Atlus has been teasing a new edition of the wildly popular Japanese RPG Persona 5 and the cat is finally out of the bag. Persona 5 The Royal has been officially revealed and the team outlined new additions to game in a trailer.
Persona 5 The Royal will launch in Japan on October 31, with an English version coming sometime in 2020. The game looks like it will be an enhanced version of Persona 5, similar to how Persona 3 FES and Persona 4 Golden updated and expanded on their original titles. As far as the story goes, it will include the third semester of our hero’s lives, which was not told in Persona 5.
In the trailer, we see a new area to explore called Kichijoji, multiple new social links, a new aquarium, a bar where players can play darts or pool, and a fresh addition to the game’s Phantom Thieves. Read our original review of Persona 5 to get an idea of what the base experience is like while considering a future investment into Person 5 The Royal.
The new red-haired young woman sprinkled throughout the Persona 5 The Royal trailer is Kasumi Yoshizawa and the Japanese website describes her as a gymnast who “entered the Shichi Gakuen in the spring of the same year as the protagonist’s transfer (translated via Google Translate).” The new social link is part-time counselor Takuto Maruki and is the subject of the Le Consultant arcana. He’s been assigned to his position to speak with students “triggered by an incident of a certain teacher that happened in April at Syuden Academy.”
Kichijoji is a new space where various cultures will fuse into a space that attracts the young and old. There are also new recordings being added to the game, composed by Meguro Shoji, and the game will feature visual enhancements for those playing on the PS4 Pro. Newcomers or those that found Persona 5’s vast collection of activities overwhelming can take advantage of the new “Daily-Day Assist” command to get suggestions on what to do in the game’s world. We don’t know how deep this new function works, but it would be nice if it kept track of the player’s blossoming social links and helped to keep the momentum going or clue them in on other options that have become available at a given time.
