Eternights seeks to change up the action RPG genre by merging itself with dating sim mechanics to allow players more choices that change the course of the game. As many of the world’s humans are turned into monsters overnight, players need to meet and team up with 5-7 other characters with strange abilities in order to potentially find a cure for the monstrous population during the duration of the experimental indie game.
Developed by Studio Sai, Eternights made a name for itself with its trailer that showcases what fans can expect of the game's action and romantic moments in a dramatic fashion. One part of the footage shown was quickly circulated around the internet as it shows players being told to press a button to "hold hands" with the character they're dating, presumably to comfort her. As humorous as this scene can be, the romantic parts of Eternights have a chance to excel in an area where even fan-favorite RPG series Persona has fallen short as of late. Eternights allows players to date someone of the same sex.
Persona's Lack of LGBT Representation
Even though there have been five main Persona games and a few spin-off titles, only one of these games features anything resembling LGBT representation. Even then, it's strictly implied and nothing more. Players have been able to date their teacher, a drunk journalist, and other very questionable options throughout the series, yet the franchise has only allowed a same-sex relationship to happen once in Persona 2. This problem persists far beyond just romance, as Naoto Shirogane's storyline in Persona 4 deals with gender identity. After spending the entire game figuring out who she is, Naoto falls back into female gender norms in a way that almost seems to reject her being anything besides a cisgender girl.
How the plot around Naoto forces her to bend to social norms is a common trend Persona finds itself falling into when handling topics that could be read as gay or anything remotely LGBT-related with its main cast. While one Persona game featured an implied gay relationship, the more recent games have seemingly only increased in homophobia, as Persona 5 itself features a scene where a high schooler is harassed by homosexual men on the street. The long-lasting dodging and mistreatment of LGBT themes have left many players sad and disappointed. It also seems to be strictly a choice on Atlus' part, as its parent company Sega is very openly LGBT supportive, even in Japan.
Eternights’ Public Inspirations and Dating Simulator Mechanics
Studio Sai's has been rather public about what led it to create Eternights. While many of its official channels have since taken on a more professional-looking approach to promoting the game since the State of Play presentation it was formerly revealed in, some old posts on the official channels make it evidently clear what the story behind the title is. The lead developer began playing Persona 5 and loved it, and once they finished the game, they immediately began work on a game of their own inspired by it.
Even though Studio Sai doesn't hide how the game's development started, Eternights most definitely aims to change things up to set itself apart. Not only does it feature real-time hack and slash gameplay instead of turn-based gameplay, but it also is rather open about how it features dating sim mechanics as well. Among the girls the player can befriend and even romance is a boy named Yohan, who has been publicly revealed by Studio Sai to be the game's only bachelor. With how Eternights was inspired by Persona, P5 in particular, this almost feels like a deliberate inclusion in the face of how Persona 5 didn't have any men to date.
There's most definitely potential for this romance route to lead Eternights toward doing more for LGBT relationships than Persona has done in years. However, the hack-and-slash RPG has a release window of early 2023, and the relationship will most definitely need to be seen in full context before players can make judgments on how the two stack up.
While it may seem like an oversight on Studio Sai's part that there's only one man players can date, the cast of Eternights is rather small due to the post-apocalyptic plot it features. Even if the indie RPG doesn't hit the mark entirely with its LGBT representation, the fact that a Persona fan made their own game which at least tries to give players the option is a good statement as to what Persona is lacking. If Eternights' Yohan is received well by players, it may push Atlus to look into supporting the fans that it's neglected for the last several games.
Eternights will release in early 2023 for PC, PS4, and PS5.