After about two years of extra work, Persona 5 has finally been given a new release date. Developer Atlus announced the anticipated fall release of the game on May 5, during a live stream that began at the end of a two-week countdown that had been on its website.
Persona 5 will launch on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 in Japan on Sept. 15. Atlus didn't give a date or a window for a western release of the role-playing game, though the studio is planning to launch the game in the west at some point.
That release date is five days ahead of the 20th anniversary of the original Persona game, which came out on Sept. 20, 1996 on PlayStation. To commemorate that anniversary, Atlus is releasing a collector's edition of Persona 5.
The collector's edition, priced at 13,800 yen or about $128, includes an art book and a five-disc set of Persona soundtracks. It also includes DLC that contains clothes and accessories from Persona 3 and Persona 4.
Atlus also used the live stream to promote a new anime series titled Persona 5 the Animation: The Day Breakers. The series, a prequel, will air in Japan in September.
And to bring all of that together, Persona 5 also got a new trailer. The Japanese-language trailer offers a few glimpses at gameplay, but it primarily uses its 4:40 minute run time to offer details on Persona 5's narrative.
The narrative this time around drastically departs from the storytelling formula seen in both Persona 3 and Persona 4, director Katsura Hashino said last December. In Persona 5, five high school kids, with dreams of being vigilantes, set out to change their school and the city they live in.
"It's quite different from the previous games' protagonists who had no choice but to solve the mysteries they were confronted with," said Hashino in an interview with Game Informer. "We think that sense of agency is one of the charms of this title, and as developers, it's one of the aspects we're most excited to bring to you."
Check out the brand-new trailer for Persona 5:
