Persona 5 is coming to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 in North America in early 2017. At E3 2016 oprainfall was given a first look at ATLUS’ upcoming RPG. The game was recently revealed in Japan as the company took over the Tokyo Tower to deliver the official launch trailer. We were treated to a closer look at the game and were shown unreleased gameplay and details players can come to expect.
The scene opens with footage of the cat Morgana hanging out in the protagonist’s bag. This is where she will usually be as she comments on the various activities you participate in. She is usually hiding out of sight, since pets are not allowed at school.
The protagonist has a certain number of days to complete a mission before he is expelled. This countdown can be found in the top right corner of the screen and will be shown in red the closer it gets to zero. This wouldn’t be such a problem if there weren’t so many distractions around town. The player will be able to do lots of activities, including going to the batting cage (where ATLUS humbly wrote their name on the bat), attend a part-time job, or even go to the movies. Additionally, there aren’t any gun retailers in Japan, but the player will be able to purchase air soft guns as weapons. These activities, if done currently, give you the points to upgrade your skills. There are five skills: Knowledge, Guts, Charm, Kindness and Proficiency.
The dungeon we see explored is the Kamoshida Palace. The halls are crowded with shadows that the player will be able to sneak up on to cause starting damage to the enemies. Sneaking is fast and allows the player to hide behind desks and corners with the press of a button. Outside the palace are the twins from the Velvet Room, Caroline and Justine. We were not shown how big of a role they play, but it could be a way to swap out party members before entering the dungeon.
Players will come to puzzles in the dungeons that need to be solved to progress. You are given the option to solve them on your own or use a “Third Eye” that shows you clues, players can use this at their leisure with no real downside. Additionally, map pieces can be found in various spots that (we assume) if every piece is collected show the entirety of the dungeon.
An interesting scene was shown during a battle where the protagonist negotiated with the shadow to have it join the party. Also, you can activate a “baton pass” in battle, which gives the character’s turn to another party member.
The gameplay demo ends with a bath tub scene where the male characters bullied Ryuji Sakamoto and made the water too hot. In conclusion, the footage shown looked absolutely stunning. The enemies and environments were fully realized and given a special amount of detail to add that ATLUS charm to the series.
At this time, ATLUS does not have plans to release the footage shown.
Persona 5 is coming to PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 on February 14, 2017 in North America.
