Bring All the Characters in for Persona Q2

It’s amazing to consider how long it took Atlus to show Persona Q2.

It was one of several Persona projects announced shortly after the anime adaptation, and alongside Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight (both dated for America earlier today). Even then, it was clear we would have to wait a while to see the game, since snippets of gameplay were shown for the dancing games but not this one. The only information we received was the name, confirmation of the platform, and a silhouette showing the protagonist (or Ren Amamiya, if you prefer), confirming how this game would retain the super-deformed style from predecessor Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth.

But no one could have guessed at the time that it would take a year to surface. Part of that was due to members of the team working on the recent Japanese release of Etrian Odyssey X, and Atlus wouldn’t want to promote two similar games simultaneously, let alone release them. This was also enough time for the speculative juices of Persona fans to roll off a cliff, with several assuming this meant the game would either be a cross-generation title for 3DS and Switch, or moved to Switch entirely. This got worse when the “3DS” listing was removed from Atlus’ Persona hub page, but Atlus attributed this to an error. But even that didn’t stop the speculation.

The mystery surrounding PQ2 was finally cleared up when Atlus released a short commercial for the game during the latest Japanese Persona 5: The Animation episode. This led into a full trailer provided on Monday, Japan time.

The game is officially called Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, named such because of its theater setting. Its story begins when are Persona 5 cast is trapped in the world of movies after the Morgana Car goes out of control while exploring Mementos, and is sucked into a void. After the Phantom Thieves escape from a mysterious town rife with enemies, they end up lost in a movie theater without an exit. That’s when they meet Nagi and Hikari, a raven-haired woman in an all-white outfit and a downtrodden girl, respectively, who tell the thieves they emerged from a movie. As you might expect, their itinerary is to find a way out.

The game’s art style is identical to the previous installment’s. Characters are once again depicted in chibi forms, lining up with the above-mentioned tease. What’s far more interesting is the sheer number of themthat will be involved.

In addition to Persona 5’s main characters (including Goro), PQ2 will also include all the main characters from Persona 3 and Persona 4, making this the ultimate crossover — assuming Persona started at “3” for you. One of the biggest surprises will be the involvement of Persona 3 Portable’s female protagonist, who hasn’t been so much as seen since that game released. Her absence became a running joke among the community, but many of them are happy to put them to rest. The story will mainly focus on the Persona 5 cast, but the P3P female protagonist will also be significantly involved.

In total, the game will include 28 Persona users. That’s a lot of characters, and each one will have several options in battle, since each one can equip Personas and sub-Personas. It’s similar to how some Etrian Odyssey games allow for the characters to equip main and sub classes. Unlike PQ, this game’s new characters won’t participate in battles.

Many of PQ2’s other gameplay features will be inherited from its predecessor. The dungeons will be in first-person, and players will have to draw at least part of the map, another feature taken from the EO games. Battles will occur from the same perspective, though characters can be seen when they take some actions. Like any Persona game, the key to winning battles will be exploiting enemy weaknesses, though there’s no word on whether mechanics like the “Burst” feature (also inherited from the EO games — that’s the trend here) will work the same way. This project is coming from the same development staff responsible for PQ, with Daisuke Kanada once again filling the director’s chair, who also previously directed Trauma Team and Etrian Odyssey IV.

In another similarity, Atsushi Kitajoh will be the lead composer. Since the Persona 5 characters will be the focus, most of the music will be similar to that game’s acid jazz-inspired themes. But subtle changes will be made to certain tracks when characters from Persona 3 and 4 join.

There’s some upset about this being a 3DS game in 2018. While you’d expect this from the general gaming audience, it’s surprising to see this from a larger outlet like Kotaku. While the Switch is a technologically superior system, several 3DS owners don’t have one yet, seen through the difference in their install bases. Games on newer systems also don’t invalidate games on older ones. And as if on cue, Etrian Odyssey X’s first-week Japanese sales show how there’s still an audience for Atlus games on 3DS, and PQ2’s sales are bound to be be larger given the difference in popularity between EO and Persona.

PQ2 will release on November 29th in Japan. While they recently released Shin Megami Tensei: Stange Journey Redux in May, Atlus USA hasn’t announced a game for the system in a good while. It doesn’t appear that Etrian Mystery Dungeon 2 will make the trip, and an EOX localization is currently anyone’s guess. But Persona’s popularity and Persona 5’s superlative worldwide sales mean this will likely come over in 2019. It will have company if it does, too, since Nintendo will plans to release remake Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr.’s Journey next year.