Most Replayable Atlus JRPGs, Ranked

Key Takeaways

• Atlus JRPGs offer high replayability due to multiple endings and complex mechanics, enticing players to explore diverse possibilities.
• Titles like Persona 3 Portable and Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 present branching storylines and new content for multiple playthroughs.
• Games like Etrian Odyssey 2 and Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne feature balanced difficulty, extensive customization, and additional content, ensuring engaging replay value.

Atlus is one of the most respected developers in the video game industry, releasing great JRPGs that are among the most recognized by fans due to their quality and iconic characters. Owner of some incredible franchises, the developer is also known for always striving to enhance the experience across games.

Although the developer’s games do not typically have many different endings in each new release, many of Atlus’s JRPGs still offer great replayability due to their mechanics and variety of possible builds. Thus, players can return to these stories without the experience becoming tedious, as there will always be something new to do.

9 Radiant Historia

A Time-Travel Adventure Worth Every Return

Radiant Historia is one of Atlus’s most captivating and unique JRPGs, featuring a time-travel system that gives players the freedom to explore and modify the unfolding narrative. This mechanic allows for choices that branch the story, adding multiple endings and offering new possibilities in each run, which encourages a constant return to the journey.

Moreover, the grid-based combat system adds excellent gameplay, allowing manipulation of enemy positions to maximize attack impact. This combination of dynamic storytelling and tactical combat makes Radiant Historia an engaging experience, ideal for those seeking a JRPG with high replayability and depth in each new game.

8 Persona 3 Portable

The PSP Version Features A Different Route

As the game that introduced several important mechanics to the Persona franchise, the third installment also received various remakes and updates, with Persona 3 Portable being the version with the most replay value. This is because it allows, in addition to the normal route with Makoto Yuki, playing as a female version of the protagonist.

Although many story elements remain the same, the new protagonist has access to a lot of new content, such as different Social Links with characters that the male version wouldn’t have access to. For those who enjoy these elements, Persona 3 Portable guarantees two runs for players.

7 Persona 5 Royal

One Of Atlus’s Largest JRPGs

Persona 5 is a milestone for Atlus’s JRPGs, introducing many players to the franchise’s universe and offering quite a bit of additional content to engage with. In addition to many characters to interact with through Social Links, it’s also possible to go out with them to different places, granting access to new dialogues and interactions.

Moreover, as is standard in modern entries of the series, the game features a Time Management system, so players who neglect planning may ultimately miss some of the available content. However, for fans of the series’ formula, this is just another reason to restart the journey and try to explore everything the game has to offer in a single run.

6 Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance

The New Version Added More Content

The original version of Shin Megami Tensei 5 presented good gameplay, but the story couldn’t keep up with the quality of the game’s other elements. Thanks to the updated version, Vengeance, Atlus managed to fix some problems, making it better. One improvement was the addition of a new route with a more well-developed plot.

Known as Canon of Vengeance, players are taken through some story twists that don’t exist in the original version, which became known as Canon of Creation. Additionally, the game as a whole features different endings, making Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance one of Atlus’s JRPGs with excellent replayability.

The Persona Formula Applied To A Medieval Fantasy Game

Despite being related to the concept of Persona, which features students in modern settings, Atlus managed to insert the mechanics of that franchise masterfully into Metaphor: ReFantazio, set in a medieval high fantasy world. The combination of these elements worked very well, delivering one of the best JRPGs of the franchise.

Besides the combat, this Atlus title has high replayability due to different factors that motivate players to experience it again, such as the well-constructed narrative throughout the game and the soundtrack, which fits perfectly with various moments. Metaphor: ReFantazio also features incredible artistic direction, contributing to its replay value.

4 Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2

A Visual Novel With A Branching Story

Shin Megami Tensei is one of the games with the most spin-offs among JRPGs, and some of them, like Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2, are perfect for players who love replayability. Although it deviates a bit from the franchise’s known formula, being more of a visual novel, the game has an excellent story.

Combined with well-developed characters, the game also has five endings that change according to certain factors, such as choices made throughout the journey. Moreover, unlike other Atlus games, these choices aren’t necessarily made near the end of the story, encouraging those who want to redo the story multiple times.

3 Etrian Odyssey 2

An Atlus JRPG With Extensive Map Exploration

• Platforms: Nintendo DS, Nintendo Switch, PC
• Original Release: February 21, 2008
• Developer: Atlus
• Genre(s): JRPG, Dungeon Crawler

Even though it’s not one of the developer’s most popular franchises among the broader public, Etrian Odyssey 2 is one of Atlus’s JRPGs with the highest replayability. The game features complex dungeon exploration mechanics and extensive character customization, allowing a great combination of classes and skills to create tactics, which is already an incentive for multiple playthroughs.

Another point that makes Etrian Odyssey 2 an excellent game is its balanced difficulty, varying from easier moments to truly challenging ones, without ever becoming repetitive. The game rewards players who explore the maps fully, offering a robust experience for those seeking an Atlus JRPG with lots of content.

2 Persona 4 Golden

A Story With A Lighter Tone And Consistent Gameplay

Although it’s an older entry in the Persona series, the fourth game brings together elements that make it one of Atlus’s JRPGs with the highest replayability, largely due to its engaging narrative. With a lighter tone compared to other modern entries, its story is so well-constructed (and cozy at times) that it’s worth experiencing more than once.

Persona 4 Golden also features well-developed characters and gameplay that follows the series’ known formula, with dungeon exploration and time management to perform all possible activities. Additionally, something unique in this JRPG is the presence of Social Links with two linked characters, requiring the player to choose one in each journey, adding more replayability.

1 Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne

One Of The Games With The Most Endings In The Series

Considered one of the best games in the franchise, Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne can also surprise players due to the amount of replayability it offers for an Atlus title. For those who managed to overcome the challenges of a first run, which can be quite difficult, the title still has a lot of additional content.

Modes like New Game Plus, which has adaptable difficulty (even if the main character becomes more powerful), contribute to this factor. The additional content also helps the game have greater replayability, since achieving some endings requires not only moral choices throughout the story but also completing side quests to achieve these objectives.