'Persona 5' game trailer, release date news: video explains 'palaces' and general gameplay; upcoming DLC announced

Catherine Salvador Thursday, January 19, 2017

A screenshot of "Persona 5," which will have a 2016 Japanese release and a 2017 Western launch. | Atlus/Persona 5 official website

While players in Japan are already enjoying "Persona 5," those in the west are yet to experience the joy of playing the game in a few months. To keep the excitement going, Deep Silver has released a game trailer to showcase the mechanics of the game.

The video trailer showcases "Persona 5's" so-called palaces, which are described by Mic as "dungeon-like" environments that are vital to the people's "most distorted desires."

"While the Phantom Thieves keep up their guise as normal Japanese high-schoolers during the day, they travel to another world (via smartphone) 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," Atlus explained.

"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," they added.

According to VG 24/7, the gameplay video seems to provide the general overview of the battles in "Persona 5," including how players would penetrate the palaces and how they would deal with the "shadows." The trailer indicates other activities such as negotiating with adversaries, wielding Personas, among others.

The promo trailer also reveals a costume that can be acquired as downloadable content (DLC) for "Persona 5," which is a Teddie outfit for Morgana, iDigital Times wrote. This has also been announced by Atlus USA, who posted on Twitter about the upcoming "Persona 5" expansion prior to the U.S. release in April. The developer wrote, "Be on the lookout, starting today throughout the month of January we'll be posting previews of Persona 5's DLC! Stay tuned!"

It was in October when Atlus Japan also gave a glimpse of some downloadable skins and music sets for "Persona." The items are drawn from other "Persona" entries, particularly the "Shin Megami Tensei" franchise and "Catherine."

"Persona 5" is slated for an April 4 release date in the United States.