Persona 4 is a Japanese role-playing game. It was released in 2008 for the PlayStation 2, and has subsequently been released for the PS3 and PlayStation Vita.

The story revolves around a young male protagonist, who moves to the Japanese countryside to live with his uncle and younger cousin. Once there, he discovers that a string of recent murders are directly tied to a strange television channel called the Midnight Channel. The Midnight Channel only appears during Midnight on a rainy night, while the TV is switched off. The rumour is that the figure who appears is your soulmate, but in reality, they're future victims of a serial killer.

The gameplay consists of battling monsters with a 4-person party, each of whom can draw upon the power of their Personas. While most characters only have one Persona -- a reflection of their inner self, with different elemental and battle abilities -- the main protagonist can carry several different Personas at once. He can also create new Personas through fusion.

In addition to the turn-based battle system, there is also a social element. During the day, you'll be in school, where you'll be called upon to answer simple questions in class or take tests (you'll be rewarded for higher grades), as well as have the option to hang out with friends or increase your own attributes (such as courage or intelligence). Socializing is an important aspect of the game because the closer you get to your friends, the stronger you'll be in battle. It's also just a really fun part of the game!

I did really enjoy the mystery and detective aspect of the story. It was quite dark, which I liked, but it eventually began to grow a bit slow. I was able to guess who the killer was ahead of time, and I think that, had they not stalled for so long, it would have been more of a surprise and a thrill. Additionally, I think they made a pretty big mistake by making this game so dang similar to Persona 3 (an overall superior game, in my opinion). By making it so similar, things become overly familiar and therefore a bit tedious.

I think that this is still a good game and one worth playing, but it's one of those things where I feel like it does run out of steam due to pacing problems. You may prefer the third game more.