Persona 5’s Thief Protagonist, Arsene and Gameplay Explained

We have finally got some explanations about the mysterious, upbeat and impressive-looking trailer we saw last week for Persona 5.

Gematsu reports that Dengeki PlayStation has posted a feature that provides a lot of details about Persona 5. We got some snazzy new pictures of its protagonist, who has a dichotomy going on between his Clark Kent/Carmen Sandiego-inspired looks. We know that a great darkness is taking hold of Shibuya (a district of Tokyo) and Shujin Academy (a play on "shuujin," the Japanese word for prisoner). The Aizen-looking, out of towner protagonist steals at night in order to survive since he lives alone. After meeting some friends and encountering this unexplained darkness, the protagonist and his friends will don masks and noir thief outfits in order to set things right while maintaining their anonymity. The main star lives in a cafe his aunt and uncle own, which appears to be the base of operations for this ragtag group. Since it's Persona, you must maintain your studies, go to school, make friends and have a social life during the day.

The protagonist's Persona is exclusive to him alone and is based on the legendary fictional thief, Arsene Lupin (Lupin III for fans of the anime/manga). In previous entries of the series, you could surprise enemies and cause preemptive strikes in battle by sneaking behind enemies. This mechanic is emphasized this time around as sneaking is pivotal to many parts. Social Links could possibly be renamed as "Cooperation" as a buddy system is still in play. Longtime series composer Shoji Meguro is back to provide his jazzy tunes for the game's soundtrack.

While no launch date has been set, Persona 5 is expected to make its Japanese debut later this year for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3. Since Atlus usually takes a little while to localize its titles, we should expect Persona 5's Western debut will be a few months after its Japanese launch.

This will help with the wait for Persona 5: