The latest issue of Weekly Famitsu revealed information about the online features in Persona 5.
If you choose to join the “Phantom Thieves Alliance,” multiplayer elements will be available during the main game. You will be able to cooperate with other players while battling enemies, exploring dungeons, or simply doing teenage things at school.
If a member of your group is knocked out during a battle, the enemy may take them hostage. If you fail to rescue them, another player may join the mission to save them.
These online partners may also team up to prevent fleeing enemies from maximizing their readiness meter, stopping you from progressing through a dungeon.
Because the lives of Persona 5 characters revolve around everyday school life, the game's online social aspects will also be present. This means you will be able to discover what other players have done on specific dates and see how they answered questions in class.
This is not the first time the Shin Megami Tensei universe has flirted with online multiplayer features. Shin Megami Tensei: Nine was originally planned to be played online on the original Xbox, and Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine was in fact an MMORPG. The fighting game Persona 4 Arena and its sequel, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, also contained online matches.
Perhaps, if Phantom Thieves Alliance is well received by players, another Persona game in the future could contain even more online game modes.
About the Persona series
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona is a series of RPGs developed by Atlus. It began as a spin-off of the same company's Megami Tensei franchise and became more famous than the main series itself, especially in the West. The series began with Revelations: Persona, released for the original PlayStation in 1996.
All games in the series take place in the same universe and share certain elements. They typically involve groups of student protagonists and take place in modern-day Japan, with a strong focus on occult plots involving world destruction and rebirth, potential “messiahs” and “antichrists,” as well as an endless number of “personas,” which provide characters with special abilities and battle magic throughout the story and are influenced by cultures and religions from our real world.
