You can fight with weak or strong attacks from your character, and in all but one case, they have a persona who gets the same two types of attacks. Whether you’re an experienced player or a newcomer to this sort of game, its controls, and even special moves are rather easy to execute, prioritizing action above all else.
The best part is, in place of having to push 2 buttons or more for attacks, the controller uses its additional buttons to make these moves easier to execute. The developers did not endeavor to rename the buttons as they appear in the commands list (clearly an arcade pad layout) but the pause menu’s button settings option allows you to see which buttons stand in for which. While the game is designed with its arcade roots proudly on display, it plays satisfyingly well on other consoles, as any of the modern hardware is easily able to handle this game.
What follows is a ‘Game of Death’-like gauntlet wherein the protagonists must confront their shadows and ascend the tower to save their loved ones and the world. The game’s cast spots a mysterious tower in the distance, appearing somehow over Yasogami High School, and they must fight through intricate shadow replicas of themselves and their allies and solve the mystery behind the bizarre occurrence. The entire area is blending in with locations and landmarks from Persona 3, mixing the worlds rendered in both games. Inaba, the town in which the game takes place, is covered in a red fog, and the Investigation Team members remark on how similar this feels, to being inside the Midnight Channel. But this relative peace ends quickly, with ads showing for a new “P-1 Climax” event, with footage of captured Shadow Operatives being mounted on crosses, a one-hour warning of the world’s impending doom, and a blackout. The P-1 Grand Prix has ended after the events of Arena, which was a tournament inside the parallel realm known as the Midnight Channel, and the Investigation Team is bonding during Golden Week. P4AU, which directly follows its predecessor Arena, takes place 3 months after the events of Persona 4.