It's fair to say that, even though it was officially announced last week, Persona 6 is still a ways away. Atlus has even said that the studio's focus is currently on Persona 4 Revival, but an announcement trailer that provides both a color palette and a clear choice in tone shows that work has definitely begun on the next mainline Persona game.

That choice of tone looks like it will be decidedly darker than what we saw in Persona 5, which is a bold move given the last game's widespread success with a more upbeat and rebellious style. If the wait for Persona 6 is going to drive you nuts, here is a list of incredibly dark JRPGs that you can play instead to pass the time.

Persona 3 Reload

The Darkest Game In The Series (So Far)

As far as games in the Persona series go, none are darker (or sadder) than Persona 3. Death is a persistent and overarching theme throughout the game, both in terms of symbolism and in terms of what the main characters have to go through. Many of them have either lost someone close to them or will lose someone during the course of the game. Even the Evoker, the item they use to summon their Personas, is a gun, and to use it, they have to imitate shooting themselves in the head.

The main party is also incredibly young. Some companions got their Personas when they were six years old, for example. Pitting these characters against the inevitability of death is brutal, even if they share some goofy moments throughout. While long-time fans will argue that the remake, Persona 3 Reload, loses some of its darker moments due to its improved social links, it's still by far the darkest game in the series.

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne

Surviving The Demon Apocalypse

Sticking with games from Atlus, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne is the third game in the SMT series, and is technically a spin-off (in the same way that Persona is an SMT spin-off). In this game, you play a high-schooler crowned by Lucifer as the Demi-fiend. This comes shortly after a showdown between two cults results in an event called the Conception, which effectively ends the world and leaves Tokyo in a hellish holding pattern awaiting the new world's rebirth.

SMT: Nocturne is a very Lynchian video game. The environment and music are darkly surreal, and a deep sense of loneliness permeates the entire experience. You may start as a human, but once the apocalypse hits, you very quickly start doing demonic things because it's the only way to survive. Not only are you forced to battle against demons, but you'll often be forced to seek their help, which always comes at a cost. It's hard to imagine a "good" outcome from the game's progression, a feeling that sets in very quickly while playing.

NieR Replicant

It Just Keeps Getting Darker

NieR: Automata, which is the more popular game in the NieR franchise, is a pretty dark story, but it ultimately comes back around to something lighter. The same cannot be said for NieR Replicant, the modern remake (or Japanese version, depending on which release you look at) of the original Nier on the original Xbox.

It's a dark game from the start, with a rapidly spreading disease that's wiping out humanity while waves of black monsters called Shades attack at random. Meanwhile, the protagonist, Nier, is attempting to cure a sick young girl named Yonah. You'll complete your first playthrough and feel like things weren't all that cheery, but start a New Game+ run, and it gets so, so much darker. Those Shades you've been killing? Yeah, they were once people, and this time around, you get to hear their thoughts as you slaughter them one by one. It's especially dark when you realize that the small Shades you were fighting early on were actually children.

Mother 3

Don't Let The Aesthetic Fool You

Don't be fooled by its cartoon-like art style; Mother 3 is an extremely mature narrative, and it wastes no time in making that clear. Lucas and Claus see their mother die in the game's opening moments, which sets the tone for both their adventure and what you can expect going forward. Suffice to say, death is a major theme here.

Mother 3 covers more than just death and grief, though. Critiques of fascism and late-stage capitalism are rampant (this may be why it was never properly localized in the West). Some moments involve animal cruelty, and not just when you fight monsters in the wilds. That's without mentioning the wildly innovative save system. There is a lot to this game, and it's deeply affecting if you can play it in your native language. The only downside is that that's kind of hard to do for many of us. Still, tracking down a translated copy of Mother 3 is well worth your time. It may become one of your favorite JRPGs.

Xenogears

Repressed Trauma Can't Stay Hidden Forever

Religion is a dark subject for many, but when it's coupled with intense repressed trauma, like in Xenogears, it becomes a lot darker. This is a game that doesn't just critique one religion but virtually all of them, as well as the nature of religion itself. This all happens while it simultaneously grapples with Jungian and Freudian psychology when expanding on its protagonist, Fei Fong Wong.

Don't be put off by the philosophising, though. Xenogears is a dark mecha JRPG right from the start, and it only gets harsher as you go along. Your party commits cannibalism, characters are crucified, sexual assault and forced slavery occur several times, and that's without getting into what happened to the characters before they joined your party. There are rumors that Xenogears was originally intended to be the plot of Final Fantasy 7, but the story was so dark that Square nixed it before development progressed any further. Once you've played it, you'll see why.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

How Many Deaths Can You Handle?

While not a traditional JRPG (in that it wasn't developed in Japan), Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 bears all the hallmarks of the genre, from turn-based combat to party mechanics to a sweeping narrative with an epic scope. It's also a game that frequently and thoroughly deals with death, in many forms. That's effectively the entire premise of the game.

Every character, be they a protagonist, a companion, or an antagonist, is dealing with the death of someone close to them. They don't all process that death in healthy ways, but their grief is the driving force of the narrative. Well, that and their own impending doom at the hands of the Paintress and the Gommage. Death isn't a constant in Clair Obscur, but you're never allowed to forget about it, in much the same way as the characters themselves. Grief, sorrow, and despair are primary themes, and with a game written this well, you will feel all of them by the time the credits roll.