Tartarus vs. Mementos: A Persona Dungeon Debate
- Author: Lee Murray, Alex Murray
- Apr 15, 2026
- 2 min read
Alex's mum and my wife. Sarah has clocked over 400 hours across the Persona series and considers Persona 5 Royal to be the greatest JRPG ever made. She will fight you on this.
The Dungeon Debate
We sat down for a quick chat about two very different approaches to dungeon crawling in the Persona series.
OK so here's my hot take — Tartarus in Persona 3 is underrated. People call it repetitive, but that grind is the whole point. It's supposed to feel like an endurance test. You're climbing a tower with no idea what's at the top.
I get the vibe they were going for, but after 50 floors of the same green corridors I was falling asleep. Persona 5's Palaces are actual places with actual themes. Kamoshida's castle, the bank, the space station — every one feels completely different.
Sure, the Palaces look incredible. But Mementos is basically Tartarus with a subway skin. And nobody talks about how tedious Mementos gets. At least Tartarus owns what it is from the start.
Fair point on Mementos — it's the weakest part of P5 for sure. But the Palaces make up for it. The puzzle design, the set pieces, the way the environment tells you something about the villain. Tartarus doesn't do any of that.
Can I just say — you're both wrong. The best dungeon in the entire series is Shido's Palace. A sinking cruise ship? The cognitive version of a corrupt politician's mind? That's peak Persona.
I'll give you that. If we could get Persona 3's atmosphere and tension with Persona 5's level design... that would be the perfect dungeon. Maybe Persona 6 will finally nail it.
Persona 6 needs to bring back Social Links properly. The Confidant system in P5 was good, but P3's felt more personal. Less transactional.
C:\RETRO_DELIGHTS> LOADING MESSAGE BOARD... CONNECTION ESTABLISHED — BOARD ACTIVE AWAITING PLAYER INPUT_
> FEATURED MESSAGES
Finally, someone who remembers renting games on a Friday night like it was a sacred ritual. Blockbuster aisle > any digital storefront. I will die on this hill.
This episode was legendary. The bit about the PS1 boot screen giving everyone chills? Absolute truth. That sound is burned into my brain forever.