Atlus is rolling in the hype for Persona 5. With Final Fantasy XV out of the way and Dragon Quest XI unaccounted for in North America, it’s smooth sailing for the series to steal the limelight until its launch on April 4.
Meanwhile, the game has already been available for three months in Japan… jerks! Yes, myself included. So while the localization team is busy cranking away, Atlus has a new game it is working on that is related to neither the Persona or Shin Megami Tensei series. Yes, a brand new game from the director of Persona 5 will be announced shortly, and we have a single teaser image to speculate over.
Director Katsura Hashino discusses the new game on the teaser site.
It’s Neither “Persona” nor “Shin Megami Tensei.” A New Challenge.
Starting from Zero.
The Atlus RPG was born 25 years ago. At the time, stories in the so-called “fantasy” worlds were mainstream. The “Persona” series released as a spinoff of “Shin Megami Tensei” was launched as a “counter” to such a natural world view.
Both series have been developed with concepts that have always been in opposition to their times until now, including the latest games. So what could be the image of a new RPG tackled by ATLUS now in addition to continuing those series?
I think that it is to challenge the “normality” of the genre which has been consumed for decades. That challenge is about to begin right now. The moment of birth from zero. We would be pleased if you could stand-by us at the moment we launch our challenge from zero.
Judging by the images, it’s also a fantasy style JRPG, meaning it will be leaving the hip-hop of Persona and the hellspawn of Shin Megami Tensei behind for a much more classic setting. The full reveal is expected on Dec. 23.
The Persona team making original IPs has always worked out
The Persona and Shin Megami Tensei teams have broken away from their franchises before, and on the two occasions I can recall off the top of my head, both paid off. One was Catherine, the block pushing puzzle game that doubled as an “infidelity simulator,” if that makes any sense.
The other was an excellent JRPG for the Nintendo DS called Radiant Historia, a fantasy game that gives even Chrono Trigger a run for its money in how it deals with time travel.
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