A Golden Girls parody of Persona exists, and you can play it later this year

The Persona games being about the struggles and experiences of teenagers is cool and all, but what if the series cast four elderly women living in a Miami house share instead? That's the pressing question developers Joey Pagano and Chris Lindgren have set out to answer in their upcoming parody game The Golden Girls Take Manhattan DX.

"What started as a joke has quickly spiralled into a playground of ideas meant to explore just how much we can push our skills and retain our sanity with our own brand of humour," an introduction on Pagano's developer site reads. "Simply put, this is Persona 5's gameplay replaced with the context of The Golden Girls. There is no reason for why we used that coat of paint other than 'how far can we take this joke.'"

It looks like the project has been in the works for a few years, with the site touting a playable demo arriving in the summer… of 2021. It doesn't appear to have ever come out. But thanks to a trailer that went live over on The Golden Girls Take Manhattan DX Twitter page over the weekend, this is my first time (and I imagine many others) seeing just what the hell this is.

Pagano's website calls it a Persona 5 parody specifically, but there's an awful lot of Persona 3 and Persona 4 inspiration running through it too. Each girl has their classic side portrait icon, and the battle menus and overworld feel a lot closer to the old-school entries. There are some distinctly un-Persona things featured though, like Souls-style dodge rolling. I'm not sure why it's there, but I'm here for it.

It's a top-tier shitpost, one I can't wait to try out when it releases for free Holiday 2023.