly sins by examining how each sin can warp a person’s perception of the world, rather than just their actions, and this idea is worth exploring again inPersona 6.
BecauseeachPersonagameis a separate story from the previous one, it’s hard to say ifPersona 6will make use of Palaces again. Atlus might want to work with a different kind of antagonist structure, rather than sending players into these villainous lairs again. However,Persona 6will probably still hang onto a lot of overarchingPersonathemes, like cultural icons appearing as Personas and Shadows, as well as the importance of tarot. The seven deadly sins aren’t necessarily a corePersonatheme, butPersona 6could studyPersona 5 Royal’s use of sins and explore them in a new way.
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How the Persona 5 Suite Uses the Seven Deadly Sins
Persona 5andPersona 5 Royalboth make their use of the seven deadly sins fairly obvious. Players battle against lust in Kamoshida’s Palace, greed in Okumura’s Palace, envy in Sae’s Palace, and so on; the Phantom Thieves even tend to mention their sins in their calling cards. However, the game often presents the sins in surprising ways. For instance, pride and vanity are separate sins inPersona 5. Madarame’s vanity makes him obsessed with his own image and work, while Shido’s pride is more about an overinflated sense of purpose and divine right. Kaneshiro’s Palace also explores gluttony uniquely by showing how having as much money as possible inflates his ego, rather than focusing on gluttony’s usual association with food.
Persona 5also throws fans for a loop a few times when discussing the sins. Futaba’s Palace looks like a palace about sloth at first, based on her isolation and stagnant heart, but in the end, it’s framed as a palace of wrath, due to the hostile image of Wakaba that dominates Futaba’s memories. Sloth really comes into play inPersona 5 Royal’s penultimate dungeon,the Mementos Depths, where the Shadows of Tokyo citizens bemoan the difficulties of life, accept the impending apocalypse, and submit to Yaldabaoth’s will, rather than rebelling against the false god and fighting to control their own fates.
Omega Force and P-Studio brought the sins back inPersona 5 Strikersto a limited extent. The first three Jails make clear and creative use of lust, vanity, and gluttony, inserting an author into his plagiarized novel and warping a politician’s unrestrained hunger for order in Sapporo and votes in the upcoming election. However, the theme falls apart somewhat from there. Wrath and pride make appearances, but the end uses sloth in a familiar way, and greed don’t really get any screen time. It’s a shame that the theme doesn’t tie together completely, but Atlus could make up for the missed opportunity inPersona 6.
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How Persona 6 Could Reuse the Sins
IfPersona 6has Palace-like dungeonswith antagonists that don’t join the party, then incorporating the seven deadly sins a second time would be fairly easy. All of them inspire objectives that make an antagonist well worth stopping. However, Atlus would be wise to lean intoPersona 5’s design by using each sin uniquely. For instance, a new gluttony Palace needs to explore another kind of obsessive hunger, like a selfish real estate collector who wants to controlPersona 6’s setting by hoarding land. Like Shadows and Personas, fresh takes on classic ideas will serve the sin motif best.
Perhaps the best way to refresh the theme would be to turn it on its head. Nearly half ofPersona 4 Golden’s dungeonstask players with rescuing future party members, meaning they show a more sympathetic angle on characters' flaws and inner struggles. Atlus could combinePersona 4andPersona 5’s ideas by making various party members grapple with one of the seven deadly sins before awakening to their Persona. A wealthy character might have to push past their own greed, an apathetic character might need to fight to escape their own sloth, and so on.
WhilePersona 5showed how the seven deadly sins can inspire unique boss designs, like the gluttonous Kaneshiro commanding a robotic piggy bank and the envious Sae trying to cheat her way to victory, a party member angle could be more fruitful in a new game. The seven deadly sins could inform special Persona skills and traits or play a part inPersona 6Confidant perks.Personagames have a long history of examining the flaws in their protagonists, but a sin-based angle could still contribute some new ideas to that tradition.
Twists on Persona 5 Will Serve Persona 6 Well
Persona 6obviously can’t just copyPersona 5’s storyin its attempt to retain the newly expandedPersonafan base. However, Atlus also has good reason to reexamine the devices it builtPersona 5around, since they resulted in such a successful game. Using old ideas in completely different ways could be a good middle ground betweenPersona 5andPersona 6,and luckilyPersona5still has plenty of ideas that could be spun into something that feels fresh.
The sin narrative may be one of the best angles to reuse, since it would tiePersona 6to its predecessor without demanding anything too specific fromPersona 6.The seven deadly sins are a pretty flexible set of concepts, and Atlus has already proven that it knows how to reinterpret these concepts in surprising ways. Whether it applies the sins toPersona 6’s party membersand Personas or uses them to fuel daunting dungeons for memorable villains, Atlus has a clear shot at striking a balance between satisfying callbacks and forward-thinking storytelling.
Persona 5 Royalis available now for PS4. It releases October 21 for PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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