The series continues to have some of the best UI in games
Leave it to Atlus to get fans excited over UI (user interface) design. A demo for the publisher’s upcoming game Persona 4 Revival has leaked online, showing off nearly half an hour of the game. While the demo gives fans a wealth of new information to pore over, one of the most talked-about elements is the title screen.
As seen in the leaked demo, the screen shows the game’s main cast sitting in a dark classroom as if they are giving a presentation. A projector casts light on the blackboard and shows the game’s title. When the player presses a button, the perspective shifts closer to the projected image to start the game, and another perspective shift leads to the save-file selection screen. The sense of movement and fluidity in the title screen is a massive improvement over both the original Persona 4 and the updated Golden version. Those titles used fairly static images that failed to evoke the style the game itself is dripping with throughout.
The Persona series has garnered a reputation in the gaming community for having some of the best UI design around. That arguably began with the release of Persona 5 in 2016, which has a striking monochromatic look with splashes of red and a fluidity to how the game changes between screens. This continued with 2024’s Persona 3 Reload, which updated the original game’s UI into a piece of art in and of itself. Atlus even brought its UI focus to other projects when it made 2024’s fantasy RPG Metaphor: ReFantazio. While all these games have a lot going for them — including excellent combat, compelling narratives, and fleshed-out party members — the UI has constantly been lauded. It is good to see that Atlus is continuing that trend in Persona 4 Revival.
The leaked footage shows off even more of Revival’s stylish UI, including the day transition and level-up animations. It seems the remake is leaning even more heavily into the television theme of the game in its menu design. It’s a good choice, and it suggests Atlus is trying to retain some of Persona 4‘s unique style, perhaps in response to some fan feedback that Persona 3 Reload felt too close to the aesthetic design of Persona 5. The rest of the demo is mostly gameplay footage, which continues to look just as smooth as what Atlus has shown in official videos.
Persona 4 Revival is scheduled to be released on Feb. 18, 2027, for PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X/S.
