Persona: Ray of Light

Persona: Ray of Light (known as Persona -Ray of Light- and in Japan as ペルソナ：光の光線 (Persona: Rays of Light) is a 2024 Japanese RPG video game developed by P-Studio and published by Atlus and is the 10th entry in the main Persona series and was released for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on July 21st, 2024 in Japan and July 25th, 2024 in North America. An iOS and Android version titled Persona: Ray of Light -zen- was released on August 23rd, 2024 exclusively in Japan.

Plot
The game takes place in Kitsune High School, a sister school of St. Hermelin High School as students Hiroshi Hasashi, Hinata Hanamura, Keito Shimada, Sam Takahashi, Krystal Redgrave and Rose Trinity inspect the Snow Queen which causes the mask to cause a major reaction and summon a young girl which calls for help, and after ice blasts render half of the crew unconscious. Hiroshi, Hinata, Keito and Sam wake up in a strange island which they are guided by two people named Igor and Maninda, which grant them powers known as Personas. Hiroshi wakes up in the Nurse's office alongside his friends and is told to visit Keito's sister, Makima who is currently in the hospital and they go there and after a reaction which causes them to leave her room and an earthquake which causes the hospital to shift and summon Shadows which kill Keito's mother, Gwen. Which causes him and the others to attack and summon their personas. After the fight, they leave the high school and they find that murders are going on, and they meet up with Takeda, Hiroshi's brother and is partner, Vector to find out who the murderer is before its too late.

Characters
-Hiroshi Hasashi (Voiced by Aleks Le): The main protagonist of the game. He is second year student at Kitsune High School and is dating Hinata and is friends with Keito. His persona is Dagda.

-Hinata Hanamura (Voiced by Cristina Vee): A second year student at Kitsune High School and is dating Hiroshi. Her persona is Hades.

-Keito Shimada (Voiced by Christopher Daniel Barnes): A third year student at Kitsune High School and a member of the Shimada family. His persona is Helios.

-Sam Takahashi (Voiced by Jack Black): A first year student at Kitsune High School, he is a class clown and a rebellious teenager. His persona is Viper.

-Rose Trinity (Voiced by Karen Strassman): A member of the Trinity family and a third year student much like Keito. Her persona is Vishnuu-Flynn.

-Krystal Redgrave (Voiced by Ashly Burch): An American exchange student whose mother is a teacher at Kitsune High School. Her persona is Nyx.

-Maninda (Voiced by Laura Bailey): Igor's new Velvet Room assistant.

-Igor (Voiced by Tom Kenny): A member of the Velvet Room and a servant of Philemon.

-Vector (Voiced by Steve Blum): The main antagonist of the game. He is a detective working for Hiroshi's brother, Takeda, who is solving a murder case, but in reality, he is the murderer working in the shadows.

-Takeda Hasashi (Voiced by Patrick Seitz): Hiroshi's brother who is a detective working for the Mikage-cho Police. His persona is Orpheus.

-Gwen Shimada (Voiced by Tara Platt): Keito's mother who gets killed by shadows.

-Makima Shimada (Voiced by Karen Strassman): Keito's sister who goes to his high school who is currently sick and hospitalized, she goes missing after an earthquake happens in the hospital.

Gameplay
The game much like Persona fashion is an RPG which features open world exploration and non linear exploration in dungeons forcing Hiroshi to back track, dialogue choices which affect major plot points, and a social link which lets you level up your Personas, romance girls and much more. New to Persona is the Karma meter which goes from Good, Evil and Neutral, Dungeon Closets which let you customize characters with additional cosmetics, and Dungeon Creator, which let you create your own Dungeon.

Endings
The game features 6 endings which are listed as:

-Hero Ending (Full Good Karma): You helped the Police, arrested Vector and save Makima.

-Vigilante Ending (Medium Good Karma): You mostly helped the Police, arrested Vector and save Makima.

-Criminal Ending (Full Evil Karma): You did not help the Police, betrayed your team, killed Vector and kill Makima.

-Thug Ending (Medium Evil Karma): You mostly did not help the Police, stayed with your team, killed Vector but Makima is alive.

-Blank Slate Ending (Full Neutral Karma): You done your own thing but saved Makima and arrested Vector.

-Medium Blank (Medium Neutral Karma): You mostly done your own thing but saved Makima and arrested Vector.

Reception
Persona: Ray of Light received great reviews with a 95/100 on Metacritic and 9.0 on IGN with one reviewer saying "The game was perfect, perfect everything down to the last minute details."