14 DAY TRIAL // Katsura Hashino, the director of the entire Persona series, says that the coming spin-offs of the fourth title in the series are designed to give players a chance to experience entirely new types of gameplay linked to the familiar universe and characters.
Siliconera translates an interview that appeared in the Japanese magazine Famitsu as saying that, “Just like the experiment of making a fighting game based off the Persona series in Persona 4 Arena, which was also well received by fans, the plan of making Persona Q came from wanting a game that could bring further joy from an even more ‘unexpected element.’”
He believes that fans who loved the Persona series so far will be happy to get both Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, which is a 3DS-based dungeon crawler that has battle mechanics similar to Etrian Odyssey, and Persona 4: Dancing All Night, a classic rhythm action experience.
Hashino adds, “Persona Q will be a completely new title, but first and foremost, it’ll be for the fans of the Persona series. However, since next year will be the 25th anniversary of the Atlus brand, we’d also like to use this opportunity to spread the essence from other titles apart from the Persona titles.”
At the moment, all the new Persona-based experiences are only announced for the Japanese market by the team at Atlus, but Western launches are a possibility, probably with a minimum of a six-month delay.
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth arrives on 3DS in June 2014.
Persona 4: The Ultimax Suplex Hold is set to land on the PlayStation 3 home console in the summer next year.
Persona 4: Dancing All Night is only set to be launched on the PlayStation Vita handheld in the winter of 2014.
Atlus is also working on a full-fledged Persona 5.