Persona 5 Phantom Thieves Trailer Released by Atlus

Written by Brandon Hofer on January 18, 2017

News: A new trailer has just been released showcasing one of the game mechanics that you will find in Persona 5.

Atlus has just released some more news about Persona 5. In Persona 5 the Phantom Thieves must infiltrate perilous palaces in their mission to change evil hearts. While the Phantom Thieves keep up their guise as normal Japanese high-schoolers during the day, they travel to another world (via smart phone) to unleash their true Personas and raise some hell at night. This world is known as the Metaverse, and it's essentially the "collective unconscious" of all mankind. In the Metaverse, the most distorted desires of people manifest themselves as Palaces, and it's up to the Phantom Thieves to infiltrate and defeat the evils within a Palace.

In order to enter a Palace, the team picks a target, figures out certain key bits of information, and plugs it into their Metaverse Navigator app to gain access. Once the thieves are in the Palace, they must fight hordes of Shadows, solve puzzles, defeat the Palace ruler, and steal the target's deepest darkest desire (which takes the form of Treasure, naturally). When the Treasure is stolen, the target's heart will be changed and they'll finally understand the evilness of their core desire. Every target in the game will have a Palace with a different look and theme, so be prepared to see some truly twisted stuff. Unfortunately for the Phantom Thieves, infiltrating a Palace is anything but easy. The team will need to use stealth and plan their moves wisely to ensure a successful heist. Sneaking by and/or ambushing Shadows is essential to reaching the Palace Treasure, so be sure to always make the first move. If the Thieves get caught too many times, they'll be kicked out of the Metaverse and can only return the next day (always keep an eye on the security meter)!

So what do you do once you've challenged a Shadow to a fight? The easy answer is to send them to Shadow hell with a variety of attacks, but sometimes a more "diplomatic" solution would be more beneficial in the long run. You can Hold Up Shadows to negotiate with them to yield money, items, and even a chance to avoid a battle entirely. Oh, and this time around the protagonist can even convince them to join the Phantom Thieves to be utilized as a Persona. Of course if you're more of a shoot first ask questions later type of person, feel free to destroy all the Shadows. They have even included the Baton Pass feature that lets an attacking party member switch turns with another character to maximize attacking weaknesses.

Persona 5 is a game about the internal and external conflicts of a group of troubled youth who live dual lives. They have the typically ordinary day-to-day of a Tokyo high-schooler - attending class, after school activities and part-time jobs. But they also undertake fantastical adventures by using otherworldly powers to enter the hearts of people. Their power comes from the Persona, the Jungian concept of the "self;" the game's heroes realize that society forces people to wear masks to protect their inner vulnerabilities, and by literally ripping off their protective mask and confronting their inner selves do the heroes awaken their inner power, and use it to strive to help those in need. Ultimately, the group of Phantom Thieves seeks to change their day-to-day world to match their perception and see through the masks modern-day society wears.

Check out the new trailer below that was released to coincide with this news and tell us what you think. Will you be picking up Persona 5?