Persona 5 is the kind of game that if you push a button, you’ll make a young schoolgirl throw herself off a rooftop.

Not that the button prompt said “push” or anything like that, it’s just how dialogue boxes go in this narrative. It’s just how the story of this game works. It’s because Persona 5 is the kind of game that’ll tell you right away if you’re going to like it.

Not that you’ll be able to tell like you it – no, it’s telling you, “hey, this is what I am, are you OK with that?” Because this game opens its story with a suckerpunch square on your jaw and then starts to stomp uncomfortable idea after uncomfortable idea into your chest that other sorts of games, even other sorts of media, don’t really touch on.

This is modern day Japan where many adults are villains and most teenagers are the good guys. For the latter, it’s an act of rebellion for them to go against their elders, who have distorted hearts. And those acts of rebellion lead to the kids’ breaking point and the formation of a pact with a persona – essentially their rebellion made manifest.

And in this world, you’re playing the role of a character called Joker by his friends. As Joker, you’re trying to live a normal life as a teenaged high school student after his is thrown into disarray after trying to prevent what was probably an attempted rape.

You attend classes as Joker, make friends and talk with them through your cell phone and even take pop quizzes and tests. On top of that, you only have so much time in the day to do things and you can only hang out with so many of your confidants before you need to go to sleep to go to school the next day.

Persona 5 is the kind of game that balances its storytelling and everything else in a very strict way, where narrative and dialogue boxes might last for hours without a single battle encounter. Likewise, you might dungeoncrawl for just as long without much story being told your way. Instead, you’re on your way to fix the problem introduced in the story.

And it’s the first main problem introduced in this story that serves to not only set the stage for what’s going on and giving context for how things are working in this world, but it’s letting the players know to get ready for some stuff they’re probably not used to in this form of entertainment.

The first villain introduced is the PE teacher and volleyball coach at the academy that Joker attends. Oh dang, a story where a teacher is a villain told through the perspective of a teenage student? Better strap in, right?

It picks up very quickly.

Especially when you realize that he’s the same guy you saw drive up and offer one of your female classmates a ride. A fellow student quickly runs up after she gets into the car, saying something like “man, screw that pervy teacher.”

Now stick with me for a moment. Some adults in Persona 5’s world have distorted hearts, where how they view things in their own head projects itself into an alternate reality. Strong enough, those cognitions can become physical areas that can be entered, called Palaces, which is where the dungeoncrawling in the game takes place. And there, the distortions can be seen.

In the case for this “pervy teacher,” he’s walking around in a robe covered in hearts - imagine that classic heart boxers trope - and a pink speedo. That’s it. Oh, well, he has a crown too. And while traversing his Palace, which is set up as a medieval castle, you meet male slaves who are being whipped and beaten and tortured through various means, but they’re dressed as members of the volleyball team. And that fellow classmate you saw earlier get into his car? A version of her walks out and cozies up next to him, wearing a skimpy bikini, cat ears and a queen’s tiara.

That’s how this teacher views the school, as his castle that he’s the king of. That’s how he views his students. That’s how he views that girl.

-He'd nominate someone when he was in a bad mood and hit them.

That’s a direct quote from one of the victims. That same victim says that it’s pointless to tell the police or the principal or any parents because they all know. They don’t care though, because that teacher’s accomplishments, taking the volleyball team to the national competition, is worth it for them.

And though it’s never outright said, it’s heavily implied that this teacher is sexually abusing his female students – specifically that girl you saw get into his car – either through text messages encouraging negative behavior, verbally saying suggestive things to her and even inviting her over to his house. Students are spreading rumors about them, but it’s an open secret.

At one point, the teacher tells car-girl he’s kept her best friend at practice late because car-girl isn’t responding to him the way he wants her to. He threatens to take car-girl’s best friend’s starting position away, the one who just earlier told her that volleyball is all she has, if car-girl doesn’t do what he says.

It’s heavy stuff. Especially when you consider this is the opening to Persona 5.

While it’s not the first thing you see when you boot up the game, this is the inciting incident, literally the first three hours. Lots of other video games have you battling interstellar monsters or jumping on turtles or something like that. How often are you investigating allegations of a teacher physically and sexually abusing his students in them?

As you progress the story, more bruises show up on students and on the best friend of the girl who’s being manipulated. But it leads to the rooftop. And in my latest playthrough, at exactly three hours and 18 minutes, one of Joker’s classes is interrupted.

-Hey, what’s that?

-Wait, she’s going to jump!

And then she does.

It’s a really weird feeling pushing the button to advance the dialogue boxes in Persona 5, especially when they lead to outcomes like that. Directly controlling the pace of an interactive story dealing with that kind of subject material is hard to do and isn’t for everyone.

But it doesn’t feel shoehorned in. It isn’t just for shock factor, it’s the right path for the story to take in order to show us how terrible of a person this teacher is. And when you later confront him, he shows no sorrow, no remorse and instead decides that he’ll expel you for coming after him like you did. He even says that the girl who jumped was in a coma and won’t be able to make any statements to police like that.

And the last thing you heard her say when she was getting placed into the ambulance was:

-I’m sorry. I…can’t take this…anymore…

It’s amazing how real this game feels at making you feel like a powerless teenager in a world ran by corrupt adults. But fortunately, you do have power, through your persona and a few other plot points. And if you’re not invigorated as the player to go take down this teacher after all that by storming the castle, then something’s wrong.

There are several palaces in the game, and even though they are all really, really good, the first one is far and away the strongest due to the unique story material for a video game, its unwillingness to never slowdown in its presentation and the general feeling that you’re ultimately in control of where this story is leading.

The opening storyline of Persona 5 is a service to its players, immediately letting them know what kind of game they are getting themselves into. And if players like the beginning and can handle those sorts of ideas being thrown at them, they’ll likely enjoy the rest of the game since it continues to pull no punches. But if the opening is a little much, it’s perfectly fine to set it down and decide “hm, this isn’t for me. I think I’d rather shoot space aliens.”

But putting the player in the driver’s seat of an objectively reprehensible, modern and realistic story arc is a very interesting idea. Movies and TV shows and books tell stories like this, yeah, but Persona 5 makes you feel it. And that’s because of its interactivity. That’s the reason why video games are even capable of telling such compelling stories.

In video games, especially in Persona 5, you’re involved in everything. You’re in direct control of the pace and flow of the narrative. You choose where the story goes next. You decide to advance the dialogue.

And you push the button that makes the girl jump.