Preview: Varlet Reminds Me of Persona 4

A young man heads to live with his cousin and uncle following an incident with his family. Once at this new school, he befriends a short-haired young woman who wears a green jacket over her school uniform and a young man with fashionable hair and an orange color scheme. He gets involved with a group that reaches out and helps others, even developing the ability to go into another realm to rescue people. While this may sounds like Persona 4, I’m actually describing the opening hours of the new FuRyu JRPG Varlet. It’s the latest take on a school-based adventure from a developer known for similar sorts of experiences like The Caligula Effect and Monark. 

After his mother is hospitalized, a young man heads to Meifu City to live with his cousin Yuri and perpetually absent uncle who is a doctor. He’s immediately enrolled in Kousei Academy, one of many places on the city’s cross-reality Johari augmented reality network. He’s also befriended by Noa (the Chie) and Sota (the Yosuke), two students in his class. While the two take him on a school tour, he learns the Student Support Services Kousei Johari guild (Investigation Team) Yuri is acting president of needs new members to continue aiding students. He joins and, shortly after, finds himself experiencing strange dreams in which a classmate named Aruka (the Yukiko) is under attack and an unknown figure helps him stage a “Revolution” to gain the power to fight back against the Desires (Shadows) born from people that reside in the Glitch realm (Midnight Channel). 

As you can tell from my adding the references above, Varlet started reminding me of Persona 4 almost immediately. So much so that when Aruka is trapped in a Glitch in the dungeon that kicks off the team’s new goal and awakening of Noa and Sota’s abilities, we’re alerted to her being stuck there due to a stream showing her trapped in a labyrinth resembling an online game popular with Kousei students. The three go in, there are hints there’s a larger “big bad” that is behind that immediate situation, and it’s flat out stating someone tossed her in there. Add in the decision that Furyu breaks up the day by time periods, mixes in story segments from during school, has SSS activities involving interacting in the courtyards in the area of the school, and there are character episodes unlocked by spending time heading home with your fellow SSS members, and it certainly mimics a bit of the same flow.

While I was a little concerned after things in Varlet kept coming up that reminded me of Persona 4, some gameplay decisions helped set it apart in ways I appreciated. One is that the game begins with a quiz that assigns initial Triad Stats to a player based on how they respond to 13 questions. By the end of that, I had a 15 in Sympathy, 9 in Machiavellian, 6s in Altruism, Morality, and Psychopathy, and 3 in Narcissism. As I started to get into the adventure, I noticed that the high ranks in Sympathy and Machiavellian meant I had two additional possible responses to Yuri when she asked me to join the SSS guild and become its new president. By taking on brief Triad Judgments when engaging in SSS activities after school, I was able to boost those stats. For example, I got a point in Morality for choosing to take a lost cell phone to the SSS room. When I got into a Glitch, I saw that high score in Sympathy meant my healing power increased.

As for an actual battle, it’s a turn-based system. You choose between normal attacks, guarding, and special abilities. When you select an action, you’ll see when it triggers on the timeline, with some able to break or stun enemies and others capable of exploiting that. So Sota’s Air Spinner will break a guarding enemy. Admittedly, the Varlet Blitz Mode does remind me a little of the Persona 4 All-Out Attack. However, it’s more interactive than that. It comes after breaking down an enemy’s Stun Gauge, then using specific inputs to deal major damage. 

I’m curious to see where Varlet will go next, as it feels like where I left off in the preview is where the game will start to really branch out and do more to define itself so it feels less like it’s taking cues from similar school-life JRPGs like Persona 4. The Triad and battle systems seem like they could be the title’s strongest aspects, especially since they set it apart from similar sorts of games. Given this will also be one in which our choices can define things, I’m hoping to really see my choices matter as well.

Varlet will come to the Switch, PS5, and PC on August 28, 2025.