This article is about the series in the Megami Tensei franchise. For other things named Persona, see Persona.
Persona is a series in the Megami Tensei franchise. Beginning with Megami Ibunroku Persona for the PlayStation in 1996, the series initially began as a follow-up to Shin Megami Tensei if..., itself a side-story in the Shin Megami Tensei series. Like its precursor, the Persona series predominately follows a cast of high-schoolers confronted by a paranormal mystery. However, instead of recruiting and commanding demons, characters use Personas—the manifestations of their inner self. These manifestations correspond with an Arcana.
From Persona 3 onward, the mainline games essentially had a soft reboot and adopted a radically different structure revolving around a calendar system where events occur as days pass. The protagonist must balance their day-to-day life with their life as a Persona User. This change also introduced Social Links (Confidants in Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal), a system where the protagonist can befriend characters who are related to a specific Arcana. Each social link corresponds with an Arcana; this system also facilitates a dating sim mechanic with certain characters.
Persona was one of the first Megami Tensei series games to see release outside of Japan. The first game, Megami Ibunroku Persona, was released in North America under the title Revelations: Persona, where it saw significant localization changes. Persona was also the first franchise outside of Japan to drop the Shin Megami Tensei subtitle in terms of branding with Persona 4 Golden.