Why play one Persona on Game Pass when you could play two?

If you’re a fan of RPGs, turn-based battling, supposed Sony exclusives wending their way to Xbox, or school children fighting in alternate dimensions then – boy – do we have a Game Pass announcement for you. 

Today, should you turn on your Xbox and navigate to the Game Pass store front, you will find that Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden are now available to play. They join Persona 5 Royal on Game Pass, bringing the Persona library on the service to three. 

There is, of course, every chance that this announcement excites you so much that you want to purchase the things. Frankly, they are a steal at £17.99 for Persona 3 Portable and £17.99 for Persona 4 Golden, but you can also strap the two together in the ‘Golden Bundle’ for a rather decent £32.99. Yes, that is a £2.99 saving. We did the maths for you there. 

In terms of sheer gaming hours, it’s cheap as the budgie. Persona 3 Portable was a star of the Sony PSP – one of the best games that you could play on a UMD. While the PSP version was beautiful for its time, it doesn’t necessarily hold up today, so you can be reassured that it has newly remastered graphics, improved smoothness in gameplay, and quality of life features including difficulty selection and quick save functionality.

It follows ‘the Protagonist’, as they transfer to Gekkoukan High School, only to tumble into a supernatural alternate dimension called ‘The Dark Hour’ which, as you can probably guess from the name, isn’t a good thing. But this awakens their Persona, the power of their heart, which enables them to take on the ghouls that reside their. 

Persona 4 Golden was the darling of the PS Vita, quite clearly the most under-rated console of all time (fight me). We remember it looking badass, but it, too, has had the remaster sheen applied to it. Expect improved graphics and smoothness, difficulty selection and quick save functionality. 

The Persona storylines, at least when zoomed out, are all relatively similar. This time round, the demons come from within television sets, as rumours spread that staring into them will reveal your soulmates. This should make any horror movie suspicious, and duly murders and kidnappings start occurring, which leads you and your schoolfriends into a parallel TV reality. 

Go and grab Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden from the Xbox Store right now. Our full reviews of each are incoming.

Frankly, the rest of January is rather slight on the Game Pass front. You can expect Monster Hunter Rise (Console, PC) on January 20th, Age Of Empires 2: Definitive Edition (Console, Cloud and PC) on January 30th, and  Inkulinati (Console, PC) on January 31st. The one positive is that no more leavers are planned for Game Pass until February.

How deep are you planning to go? All the way back to Persona 3? Both? Let us know in the comments or on social media.

Persona 3 Description:

Experience the iconic, critically acclaimed RPG that reinvented the Persona series, Persona 3 Portable, now newly remastered for modern platforms. Shortly after transferring to Gekkoukan High School, the protagonist encounters the “”Dark Hour.”” Unfamiliar stillness swallows the city, people turn into eerie coffins, and otherworldly monsters called Shadows swarm. When they are attacked by one of these Shadows and all hope seemed lost, the power of the heart, their Persona is awakened. With this newfound power, they pursue the truth of the Dark Hour and face the destiny that awaits them.

Persona 4 Description:

The world-renowned Persona 4 Golden promises unforgettable adventures, meaningful bonds, and heartwarming experiences shared together with friends. They say your soulmate will appear if you stare into a television set on a rainy night… This strange rumor slowly spreads through the rural town of Inaba, the protagonist’s new home, just as a chain of mysterious murders begin. As the protagonist and his teammates chase after the truth, they find themselves opening the door to another world.