Persona 5, the fifth game in Atlus’s eclectic social series where players hobnob with high school pals by day then brawl with demons at night, finally has a stateside release date. You can pick it up for PlayStation 3 or 4 on February 14, 2017.
Valentine’s Day, in other words, which puts it four months out from this September’s Japanese launch. Why the gap? Atlus says “the biggest factor in the 2017 release date is attention to detail.” Which is probably just another way of saying localization polish. And all that extra detailing may have something to do with Atlus dubbing Persona 5 “the biggest title in ATLUS’ history.” Which is saying something, considering how vast 2008’s Persona 4 was.
As in that game, Persona 5 stars a speechless Japanese high schooler (here in Tokyo, as opposed to Persona 4‘s fictional rural town) who discovers he has Jungian super powers. But instead of investigating a series of murders by way of an alt-dimension accessed through TV sets, you play a kind of white hat thief who can travel to a realm that houses corrupt adult hearts—your goal is to “steal” the corruption in a kind of philosophical addition-through-subtraction game.
If you’re into deluxe memorabilia, Atlus just announced a $90 “Take Your Heart” edition that’ll include the soundtrack (by series composer Shoji Meguro), 4-inch plush toy of series cat-mascot Morgana, 64-page hardcover art book, steel game case and a school bag “designed after the traditional school bags in Japan.” Otherwise you’ll pay $60 for the game on PlayStation 4, or $50 if you’re still rocking a PlayStation 3.
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