Persona 5 developer Atlus has decided to forego a premature release of the highly anticipated Japanese role-playing game. The delay has caused a small stir in the online community, with gamers expecting a release date announcement for 2015. Atlus has instead pushed the release date to Summer 2016 instead of a definitive, scheduled date. The cryptic Summer 2016 announcement from the game's fresh trailer is at least a recompense for the quiet surrounding release information on the game.
The North American version of the official Persona 5 website has yet to be updated, but the online community have been kind enough to help out with translating the official Persona 5 Japanese website. Gematsu gave an overview of the updated character description of the protagonists in Persona 5, and the Personas that they will be carrying. The reserved, well-mannered 16-year old transferee heads the group as the leader of the Phantom Thieves, who becomes a different person altogether when donning his phantom thief outfit. According to the character descriptions, his friends' Personas are awakened in response to certain events that transpire after the characters are introduced to one another.
The small group of thieves are 16-year old students that band together because of their indifference with other students in their school. While their Personas and their brief physical descriptions have been revealed, their skill, power, and abilities remain shrouded in mystery. For fans of the game, the popular Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu via DualShocker have released a whole gallery of screenshots of the game. Many of the online community have certainly been sad that the game will not be seeing a 2015 release or at least a definite release date, but remain patient and trust that developer Atlus will still deliver above and beyond expectation.
Excerpts of an interview pulled from the popular Famitsu magazine with Persona 5 Game Director Katsura Hashino have been helpfully translated by PersonaCentral. Hashino apologizes for the delay but have been carefully regulating quality and balance in order to deliver an exceptionally crafted game. Hashino also discussed the different aspects of the new trailer to the game, stating that the group of thieves become devoted to helping others after unexpected events pushed them to fight back and aid in reshaping the world. In addition to more detailed description of the new Persona 5 trailer, Hashino shared more descriptions of the different team members, the game's story, and the purpose of mini-games embedded in the game proper.
Persona 5 is an exclusive PlayStation release. The game is scheduled to arrive in the summer of 2016 for both PS3 and PS4 systems.
Join the Conversation