October 31 in the east
During Atlus’Persona 5concert stream, the publisher gave us more juicy info onthe upcomingPersona 5re-release, and it’s surprisingly not just Japan-related. Okay so most of it is.
Atlus explained thatPersona 5 The Royalwill launch on October 31 in the region, and will sport an extra Phantom Thieves member: Kasumi Yoshizawa. Atlus promises more info in May, and Atlus USA confirmed that the western edition would arrive sometime in 2020.The Japanese landing pageclarifies (thanks Nibel!) that this version has 4K/Pro support, new songs, and new characters (in addition to the aforementioned Kasumi).
WhilePersona 5is a roughly 100 hour endeavor, nearly everyone I’ve interacted with would do it all over again (myself included!) with the original release, much less an enhancedRoyalone. The implications forRoyalare massive, as folks still play the re-releases of pastPersonagames years after the fact. I can see myself digging out my PS4 (or PS5, if the backward compatibility claims are accurate) 20 years from now to boot upPersona 5again. More SKUs means more copies in the wild and less chance of this fantastic game being lost to time.
Personais also arguably in the best shape its ever been. While thePersona 4 Goldenera was resplendent indeed,Joker’s appearance inSuper Smash Bros.is a huge win for Atlus, not to mentionThe Royalor any number of rumors swirling regarding Switch releases. I’ll never forget how scrappy this series was when my cousin showed me his copy of the original. Now it’s practically an institution.
