Earlier this evening we found out that one of Atlus’ most beloved JRPGs will finally find its way to an even wider audience – right now, Persona 4 Golden is available on Steam. Whilst I’ve talked a lot about the Persona series since the relaunch of Disposable Media, I never really covered Golden whilst the site was active, but it remains one of the most balanced games in the series, with plenty of content, a nice snappy pace, an engaging narrative and compelling gameplay. Whilst 1 & 2 were a bit slower due to their more involved gameplay, 3 suffered from the slightly samey nature of Tartarus, and 5 added in numerous ideas but sometimes suffered from ill-advised gameplay gimmicks, Golden finds a much better balance when compared to the older and newer games – it’s more streamlined than 5, but more varied than 3, and discards the complexities of the oldest games.
Persona 4 Golden is available on Steam – the beginning
Until recently, it seemed destined to remain on the PlayStation Vita, but I saw the rumours begin circulating sometime during Tuesday of this week. Naturally, I was sceptical – anyone following Persona 5’s release will know that the series is a magnet for ill-informed gossip and rumours, and I deliberately avoided publishing anything about this until today. The news that Persona 4 Golden is available on Steam was also shared during this evening’s “PC Gaming Show” – unfortunately, the news broke mere minutes earlier than the stream and people on Twitter were already sharing the Steam store page link – however, rumours had been pointing to the show being a perfect home for the announcement.
Every day’s great
Persona 4 Golden is available on Steam, and you can head to the Store page to check it out (see the link we’ve included below). The description on the store page is somewhat brief: “With an overall Metacritic score of 93 and a multitude of awards, fan-adored Persona 4 Golden stands as one of the finest RPGs ever made, delivering on enthralling storytelling and quintessential Persona gameplay.Persona 4 Golden on Steam is best experienced with a game controller.” Below this, there’s mention of achievements, trading cards, “Full HD” visuals, “variable” framerates and voiceovers in Japanese or English. The mention of “Full HD” suggests that this will be displayed at 1080P rather than some 2160p upscale, but Persona 4 Golden’s clean style and bright environments aren’t begging for a massive graphical overhaul. The main selling point for me will be the fact that Persona 4 Golden has found a home on the PC, a gaming platform that’s as old as gaming itself. I often made light-hearted comments about the fact that I couldn’t part with a PlayStation Vita if it was the only way to play Persona 4 Golden… today, it seems like this could be the best place to experience the game. That is, if the PC version is any good.
Persona 4 Golden is available on Steam – the future
Of course, we’ll look forward to picking apart this Steam release in the future. You’ll have to bear with Disposable Media for a little while: as a site run by enthusiasts, we pick up games no sooner than any other enthusiast, and trying to deconstruct a new port of a 50 hour JRPG – not to mention one so highly-rated by fans – isn’t something that we can do carelessly. Depending on how the game plays I may end up following the example of Persona 5 Royal and writing separate pieces for early and late impressions, but I’m not sure yet. As always, let us know how you feel about this news, and if you’ll be picking the game up on Steam yourself.
Persona 4 Golden is available on Steam now for £15.99: the Store page can be found here.
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