 Statistically speaking, you probably haven't played Persona Q2 yet. I'll be honest, in order to play it at all I had to scour my house from top to bottom to even find my 3DS. It had somehow fallen under the bed. It was inside a cereal box, which makes no sense, but this kind of thing happens when you have a 4 year old. Difficulties in finding hardware aside, I'm here today to try and sell you on this wonderful game. Persona Q2 New Cinema Labyrinth is quite possibly the final big third party game to be released on the 3DS, and I personally can't imagine a higher note to end on. This might well be my favourite game I've ever played on the system. So, here's what you need to do in order to properly enjoy Q2. First, buy a PlayStation 4, if you don't have one. Play about 100 hours for Persona 5. This is essential, as Q2 will be incomprehensible if you haven't done so. It's not enough to be vaguely familiar with Joker from Smash Bros. You really need to have played this entire game. Don't worry, it won't be a chore, you'll have a blast. Next, buy a PlayStation Vita. Yes, really. In order to get the most out of the final 3DS game you'll ever play, you need a Vita. I bought one of these things last year on eBay for £40, and I have to say I really like it. Weird, I know. I mostly use it for a remote play, as it basically turns my PlayStation 4 into a Switch, or at least a Wii U. I can play all my PS4 games on a tiny screen, and with a child in the house, that's often very useful. The PS Vita is your ticket to Persona 4 Golden and Persona 3 Portable. These are another pair of games that will take between 50 and 100 hours to finish, depending on how thoroughly you play. So, with them alone your PS Vita purchase is justified. Next, it's time for Persona Q2. Don't worry about the first Persona Q, that's irrelevant. I know this sounds like a lot of work just to enjoy a 3DS game, but in my experience it's very much worth it. New Cinema Labyrinth is a fairly typical dungeon-crawling RPG. I can't say I love this side of the experience. You might like it more than me, especially if you're a fan of turn-based combat. I guess I can't actually fault a game that helps people to practice waiting patiently for their chance to act. What I do love about this game, and the reason why I think you need to play so many previous Persona games, is the fact that all of the main characters from these long stories get to hang out together. The big appeal of the Persona series, for me at least, is the social simulator side of things. I like doing my daily routine as a high school student, hanging out with my friends, making sure to return my library books, and doing my homework. After 100 hours with these characters, they start to feel like genuine friends, almost like real people. Maybe I'm just exceptionally lonely in real life, but these games make me happy. So the fact that Persona Q2 lets me introduce my girlfriend Makoto from Persona 5 to my boyfriend Kanji from Persona 4 lights up the pleasure centre of my brain. Alas, by the way, Kanji is not a canonical romance option. I wish he was because he is my favourite. This is why it's so essential to play the previous Persona games. With so many characters vying for attention, it's easy to get confused even if you do know who they are before you start playing. As an example, Persona 5 has a character called Yusuke, and Persona 4 has one called Yosuke. Good luck keeping everyone straight if you haven't spent hours hanging out with them already. You might be thinking, why bother with such a lot of effort just to play a 3DS game? If the experience requires so much homework, is it really worth doing? Well, to me at least, even the joy of seeing all my old friends again isn't what makes Persona Q2 really special. This game is actually about something. Yes, okay, all games are about something. Mario games are about exterminating the local wildlife, for example. Sonic games are about trying really hard not to drown. Persona games have always been dripping with subtext, which is part of the reason why they appeal to me, a nerd. Persona 3 is about confronting death and grief. Persona 4 is about how modern mass media presents a false version of reality. Persona 5 is about how cool it is to wear a trench coat. All important lessons we need to learn. But Persona Q2, even more so than most role-playing games, really wants you to think. There's a point to it, and the player is supposed to learn something and reconsider their outlook on life. And this is all presented through the wonderful lens of film theory. The story goes that three groups of adventurers from previous Persona games get stuck in a magic cinema that is playing some really terrible movies. The only way to escape is to enter the movies themselves and fix their endings so they have a positive message. While doing so, the characters all debate the plots of the films they're participating in. They ask big questions about individuality and identity. Let me spoil a tiny moment from the game that really spoke to me. If you'd rather not hear this, skip ahead to the time marked on the screen. In one movie, a group of characters are voting about whether or not to save their friend who is literally being chewed up by a dinosaur in front of them. Worried about their own self-preservation and about not losing face in front of the group, they all vote to let their friend get eaten rather than trying to help. At this point, the established Persona heroes all turn to each other and basically say, this movie is messed up. There follows a discussion about how majority rule and voting is fine and all, but if it's ignoring the needs of minorities, then it's failing everyone. I really like this. It made me think about the importance of representation in politics, and how we need to look out not just for our own interests, but also the interests of those who might not have a say, because they don't make up a big enough portion of the voting public. Of course, it does feel a little disingenuous for the Persona games to lecture anyone about representing minorities. This series is not always fantastic at this, and not just because I can't date Kanji, but that's a story for another day. Personally, this game has really resonated with me, and I think it would be a shame if more people missed out on it just because of the incredibly high barrier to entry. So maybe if you've got a spare month or two, give it a try. Just do your homework first. Play the other games, otherwise you'll be completely lost.