Persona 5

Persona 5 is the sixth game in the Persona series. It is a role-playing game developed by Atlus' P-Studio.

Persona 5 is a fantasy based on reality which follows a group of troubled high school students: the protagonist and a collection of compatriots he meets. These disturbed and troubled teenagers gradually realize that they are living in a toxic and dangerous world resembling a prison full of slavery, oppression and injustice, ruled by corrupted and twisted adults. They can't live with the system and can't live without it, and simply existing means they are at risk of being doomed and condemned to a life of slavery.

In order to seek freedom, liberation and justice, they live dual lives as rebellious Phantom Thieves of Hearts. Using a mysterious smartphone app, they undertake fantastical adventures by using otherworldly powers to enter the hearts of people (specifically, corrupt adults in positions of power) in order to re-shape and transform them. The Phantom Thieves realize that society forces people to wear masks to protect their inner vulnerabilities, and by literally ripping off their protective mask to unleash their Personas and confronting their inner selves do the heroes awaken their inner power, and using it to help those in need. Ultimately, the group of Phantom Thieves seeks to change their day-to-day world to match their perception, end slavery and see through the masks modern society wears.

Plot


The story focuses on the 16-year-old protagonist after he is transferred to Shujin Academy in Tokyo, Japan.

In the prologue, the protagonist is seen confronting a man harassing a woman, and subsequently being detained by the police because of the injuries he inflicts on that man. The protagonist is then sentenced to probation and is sent to Tokyo to attend Shujin.

He is currently staying with Sojiro Sakura, his parents' friend, at a coffee shop called Cafe Leblanc. At Shujin, the protagonist meets problem student Ryuji Sakamoto and his classmate Ann Takamaki. The protagonist also meets a talking, shape-shifting cat-like creature known as Morgana, who accompanies him everywhere he goes. The protagonist also finds a place called the Velvet Room, where he is also on probation by Igor, Caroline and Justine.



During the protagonist's time there, he, Morgana, Ryuji, and Ann awaken to their Personas and form the "Phantom Thieves of Hearts". Feeling suppressed by their environment, the thieves work together to plan illegal heists and explore The Palace, which represents the distorted, corrupted minds of adults, and the goal of the heroes is to steal hidden "treasure" from the world in order to reform their targets. The Palace is full of hideous monsters called Shadows, which are born, manifested and thrive from the darkness in humanity's hearts.



Their first target is a corrupt teacher, Suguru Kamoshida, who is the volleyball coach at Shujin Academy. He sexually assaulted a student, Shiho Suzui, who attempts suicide. Ann is motivated to exact revenge on Kamoshida. Eventually, they are able to reform his heart after infiltrating Kamoshida's Palace before they are expelled by Kamoshida.

Later, more Persona users join the Phantom Thieves to face more targets.

Art student Yusuke Kitagawa faces Ichiryusai Madarame, a painter who plagiarizes his work. They enter Madarame's Palace.

Student council president Makoto Niijima faces Junya Kaneshiro, a greedy mafia boss obsessed with money and hoarding wealth. They enter Kaneshiro's Palace.

Shut-in Futaba Sakura faces Wakaba Isshiki, her mother who was claimed to be deceased from what appeared to be a traffic accident. They enter Futaba's Palace.

Rich girl Haru Okumura faces her own father Kunikazu Okumura and fiance Sugimura. They enter Okumura's Palace.

As their numbers and successes grow, they attract the attention of public and police including public prosecutor Sae Niijima, Makoto's sister.

Eventually, the Phantom Thieves connect the dots and realize that their targets are conspirators involved in a secret massive conspiracy in order to enslave humanity, manipulating events behind the scenes. Many are involved in the Japanese government and are political figures. The Conspiracy is a group of corrupt and evil adults that secretly controls Tokyo. Anyone who opposes the conspiracy is hunted down to be assassinated, and the Phantom Thieves become a target themselves. The conspiracy is directly connected to some of the Phantom Thieves' reasons for joining.



Haru's father tries to reveal this group's leader after he is reformed, but an assassin kills him. In their pursuit of the conspiracy, the group is joined by Goro Akechi, and goes on a mission into Niijima's Palace when she discovers their identities.

Following her defeat, the group is forced to split up when they are confronted by police, and the protagonist is arrested. Akechi is subsequently revealed to be a traitor working for the conspiracy. The protagonist hatches a scheme to use the reality within Sae's still-intact Palace to save himself when Akechi attempts to kill him in a staged suicide. Failure to complete any Palace prior to this point results in Akechi killing the protagonist.



Escaping into hiding with Sae's help, the protagonist convenes with his friends, Sae, and Sojiro; they determine that the conspiracy's leader is Shido, who has been using Akechi's ability to infiltrate the Metaverse to remove obstacles to becoming Prime Minister and imposing his reforms on Japan.

The group infiltrates Shido's Palace, and there they face Akechi, revealed to be Shido's illegitimate son bent on revenge towards Shido for his years of neglect. Once defeated, Akechi sacrifices himself to allow the Phantom Thieves to reach Shido. Shido is defeated, and in the real world confesses to all his actions.



The game then skips forward to December 24th; the general public has turned on the Phantom Thieves, and Sae's efforts to prosecute Shido are failing. The Phantom Thieves make a final heist to seal the Treasure of the Mementos, the people's Palace at the Metaverse's core. Inside they find the imprisoned Shadows of their targets and other Tokyo residents, who have chosen to give up making their own decisions. The Phantom Thieves are then ejected from Mementos by the Treasure—a giant Holy Grail—and subsequently vanish after witnessing the Metaverse merging with reality.

Waking in the Velvet Room, the protagonist confronts Igor, Caroline and Justine. He persuades Caroline and Justine to merge, revealing their true form: Lavenza. Lavenza reveals "Igor" to be an imposter who is one and the same as the Holy Grail. His true name is Yaldabaoth and he was generated by humanity's wish for control and guidance through life. He granted the protagonist and Akechi their abilities to see whether the world would be preserved or be destroyed through their actions, all while steering events in its favor. The true Igor, who believed in humanity and was imprisoned by Yaldabaoth, created Morgana to help the protagonist. Yaldabaoth offers to restore the world if the protagonist continues in his role: if he accepts, the protagonist is returned to the world to continue his activities at the cost of his friends.

By refusing the offer, the protagonist reunites with the other Phantom Thieves and they face Yaldabaoth. Their allies rally the popular support of the people, severing Yaldabaoth's control of humanity and allowing the protagonist to awaken Satanael—a Persona manifested from humanity's wish for freedom—to destroy Yaldabaoth and the Metaverse.



While the protagonist must turn himself in so Shido can be prosecuted, his friends and associates successfully help secure evidence of the protagonist's innocence in the assault charge, leading to his conviction being overturned. The game ends with the protagonist beginning his journey home alongside his friends.

Themes
While the focus and main theme of Persona 3 is death and the focus of Persona 4 is identity and seeking truth, the main theme of Persona 5 is freedom, and breaking free from slavery to corrupted adults from the school, prestige class, gang, corporation, government and politics. Persona 5 discusses the hardships of modern-day 21st century society and features characters that are restrained by the rules set by this society, especially in Japan where the game is set. This freedom is meant to liberate those who "are bored and discontent with their lives".



Persona 5 was made to be an emotional experience that stirs up its audience and finally lets them go with a strong sense of catharsis.

Persona 5 contains some Judeo-Christian symbolism. The bosses are loosely themed after the Seven Deadly Sins, a boss called the Holy Grail appears, many enemies are based on Abrahamic figures, the song Rivers in the Desert is likely an Isaiah reference, etc. The player is also forced to defeat the four Christian archangels Uriel, Raphael, Gabriel and Michael.

Playable Characters

 * Protagonist: The player character and also a delinquent moonlighting as a gentleman thief. He wears a bird mask and uses knives and handguns in combat. His Persona is Arsene, after the literary gentleman thief of the same name.
 * Ryuji Sakamoto: A boy who attends the protagonist's school and joins him in his heists. He wears a skull mask and wields bludgeons and shotguns as weapons. His Persona is Captain Kidd, after the notorious privateer-turned-pirate.
 * Ann Takamaki: A girl in the protagonist's homeroom who joins him in his heists. She wears a panther mask and uses whips and sub-machine guns. Her Persona is Carmen, after the heroine of the novella of the same name.
 * Morgana: A shape-shifting cat-like creature that meets the protagonist at the start of the game and joins him in his heists; he has some sort of connection to the Seven Deadly Sins and will play a key role in the story. He wields curved swords and slingshots. His Persona is Zorro, after the literary outlaw.
 * Yusuke Kitagawa: An eccentric art student from a neighboring school. He wears a fox mask and uses katanas and assault rifles. His Persona is Goemon, after the legendary Japanese bandit.
 * Makoto Niijima: The student council president, a girl with a strong sense of justice. She wears an iron mask and uses knuckles and revolvers. Her Persona is Johanna, after the legendary Medieval female Pope.
 * Futaba Sakura: A shut-in bespectacled girl with orange hair who is the dungeon navigator. She wears VR goggles and participates in battle through her Persona Necronomicon, named after a mystical book from H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.
 * Haru Okumura: A third-year student and daughter of a major food manufacturer, she is refined but has seen little of life. She wears a domino mask and fights using axes and grenade launchers. Her Persona is Milady, after the antagonist Milady DeWinter from The Three Musketeers.
 * Goro Akechi: A third-year student and a renowned detective investigating the Phanthom Thieves case. He wears a red long-beak mask and fights using laser sabers and ray guns. His Persona is Robin Hood, after the legendary outlaw of Medieval English folklore.

Supporting Characters

 * Igor: The man who operates the Velvet Room.
 * Caroline and Justine: Two young assistants to Igor in the Velvet Room. They both wear an eyepatch over one of their eyes and a blue prison guard outfit. One has a long braid, the other has hair buns.
 * Sojiro Sakura: Owner of a coffee shop Cafe Leblanc and a friend of the protagonist's parents' who looks after him while he is in Tokyo.
 * Sae Niijima: Makoto's older sister and a Public Prosecutor responsible for the Phantom Thieves of Hearts' case.

Antagonists

 * Masayoshi Shido: A powerful politician who aims to become the next Prime Minister of Japan. The protagonist has a feeling that he has met him somewhere before the events of the game.

Daily life


Like Persona 3 and Persona 4, the story takes place over the course of a year and the player must balance high school life and saving the world.

The protagonist lives in the attic of Cafe Leblanc. The player can explore various locations in the Greater Tokyo Area and travel using the subway system. The player can take part-time jobs, play video games, go out with friends, go to restaurants, study, go to the movies, play baseball, go to the bathhouse, fishing, exercise in your own home or go to the gym, make equipment for use in battle, messages, watch TV, go to the clinic. These certain activities can increase the player's stat performance such as their Max HP and SP. There are also a variety of minigames.



Using the P. A. D., the SNS system allows the player to chat with other characters using phone text messages, helping the player to learn more about the personalities and background of other characters.

The Confidant system is similar to the Social Links of Persona 3 and Persona 4 and involves building relationships with helpers around the city for various benefits in the Palace as well as battle.

Difficulty
During the prologue, the player can select the difficulty from "Safety", "Easy", "Normal" and "Hard". Except for Safety difficulty, the rest can be changed at any time similar to Persona 4 Golden. An additional "Merciless" difficulty above Hard is available as free DLC. The difficulty statistics are:


 * Safety: Damage received: x0.5 - Damage dealt: x2.0 - Experience: x3.0 - Money: x5.0
 * Easy: Damage received: x0.5 - Damage dealt: x1.0 - Experience: x1.0 - Money: x1.0
 * Normal: Damage received: x1.0 - Damage dealt: x1.0 - Experience: x1.0 - Money: x1.0
 * Hard: Damage received: x1.6 - Damage dealt: x0.8 - Experience: x1.0 - Money: x1.0
 * Merciless: Damage received: x1.6 - Damage dealt: x0.8 - Experience: x0.4 - Money: x0.4
 * Critical and technical hit damage on both enemies and allies is tripled

Dungeons
The Palace of every arc of the main story line has a certain deadline to complete like Persona 4. Failure to complete the Palace before the deadline will result in a "false ending" Game Over scene. Unlike Persona 3 and 4, it is impossible to explore past dungeons so it is imperative to explore dungeons as much as possible.

One of the major complaints about previous Persona dungeons is that they were boring and felt like a series of unending similar barren hallways with the occasional treasure chest or Shadow. Persona 5 was designed with this criticism in mind; all Palaces except Mementos are not randomly generated, they feature unique elements of platforming (jumping up and down ledges), puzzles, stealth and traps.

A side quest dungeon called Mementos is where the player can traverse by driving a vehicle transformed from Morgana where they can collect treasures, obtain Personas which are present in the previously collapsed Palaces and steal the hearts of the targets submitted to the Phantom Aficionado Website (Phan-site).

Battle can be initiated when the player is in stealth mode and ambushes the enemy by surprise which gives preemptive turn. If the player fails in stealth, the security level will increase. A spotlight will follow the player which causes the enemies to pursue the player persistently. After the victory in a battle, the spotlight will stop chasing the player. If the player successfully performs another ambush attack, security level will drop slightly. When security level reaches 100%, the player is forced to leave the dungeon. The next time the player enters the same dungeon again the security level will drop by a portion.

Combat


The player engages in strategic turn-based combat with demons called Shadows using both melee and ranged weapons, instead of only one type of weapon. The players will use their Personas in battle to combat the bosses and Shadows. The general aim is to find the enemy's weakness and exploit it in order to knock them down.

Like Persona 3 and 4, if the protagonist dies in battle, the game will end. However, you are now able to restart from the last battle that was lost. Protecting the protagonist is an important priority.



When the player has knocked down the enemy, a new feature called "Baton Pass" appears where the player can pass the "1 More" turn to another combatant to boost up their stats during that turn.

When all remaining enemies are knocked down, this will result in a "Hold Up". The player can choose to initiate a Negotiation or All-Out Attack:


 * Negotiation: The game brings back the old way of interacting with the enemy: Negotiation for obtaining Persona, money and item, a feature returning from absence since Persona 2, in vein with the Shin Megami Tensei games. Tips on negotiation are here.


 * All-Out Attack: The party members all attack at once for massive damage. If all enemies are defeated in that All-Out Attack, the game will play a finishing touch sequence featuring the party member who has knocked down the last enemy.



Unlike traditional RPG where the player has to go though layers of menus in order to give a command in battle, Persona 5 features an improved UI which offers shortcuts to major commands like melee attack, gun attack, Persona skills, items, guard and tactical order. Instead of navigating a wheel in Persona 3 or a vertical list in Persona 4, choices are now a button press away, allowing for fast-paced action. The player can now switch party members inside the dungeons. On the other hand, switching party members in battle requires specific Confidant abilities.

Online features
The Phantom Thieves Alliance allows online players to share and receive information about what kind of activities they take. A graph shows the percentage of all online players venturing the Palace, improving social performance or participating in Confidant events. It is also particularly useful to rely on this during test answers and Confidant questions, as certain choices provide more benefits.

In Japan


Persona 5 was released for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in Japan for 8,800 yen on September 15, 2016.

A 13,800 yen 20th Anniversary Edition includes the following additional content:
 * Persona 5 art book
 * Persona 20th Anniversary All Time Best Album (five CDs)
 * Disc 1: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona
 * Disc 2: Persona 2: Innocent Sin / Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
 * Disc 3: Persona 3 (FES)
 * Disc 4: Persona 4 (The Golden)
 * Disc 5: Persona 5


 * Special Collaboration DLC Set #1: “Orpheus Picaro” and “Izanagi Picaro”
 * Special Collaboration DLC Set #2: Persona 3 “Gekkoukan High School Uniform” costumes and Persona 3 battle BGM set
 * Special Collaboration DLC Set #3: Persona 4 “Yasogami High School Uniform” costumes and Persona 4 battle BGM set
 * Special Custom Theme
 * Special Persona 5 Art treasure box

Persona 5 (standard version) is bundled with PlayStation 4 Slim (1 TB) in a limited package as Sony announces the Slim models of PS4 in September 2016. The package was sold for 39,980 yen on the day of the game's initial release, which is 5,000 yen more than buying the console alone but saves 3,800 yen than buying the standard version of the game and the console separately.

In North America and Europe
Persona 5 launched for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in both North America and Europe on April 4th, 2017. Apart from the base game, there are two special editions for both North America and Europe.

Take Your Heart Premium Edition


Exclusive to the PlayStation 4 version of the game, the "Take Your Heart" edition, also known as the premium version with the most content, will include:


 * "Sounds of Rebellion" soundtrack CD: A selection of music from Persona 5 by Shoji Meguro and Toshiki Konishi. The music is exactly the same as the Persona 5 disc that came with the Japanese release, except the 20th track seems to be absent.
 * 4” Morgana plush: Morgana the Phantom Thieves’ cat is not just the mascot of the Phantom Thieves, but also a member – and also not just a cat! The premium edition includes an exclusive 4” plush of Morgana.
 * "Persona 5 Art Book The Aesthetics": This 64-page hardcover art book is full of concept sketches, character art, and more by character designer Shigenori Soejima.
 * SteelBook: As strong as a vault, the game disc for the PS4 will come specially packaged in a SteelBook collectible case featuring this art.
 * School bag: Designed after the traditional school bags in Japan, the exclusive replica bag comes complete with the Shujin Academy crest.

SteelBook Launch Edition


Exclusive to the PlayStation 4 version of the game, Atlus released Persona 5 in a special SteelBook Launch Edition. All pre-orders and a very limited number of launch copies came in an official, collectible SteelBook case, adorned with Persona 5 art identical to the one in the “Take Your Heart” Premium Edition.



The SteelBook edition (both "Take Your Heart Premium Edition" and standalone) comes with a unique feature that reflects a central theme in the game's plot. It is needed to take a picture of the case with the flash on. Shadows are the manifestation of mostly negative human emotions and serve as the primary enemies in some of the installments. Strong-willed shadows usually attract their lesser kind, which make them into more powerful creatures. Similarly, most of the cast have their own inner shadows, which represent their "true selves" which they often hide from society.

Downloadable Content
There is a variety of DLC such as Personas, costumes, battle music, etc. The English-language releases will include some free DLC, such as Japanese voice acting, merciless difficulty, costumes, etc.

For North American DLC information, see here.

For European DLC information, see here. For Japanese DLC information, see here.

Development
The game was first mentioned to be under development in August 2011 in an interview with Katsura Hashino, the producer of the Persona series. Hashino confirmed that the basic preparations for the development were finished and announced the return of Shigenori Soejima and Shoji Meguro as character designer and music composer, respectively. Both Soejima and Meguro previously worked together with Hashino on Persona 3, Persona 4 and Catherine. Hashino's original concept was about "backpacking and flying all over the world", but after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami occurred, he wanted a closer focus on Japan.

Unlike Catherine, which used the Gamebryo engine, Persona 5 uses an in-house custom-made engine. Before it was decided that the game would be released exclusively for the PlayStation 3, it was also discussed internally to move the series to mobile gaming devices like the PlayStation Vita or smartphones. Eventually, Hashino and his team chose the PlayStation 3 as they felt that fans would love to see another game for home consoles.

Persona 5 was officially revealed on November 24, 2013 following a 72-hour countdown that eventually resulted in a series of announcements that included Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth and Persona 4: Dancing All Night. A Persona 5 website domain was previously registered on June 25th, 2013 by Index Corporation, the former parent company of Atlus. An American release was confirmed on February 25, 2014 with an originally estimated release in 2015. A PlayStation 4 version of the game was announced on September 1, 2014 during Sony's Tokyo Game Show conference with a new trailer that gave a first look on the setting and the game's protagonist. A bonus Blu-Ray containing a variety of Persona 5 related content was released as preorder bonus for the Japanese version of Persona 4: Dancing All Night on June 25, 2015, which also included the second trailer for the game.

On September 17, 2015 a third trailer for Persona 5 was shown as part of the company's Tokyo Game Show 2015 broadcast which revealed that the release date would be postponed to Summer 2016. According to Katsura Hashino, this decision was made so that game could become the biggest out of all the games he has directed so far.

Initially the oversea versions were scheduled for February 14, 2017. In the beginning of the official live stream of the English version demo on November 16, 2016, Atlus announced that because they wanted to set a new height of localization standard, the release date was pushed back to April 4, 2017. Atlus USA explained that extra time was required for revision of the script as well as recording some voices again. The fact that Atlus Japan only handed over the complete script for Atlus USA to begin localization also contributed to the delay. In compensation for the delay, the game had been reprogramed to support dual audio option and the Japanese voice set is available as free downloadable content permanently. This is the first ever entry in the entire Megami Tensei series to support dual audio.

Related Media
An anime about half an hour long, titled Persona 5 The Animation The Day Breakers, was released on September 3rd, 2016.

A manga is currently in production.

Atlus has registered the domains "p5d.jp," "p5u.jp," "p5r.jp" and "p5ag.jp," with no elaboration about the content of the domains at this time.

Collaborations with other games

 *  (multiplayer action game by Capcom) includes character skins of Joker and Panther.
 *  (multiplayer action game by Sega) includes attires and character animations of the protagonist/Joker, Ann, Makoto and Futaba, pet Arsene and posters of Persona 5.
 *  (card game on arcade machine by Square-Enix) includes cards of Joker, Panther, Fox, Caroline and Justine.
 *  (mobile/handheld RPG by Sega)

Trailers
Teaser= Teaser= PV1= PV2= PV3= PV4= PV4 (sub)= PV5= PV6=|-| TGS Interview= Staff Interview=

Gameplay
Persona summons= Fishing minigame= Public bath= Bathing Suit DLC= Prologue= Preview=|-|

Trivia

 * The gameplay, story and overall presentation were well received from critics, and has been remarked as one of the best recieved games of all time.
 * Famitsu gave it 39/40 (10/10/9/10), making this the highest rated Persona game to date.
 * It has a 94 on Metacritic.
 * IGN gave a 9.7, calling it a "new gold standard" and by "the best entry in the JRG's in the series" in the past decade.
 * Polygon gave it a 9, saying it "Pushes new heights of polish, allure and charm".
 * Game Informer gave a 9.25 saying "Persona 5 carries an immerse sense of satisfaction" when it comes to its great set of characters and gameplay.
 * Gamespot gave it a 9 as "a refined, effortlessly stylish RPG" known for their "overwhelming level of artistry" presented in the game.
 * Unlike previous Persona titles, which were set in fictional locations, Persona 5 takes place in Tokyo, primarily in the Shibuya ward. A lot of the locales in Persona 5 are heavily based on real life Tokyo.
 * Because of this, Atlus had to ask Persona fans to stop bothering and inconveniencing the locals and trepassing.
 * The dates shown in gameplay footage line up correctly with the 2016 calendar; however, the calendar in the game displays the year as 20XX, leaving the exact year ambiguous.
 * According to Hashino, Persona 5 will have the most content out of any of the games he has directed. During an interview with Hashino, Persona 5 is said to have more hours of gameplay than the previous Persona titles to keep long-time fans and newcomers interested. According to Famitsu reviews, the game offers 80 hours of gameplay.
 * The box art of Persona 5 has a similar style to Persona 4's, in that the main cast is featured surrounding the protagonist, who stands at the front of the group, with the game's setting and the protagonist's Persona in the background.
 * Persona 5 includes Nuclear and Psy elemental skills, along with the Kouha and Eiha lines of Light/Dark skills, which have not been seen in the franchise since the Persona 2 duology, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner, and the original Megami Ibunroku Persona, respectively.
 * The Arcana written on the tarot cards use French instead of English, matching the French origin of most initial Personas such as Arsene, Carmen and Milady.
 * The Death tarot card doesn't have anything written on it.