Highlights
- The Abyss of Time from Persona 3 Reload could inspire Persona 6’s dungeon design with its unique time loop concept and character-driven memories.
- Persona 6 could benefit from dungeon designs like this, allowing for more meaningful storytelling and character development.
- The Abyss of Time influencing Persona 6 could lead to remarkable dungeons that elevate the series’ evolution and create memorable gameplay experiences.
The Abyss of Time from Persona 3 Reload‘s The Answer DLC could lay the foundation for Persona 6 to build its own dungeons. After all, if Persona 6 is anything like previous games in the series, players are going to be spending a lot of the story exploring various dungeons. Even with that in mind, the way those dungeons will be handled is still unclear. The past few games have offered a few different possible approaches. The late entry of Persona 3 Reload‘s Abyss of Time in The Answer DLC may offer the best argument of them all.
The way that dungeons are designed in Persona games has a few general rules to follow, but some of those rules have also been broken. For instance, dungeons have typically been randomly generated aside from certain areas required for events, but Persona 5‘s palaces had fixed designs, with random generation going to Mementos instead. In addition, Persona 3‘s Tartarus and Persona 5‘s Mementos were game-spanning dungeons, while Persona 4 had nothing of the sort. Despite keeping a similar gameplay loop, Persona has experimented plenty when it comes to dungeon design. For that reason, Persona 6‘s dungeons could prove difficult to predict ahead of time.
Related
Persona 6 Should Side-Step One Issue P5’s Mementos Created
Mementos in Persona 5 was a neat way to keep randomly generated dungeons around, but they posed a problem for some in the latter stages.
Persona 6’s Dungeon Could Take Lessons From the Abyss of Time
Persona 3 Reload’s Abyss of Time is a Fascinating Dungeon
Dungeon design is a big way that Persona 3‘s DLC can influence Persona 6, at least in one sense. The campaign of The Answer leaves Tartarus in favor of a new dungeon, the Abyss of Time. The Abyss of Time’s presence causes the members of S.E.E.S. to be stuck in a time loop, constantly reliving the same day. This, combined with the arrival of Metis, acts as the initial reason for the team to investigate the Abyss. However, the Abyss proves to be a different kind of encounter than other Persona dungeons. Yet at the same time, it manages to tread through familiar territory.
The Abyss of Time’s Memories Make For Great Character Moments
Behind each door in the Abyss lies the past of one of Persona 3‘s party members. Many of these moments involve their recruitment into S.E.E.S., but other important scenes, such as Mitsuru awakening her Persona, also appear. While Persona‘s dungeons have led to revelations for party members before, with Persona 4‘s story heavily invoking the concept, the Abyss of Time had its own interesting take on the concept. As a result, it took characters that were already established in the main campaign and made them deeper. It’s a fascinating second look at the party that the player had spent several hours with.
The Abyss of Time isn’t Atlus’ only dungeon that explores past memories. The Soul Matrix of
Soul Hackers 2
does the same for its protagonists.
The Abyss of Time Could Be Persona 6’s Dungeon Blueprint
Because of its design and themes, the Abyss of Time could easily be a better inspiration than Persona 3‘s Tartarus for Persona 6. As Persona 5 proved, having a fixed location as a dungeon can let the developers craft it into a more meaningful and memorable location. The gimmick of having different areas represent different characters could also be replicated. That way, dungeon crawling could reward the player with more backstory and a deeper understanding of their party members. The Abyss of Time has plenty of building blocks for a great dungeon, and Persona 6 can capitalize on them.
The Abyss of Time plays host to the DLC that effectively acts as Persona 3 Reload‘s epilogue, but it could be even more. A compelling dungeon in Persona 6 can take a lot of aspects from the Abyss while putting its own spin on them. The end result could be remarkable dungeons that stand out among their peers. Persona 3 Reload already showed how good the series is at evolving, and its DLC dungeon could pave the way for Persona 6 to create its own dungeons.
