Note: Light spoilers for Persona 5 follow.

You should know exactly how you feel about Persona 5‘s style and tone within the first 10 minutes. I certainly did—although it has taken me well over 100 hours to see all the incredible and consistent ways developer Atlus’ high-school heist RPG bends, breaks, and leans into its look, feel, and message.

Persona 5 took basically no time at all to knock me against the wild and woolly world of “shadows”—supernatural monsters born from the human psyche—in a frenetic opening scene set atop chandeliers hanging above a casino. Seemingly human guards hot on the protagonist’s trail suddenly melted and morphed into mythical monsters. Just as the first creature showed its true form, the game’s open environment smoothly twisted into turn-based combat. I took a while to realize the game even changes scenery when flipping into fights; the transitions are just that seamless.

Persona 5 has a much quicker, more gripping introduction than 2008’s (also excellent) Persona 4. That game demanded players spend a good hour or more drifting through rural life before seriously hinting at the series’ hybrid nature as part dating simulator, part dungeon crawler.