One of the bits of big news that we got earlier this week was the news of Atlus working on a brand new, fantasy RPG that would be a new IP, unrelated to any of their other projects. That new IP would be seeing the core trio of Katsura Hashino, Shoji Meguro, and Shigenori Soejima – the core members of the Persona development team as the director, music composer, and art director respectively – working on it.
The news was exciting, and now, we have gotten to learn more about it. The new IP is tentatively called Project RE Fantasy (if the game ever comes over to the west, it will likely be called something else), and it will be an entirely new game set entirely in a fantasy world.
“Until now, since the time fantasy went mainstream, Atlus has dared to create series set in contemporary times and cherished its stance of aiming to counter the typical. The series works from Persona 3 and onwards are the exact products of such thought. I had always held the thought that I someday want to challenge the traditional genre and deliver a title uniquely Atlus,” director Hasino said.
That said, the game, whatever it is, is apparently very early in development- right now, nothing, from the game’s release window to even platform have not been decided, though Hashino added that the game will be a console game. “Even though the current hardware it will appear on is unannounced, we are making this for those that like home console games and love Atlus games. It is going to take a fair amount of time to complete, but I will be doing everything I can so please look forward to it.” This indicates that the title may be coming to the PS4 and possibly to the Nintendo Switch.
And what about people who wanted and expected a Persona 6? Are we going to have to wait before we see the next entry in that franchise? According to Atlus, no. “We’re steadily developing other titles behind the scenes, including the Persona series. We plan to announce future titles in the new year, without keeping you waiting too long,” Atlus’ Hiaroka Naoto said, implying that we may see a new game being announced very soon- whether or not that will be mainline, however, remains to be seen.
For now, Atlus fans in the west have Persona 5 to look forward to, which will be launching on PS3 and PS4 on April 4 in North America and Europe.