As North American fans wait patiently for their chance to get hands on Persona 5 Royal next month, more news and trailers are being released for the sequel to Persona 5, Persona 5 Scramble.
Persona 5 Royal will essentially serve as an enhanced version of the original P5, taking the core game and expanding on it with new characters, plotlines, and some spicy Showtime Attacks. Persona 5 Scramble, on the other hand, will be something new entirely. The game is a collaboration between Atlus' dedicated in-house Persona outfit P-studio and Koei Tecmo's Omega Force studio—responsible for the Dynasty Warriors franchise. The result is a sequel to P5 that blends the style and RPG systems of Persona with the hack'n'slash action of the Dynasty Warriors franchise.
This latest trailer has a heavy focus on gameplay footage, showing players what to expect and how the mechanics might differ from Persona 5. In action, the game looks fast and frenetic, replete with Persona 5's comic book pop aesthetic. Originally, this title was going to feel a lot more like a Dynasty Warriors game, but as the project developed it took on a life of its own. Atlus' team wants Scramble to be a fun story, a departure in tone from P5 which is more serious in nature.
The trailer does appear to have some light-hearted elements, while also touching on new boss encounters and new characters—namely Sophie, the mysterious redheaded A.I., revealed in earlier trailers. The trailer also gives fans a look at another of the new characters, Zenkichi Hasegawa, a member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police who makes an arrangement with the Phantom Thieves to work with them.
The Persona franchise has steadily increased its fanbase over the years, which has allowed Atlus to experiment with different genres. The series has ventured into rhythm-based games with Persona Dancing series, fighting games with Persona 4 Arena, and dungeon crawling in the Persona Q series. This entry looks to be a little closer aligned to the mainline games of the series, but with a more up-tempo battle system.
With this popularity, Atlus is in a position to port games to different consoles to meet fan demand. Most recently the company released a survey to find out which games Switch owners would like to see on that console. Persona 5 Royal would be a good option, considering Scramble will be making its way to Switch alongside a PS4 version.
While there is still no worldwide release date for Persona 5 Scramble, given the franchise's recent successes, an announcement seems likely to come once Persona 5 Royal reaches the rest of the world on March 31st.
Persona 5 Scramble will be released in Japan on February 20th for PS4 & Switch. A worldwide release has not yet been announced.
Source: Atlus/YouTube