Players who were anticipating Persona 5 before its release were already tapping into a long history of great JRPGs from the last two decades from Atlus alone. With the players who are new to Personain mind, I’d like to provide a few options for some great next steps into the seminal JRPG series, Megami Tensei. To be clear, Persona is a subseries of Megami Tensei, but it has basically outgrown its older brother in popularity and scope or, at the very least, stands alongside it now. Still, whether you just want to play more Persona, or you’re more interested in the series’ roots, there’s something for everyone here.

JUST ONE SUGGESTION BEFORE WE GET STARTED.

It would probably be in your best interest to play earlier titles first rather than backtrack from later titles. For example, I think it would be better for someone to play Persona 3 rather than backtrack from Persona 5 to Persona 4, not because there’s a lot of continuity between games, but because there’s a lot of quality-of-life improvements over the years that would lead to more conveniences. That’s not to say that the game is necessarily easier the newer it is—for example, I think Persona 5 is probably more difficult than Persona 4 but it also has a lot of features that make it more accessible.

It’s just something to keep in mind; if you get too comfy with these conveniences, it’ll be a lot harder to bear the older games with harsher design choices. This is certainly the case for Megami Tensei, which is known for its rather unforgiving difficulty at times. While that’s definitely part of the appeal of these games, I’d take this into consideration especially if you’re in it for the long haul, planning to play most if not all of these games in succession. Trust me, you’ll thank me later.