OH RIGHT persona 6 predictions/theoryposting. i was so caught up in the p4 hype that i almost completely forgot to write these out
the graveyard imagery that we got from the First shot in the trailer very obviously points to death / the supernatural being a major theme, but i think (and i havent seen that many people pick up on this) the overarching theme that p6 is gonna touch on is ego death:
which tbh is based PURELY off of the, like, 10 or so seconds of trailer footage we got today, but after going through the flashing bit frame by frame you can see that the tagline is "WHO ARE YOU" -- a question; a demand for an answer. a total death and rebirth of the mind, and by extension one's identity. it's all fragmented, and piecing together those broken bits of the self is likely going to be the driving force behind the people who awaken to that power
i'm also seeing a lot of speculation around whether the themes of guilt and a societal pressure for conformity will come into play because of This specific shot, and i'm inclined to agree (at least for now) since there's not really much else to go off of atm. the possible connection to the occult Does make me think of the salem witch trials, but considering persona is a very Japanese game i doubt they'd draw much inspiration from american history like that (i CAN see them possibly doing some sort of nod to that in, like, a party member's persona or smth along those lines)
this part is gonna be a lot more crackpot theory for now but i have a Strong cope feeling that philemon's coming back for this entry. if the leaks frommmmm 2024ish(?) are still to be believed then the idea of duality/unity and connection fits fairly well into the other themes that were hinted at today. if the psychological adversity the party members have to face is standing up against isolation and a lack of individuality, then pulling together an identity through the bonds that you forge with other people feels like it falls right into that category.
plus, modernsona games tend to align with Current Societal Ills that are prevalent during the time period they take place in. the whole thing with covid and ai and everything has made people feel more isolated from themselves and one another than ever before. ironically, in becoming more connected over the internet we've fallen into this deep loneliness that nobody seems to know how to truly cure. it'll be really fun to see how a game whose ENTIRE FRANCHISE THEMING revolves around HUMAN CONNECTION will deal w/ struggles like that
(ONLY reason i have doubts over this is that the xbox preorder page Does explicitly state that this is a "standalone story," but then again you can say the same about all the other modernsona games and They have nods/callbacks to one another as well. i would be VERY pleasantly surprised if atlus decides to bridge the gap between oldsona/modernsona with this entry, if only in smaller or less explicitly connected ways)
i Also am. cautiously optimistic. ab this teaser's tone/direction because from what i know ab what p5's first teaser was like, it's still possible that the overall tone of the final game may be wildly different from what we got today. but i really hope that's not the cause cause this looks cool as hell?? i've always said that persona As A Series lends itself very well to a more horror-type vibe if it wanted to go in that direction, and what we saw here was a really nice glimpse into what that could look like.
speaking of which ! even if we don't have any Direct references to the oldsona games, i'm hoping that what's said in the preorder page blurb implies that we could be dealing with a party whose abilities are much more involved in the Real World a la persona 2. especially cause of This Line in particular
and even if it isn't, it Does seem like the party theme for this entry is gonna be like, ghost hunters or paranormal investigators of some kind. which is a REALLY fun concept and i'm very interested in seeing how that plays out, especially in stuff like summoning methods and all that. i've seen a bunch of diff theories out there today but i think my favorites/most hopeful ones are cameras and talismans. personally my original guess was gonna be ripping your heart out, but metaphor already did that and i doubt atlus will use the same trick twice.
also in line with the occult theming i'm going to take a shot in the dark and guess that the party persona theme is gonna be like. famous witches/spiritualists/religious figures/etc. throughout history/world folklore. not TOO sure what that would look like yet and honestly maybe i'm wrong, but until we get more info it's hard to tell atm
idk. a lot of this pulls stuff from leaks/theories i've heard in the past but the teaser alone left a pretty strong first impression. i'm excited to hear more ab it in the future :]
