It’s been almost 5 years, Persona 5 is still one of the best games I have played in recent years.

(minor spoilers, but if you planned to play P5 Royal when it releases on PC. Come back after you are done.)

The Persona series had its following before Persona 5, but it wasn’t until Persona 5 that made the franchise hugely popular. I believe what made it so good is because its story/theme, gameplay and aesthetic all work together perfectly. The result is the most coherent and enjoyable JRPG of all time.

The main plot of the game revolves around a group of teenages, calling themselves Phantom Thieves of Heart, uses their new found power of going into evil adults' subconscious and literally changing their mind. It’s a classic story of rebels against an established order, fighting against injustice outside the law. Each character in the game has a Persona, a summonable demon that will aid the user in battle, that represents them as a character. All Persona are actually rebellious figures in literature or real-life history. For example the protagonist’s starting Persona is Arsene Lupin, a fictional gentleman thief created by french writer Maurice Leblanc. Chaotic and rebellious yet stylish at the same time is the core motto of the game and we can see it even in the UI.

The UI in Persona 5 is one of the most stylish UI ever in video game history. The title font and many texts of the game are similar to ransom notes, with letters that jump up and down and go back and forth from serif and sans-serif. Texts that pop up during battle are uneven in size and always tilted at an angle. In fact, it is the same with any text box or pop ups, all of them are irregular shapes. While it sounds chaotic and impossible to read, the designer has cleverly made sure all texts are outlined with white background and additional black strokes around them.

In fact the use of outline extends to characters during battle. Persona 5’s battle is the traditional turn-based combat. The character player currently has control over would have a red outline behind their character model. While we are on the subject of combat, instead of having the player scrolling through the main menu, the player can simply press one button to access the submenu they desire. This coupled with the fact that the series always allows players to customise their Persona abilities. Players can just get rid of skills they do not want to simplify the submenu if they choose to. This makes Persona 5’s turn-based combat feel extremely fast and fluid compared to other turn-based RPG games.

Pressing the triangle button while not in combat would reveal a stylish pop-art like black and red main menu, the central hub with all the important RPG submenu such as equipment, stats and items. The main menu starts with the Joker, the player character, opening his palm but selecting any options, there will be an animation of Joker changing his pose and smoothly transitioning to another submenu. Other menus such as the shop menu will work the same but feature the shopkeeper character. These are just a few examples of how Persona 5 uses graphic and UI/UX design to elevate the game.

The stylish design of the UI emphasises the rebellious theme of the story. It’s incredibly stylish and chaotic. But it is an organised chaos that is clear and legible. Turned based combat is tuned to be much faster as the menu crawling is simplified. Having a faster paced combat goes well with the story around being a nimble thief. Story, gameplay and aesthetic all work together to create a coherent experience with a consistent theme. Which is why Persona 5 is one of my favourite games of all time both in-terms of engaging gameplay and outstanding graphic design.