Update: Persona 5 Royal’s North America release date is set to be announced in 12 days.
During today’s Persona Super Live P-Sound Street 2019 concert, Atlus dropped some new information about the upcoming Persona 5 The Royal. Get ready Persona fans, it’s a doozy.
First up is yet another teaser trailer that shows off the new content coming for the game and the Japanese release date. This appears to show off the new animated opening for P5R and it looks impressive and the music is what you’d expect from a Persona game.
There’s also a very short trailer showing off the NA release date as well.
Persona 5 The Royal will release in Japan first, on October 31st, 2019. Followed by a North America release sometime in 2020, the exact month isn’t known quite yet.
So what exactly is Persona 5 The Royal? In a nutshell, it’s a remake of the original title, but a bunch of new content being added. It’s very similar to what Atlus did with Catherine Full Body.
Included in P5R is a newly added third semester with new school events that will occur. This will start from the end of Persona 5 (January) and will continue up until March.
There’s also two new characters who are being added to the Phantom Thieves roster; Kasumi Yoshizawa and Takuto Maruki. Kasumi is a new female character who happens to be enrolled at the Shujin Academy at the same time as the main protagonist did. While Takuto happens to be a part-time counselor who makes his debut after a certain event that occurs in the original Persona 5 storyline.
Ah, the lovely and annoying twins, Caroline and Justine, also are able to finally leave the Velvet Room. I know many fans of Persona 5 had asked for this and Atlus has finally made it possible.
A new location, Kichijoji, will also make an appearance. With plenty of new things to check out and do. This is definitely a welcomed addition to the locations we’ve already had access to previously. Previous dungeons from Persona 5 will also be upgraded and will include much stronger enemies this time around. Somehow Morgana will have a human form, something else that fans have asked for.
P5R will also have several QOL improvements, which will be helpful when you’re looking at the stats and various menu options. There’s also a new auto-read option being included, so you can follow along and won’t be prompt to press a button to continue cutscenes (thank you!).
Persona 5 The Royal will also take advantage of the PlayStation 4 Pro and will be playable in 4K.
Sadly, there’s a bit of bad news as well. Persona 5 The Royal is a completely new game. Meaning it won’t be available as DLC for the base game. Atlus hasn’t mentioned if those who already own P5 will get a discount or not either. Though, I don’t expect to see that so don’t hold your breath. It’s also not coming to the PC, as many were hoping it would. I’m a bit upset to see that those who own the original game are being shafted as well. There better be a cheaper price for us when this gets released.
More information regarding the game will be available on May 9th, 2019.
