After speculation earlier this year about whether we could be seeing Persona 5 come to the Nintendo Switch, it’s been officially revealed by the good folk at Atlus in their Persona 5 The Royal trailer that a brand-new RPG spinoff of their hit title will be coming to the PlayStation as an exclusive.
For the eagle-eyed fans who have been keeping track of all these Persona announcements from Atlus, the Persona 5 The Royal trailer is clearly a tie-in to the “Persona 5 R” hint that the studio made a big deal out of in 2018 when they released a landing page for the title. The two are apparently one and the same.
The official Atlus YouTube channel released the Persona 5 The Royal trailer to much aplomb, and also decided to give eager fans a little more information about this upcoming game. Aside from noting that they’ll be sharing more about the title at the Persona Super Live concert on April 24, the news from the trailer that has people the most excited is the fact that it appears to be alluding to the inclusion of a woman as the main character. Check out the trailer below:
The new protagonist is unnamed, but a translation from Gematsu of the Persona 5 The Royal trailer notes that she holds the original Persona 5’s Phantom Thieves in less than high regard. She says, “I think helping people is a wonderful thing, but if I had to say, I don’t like them. I don’t think the Phantom Thieves’ methods will make the world a better place or help anyone. In the end, I feel like you can only solve that yourself.” This appears to suggest to some extent that Persona 5 The Royal isn’t going to be a direct re-release of the original with playing as a woman being the only point of difference. It looks at this stage like the game might very well end up being a role-playing game in the same vein as the original Persona 5; it’s lacking the distinctive visual style of the Persona Q games and we’ve already seen the title featured in Dancing All Night, so an RPG is our best bet.
It’s likely no coincidence that the trailer frames her as being at odds with the protagonists of the original game, which could very well mean parallel or involved storylines, potentially with the Thieves painted in a villainous light. That could definitely be a unique take. Seeing as how there isn’t much information currently available outside of the fact that the protagonist is probably going to be a woman, we’re just going to have to wait and see what Atlus delivers to us.
More: Persona 5 Anime Special Coming In March; ‘New Projects’ Teased
Source: Atlus, Gematsu
