The Golden Girls Take Manhattan DX is a fan game based on the classic TV sitcom, with the art, gameplay, and design drawing from Atlus' hit Persona series. The Golden Girls was an American sitcom that aired in between 1985 and 1992, across seven seasons. It had an all-star cast of actors, starring Betty White, Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty, who all were veteran comedy actors from a variety of sitcoms. Despite it ending almost 31 years ago, fans still have found memories of this show. It's likely the last thing many fans would think to create an RPG fan game of.
The Golden Girls Take Manhattan DX parodies the RPG genre in its storytelling, though plays its combat and other mechanics completely straight. This fan game started development around five years ago, by software developer Mechazawa on Twitter. He had created pre-alpha builds for this game that were playable, but still in a rough state. As the years went on, this Persona-inspired fan game looked more and more polished, complete with an overhaul to its visuals that gave each character an anime-esque artstyle. The first trailer for this fan game went up recently, revealing a release window as well.
The Golden Girls fan game will feature all four classic characters, Rose, Blanche, Sophia, and Dorothy in the playable party, in an adventure that sees them exploring the supernatural side of Miami, Florida. The Persona inspirations are very obvious in its design, where combat skills like Bufula, Tempest Slash, and more are taken from Atlus' games, while the UI is modeled after Persona 4's. The characters also speak to each other using the anime styled portraits, similar to the series' visual novel inspirations, along with shadows being the primary enemy throughout the game.
Alongside this are other series staple mechanics, such as Persona's calendar system, explorable overworld, and even Personas for each of the Golden Girls, such as Lucy. This overworld even features various areas of Miami, including an arcade that is ripped straight from the nineties. The trailer even shows off a tomb that the girls will be exploring, where Sophia can perform a roll, likely to avoid enemy shadows. The end of the trailer then states it will release in the 2023 holiday season absolutely free.
Fans who had been following this project expressed their excitement. Others joked that this game was the fabled Persona 6 that fans had been endlessly speculating about. This fan game should be an interesting playthrough for fans of the show, especially in memory of each cast member from The Golden Girls.
The Golden Girls Take Manhattan DX will be releasing Holiday 2023 for free on PC/Mac.