Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth

Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth is a crossover that combines characters from Persona 3 and Persona 4 with the combat system and dungeon-crawling structure of the Etrian Odyssey series. The player explores labyrinth-like environments shown from a first-person perspective, hand-draws the map on the 3DS's bottom screen, and assembles a party of up to five characters chosen from two different games that never met each other in their own stories. The characters are additionally paired up through a special bond called Sub-Persona, thanks to which they can also use their partner's abilities, adding another layer to party building.

Battles are turn-based and revolve around Personas, the magical entities characteristic of the series, with the depth of strategy coming from exploiting enemy weaknesses and chaining together the abilities of individual characters. Unlike the main Persona entries, there is no simulation of everyday life here - the game focuses purely on exploration and combat, bringing it closer to classic Etrian Odyssey with a flavor of a familiar universe. Visually it combines a cute super-deformed character style with a darker labyrinth atmosphere; the music was composed by Shoji Meguro, whose work is among the most recognizable in the entire Persona series, and here he also remixes themes from all three connected games.

The game was received very favorably on release, especially thanks to the interactions between characters from both games, which offer plenty of references and humorous situations for fans. Critics also praised how well the combination of two different game systems works, without either one feeling like a mere add-on to the other. Persona Q is still considered one of the best spin-offs in the Persona series and a showcase example of a well-thought-out crossover that works not just as fan service but as a fully-fledged RPG in its own right.