Persona 2: Eternal Punishment

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (Perusona Tsu: Batsu) is a role-playing video game developed by Atlus, and chronologically the third installment in the Persona series, a subseries of the Megami Tensei franchise. It was originally published in 2000 by Atlus in Japan and North America for the PlayStation. The game was later remade by Atlus for the PlayStation Portable. This version, released in Japan in 2012, did not receive an overseas release. In response to this, the PlayStation version was released on PlayStation Network in 2013.

Eternal Punishment takes place in the fictional Japanese city of Sumaru, and is a direct sequel to Persona 2: Innocent Sin. Taking place a few months after Innocent Sin, the game follows reporter Maya Amamo as she investigates the Joker Curse, a malign phenomenon where people’s wishes and rumors are coming true and causing chaos. During her investigations, she and others who join her gain the ability to summon Personas, personified aspects of their personalities. The gameplay features turn-based battle gameplay, where characters use their Personas in battle against demons, and a separate Rumor system, where rumors spread around the city can influence events in the characters’ favor.

Halfway through the production of Innocent Sin, writer Tadashi Satomi felt that a fresh point of view was needed in addition to Tatsuya, laying the groundwork for Eternal Punishment. The original producer (Kouji Okada), character designer (Kazuma Kaneko) and composers (Toshiko Tasaki, Kenichi Tsuchiya and Masaki Kurokawa) returned alongside Satomi. The second game began development after Innocent Sin was completed, and while it reused most of the assets from Innocent Sin, the gameplay and Rumor system were improved upon. The game’s theme song, “Change Your Way”, was written by English singer-songwriter Elisha La’Verne based on the game’s premise. Reception of the game in Japan and the west has generally been positive, with reviewers appreciating improvements over Innocent Sin, the plot, the gameplay systems, and the improved localization compared to the original Persona.