PERSONA 5: THE ROYAL Announcement and Teaser

Recently, Atlus and Persona fans alike were treated to an intriguing teaser for the next game in the Persona series: Persona 5: The Royal. For a while, this game has been speculated as “Persona R”. But now, we actually get a glimpse of what we can expect for our favorite Phantom Thieves!

Teaser Breakdown

The biggest element of this teaser is the apparent introduction of a new character. In the trailer, we see a girl in a Shujin Academy uniform and hear her thoughts on the Phantom Thieves. According to the translation made by Gematsu.com, the female character appears disinterested in them, and expresses her dislike of their methods:

“I think helping people is a wonderful thing, but if I had to say, I don’t like them. I don’t think the Phantom Thieves’ methods will make the world a better place or help anyone. In the end, I feel like you can only solve that yourself”

Likewise, judging by the shot of her school uniform, the mysterious female character appears to be a first-year student. Will this character be our next antagonist? Or will she meet our heroes and join the ranks of the Phantom Thieves (perhaps with the codename “The Royal” or “Royal”)? And how long has it been since the events of Persona 5? Even though this teaser just gives us a little taste, there is so much left up to speculation.

A Possible Female Protagonist?

More importantly, this may be our first introduction back into a female-led Persona game. The last (and only) Persona game to have a playable female lead character was Persona 3 Portable. Even during the creation and production of Persona 5, Director Katsura Hashino was asked if there would be a playable female lead alongside a Male Lead:

“When thinking about how much work goes into accomplishing such a feat, it’s a huge amount. Honestly, to put that option into the game, we’d have to cut out other things to compensate for the workload, and every time that’s the situation we’ll basically say, ‘it’s not worth it’. ” (Waypoint)

Hopefully, as the gaming world advances technologically and inclusively, we’ll see more playable women leads in Persona titles. IS there a possibility that Persona 5: The Royal features a playable female character? Or perhaps, is she another companion who will join the Phantom Thieves? We’ll just have to wait until April 24th at the Persona Super Live Concert to find out more!

Would you like to see a playable female character in upcoming Persona games? What other video game announcements are you excited about? Let us know in the comments below!