Persona 5 Royal added new content to its original numerical installment, with Atlus giving players new content where they can get closer to certain characters and see new sides people that had gone uncovered in the main game. However, one brief moment during the true end has made players question what they thought they knew of the game, and a dataminer discovered a secret scene in the game's files. This article contains spoilers for Persona 5 Royal.
With Persona 5 Royal, players got to play through the 3rd semester and spend more time with the Phantom Thieves while delving more deeply into new characters that the game introduced. During this time, players get to know Goro Akechi in a more genuine way after his true form was revealed in Shido's Palace, and Joker and Akechi team up to take down Takuto Maruki's false reality.
However, it seemed that Akechi was only alive due to Maruki's intervention and that destroying Maruki's Palace would also kill him once more. Despite this, Joker glimpses someone who looks like Akechi in the final scene after he should have died, but fans couldn't be sure it was the second Detective Prince until now.
A dataminer by the name of Pan-hime discovered a hidden scene that shows where Akechi spent his time after he disappeared in Shido's Palace. While the scene is a bit awkward in its presentation, it shows that Akechi went to a rehabilitation center outside of Tokyo that he used to go to with his mother. It shows that, after he pays back his debt to this place, he will be returning to Tokyo to repay the Phantom Thieves as well.
This scene seems to confirm that Akechi is indeed alive, and while many fans are excited to learn this, the scene also raises some questions as well. Hopefully, Atlus will give fans of the beloved and complicated character more answers in the future.
Persona 5 Royal is available now for PS4.