At this rate, we’ll see the entire game before launch
Atlus, never ever ones to hold their cards to their chest, has released footage of the prologue from the upcoming Persona 5 Royal, letting us see the debut of new girl Kasumi Yoshizawa some six months or so before the game hits western shores.
The footage comes from the non-succinctly titled “Let’s Players Gathering! Persona 5 Royal Newcomer Preparation Special” live stream, which took place at the weekend, and features the famous opening to the 2017 RPG, which sees Joker attempting to escape the casino palace after a heist gone awry. A new scene sees our new hero drop in battle to help the Phantom Thief out, taking out enemies with a rapier and a blaze of balletic gunfire. Once this battle is done, the escape scene continues as normal.
In theory, crowbarring scenes of an entirely new character into a pre-written, pre-existing story is, frankly, kinda messy and not good for the flow of a narrative. But hopefully, Kasumi’s inclusion is smartly integrated throughout the entire game, as Joker failing to acknowledge her existence – outside of Kasumi’s specific scenes – would make for very weird storytelling.
Persona 5 Royal launches on PS4 in Japan October 31, before heading west in spring 2020.
