Rumors have been spreading across the Internet stating that "Persona 5" is scheduled for an October release for both PS3 and PS4. As reported by the Venture Capital Post, this has not been confirmed by Atlus and there have been no official updates on the official "Persona 5" website nor on the game's Facebook and Twitter pages.
It is expected, however, that the developer will announce the game's release date during the E3 convention this June.
Although no schedule has yet been given, game director Katsuhiro Harada and designer Katsura Hashino did give some details regarding the game's setting and characters, as cited by VCPost and CrossMap, respectively.
The reports said that Phantom, the character featured in a Yomiuri Shimbun advertisement, will be the game's main protagonist. According to Hashino, Phantom is a young boy who used to live in a cafe owned by a friend of his parents. At some point, the boy becomes homeless and takes on an alternate ego (by wearing a mask) called the phantom thief.
Harada stated that the characters will be on the run after doing something they believe is the right thing to do. In a promotional trailer recently released online, Phantom is shown in prison. According to Hashino, this may allude to a spiritual prison that he needs to break out of.
Melee and gun play will be returning as the primary means of combat, and the trailer does show off unique gameplay elements such as a new "dashing" ability to maintain cover and a train that many fans speculate to be this game's rendition of the "Velvet Room."
Hashino has also confirmed that both the community system and the random-generated dungeons of previous titles will make a return in "Persona 5." However, all plot-centered dungeons will maintain a fixed design. He also stated that the initial persona for Phantom will be called "Arsene," hinting a relation to the famed thief in French literature, Arsene Lupin.
"Persona 5" is expected to hit PS3 and PS4 consoles by the final quarter of 2015, with no official release date at the time of writing.
