Atlus has officially revealed both Persona 3 Reload and Persona 5 Tactica at the Xbox Games Showcase. The former game is the long-awaited remake of the third mainline game in the series, while the latter is a tactics-based strategy RPG that involves the Phantom Thieves. There had been rumors and leaks regarding the Persona series that fans have been hearing throughout the year, with the strongest ones being present during the Persona series' 25th anniversary celebrations.
The rumors of these games were strengthening before Summer Game Fest weekend, where a set of URL domains for "P5T" and "P3RE" suggested something was going to be revealed soon. It was then validated when a few days before the showcase, two trailers were accidentally leaked via Atlus' Instagram account through its reel feature. The trailers were quickly taken down, but not before they had time to circulate online. Despite both Persona 3 Reload and Persona 5 Tactica becoming the worst kept secrets going into the Xbox Games Showcase, both games have now had their official unveiling at the event.
The trailer for Persona 3 Reload starts off with an iconic shot of Aigis staring out into the ocean, where she then turns back to face the SEES group, including Makoto Yuki/the protagonist. From there, it shows the player running through various daily activities at Gekkoukan High School, along with exploring the Tartarus dungeon. The menu UI is much more stylized than before, with the main menu being a standout that sees Makoto Yuki diving into water to bring up the options. A new song sung by series resident rapper Lotus Juice, known as "The Meaning of Armbands" can be heard throughout the trailer as well.
Persona 5 Tactica, however, is another Persona spin-off game involving the ever-popular Phantom Thieves, this time being in a tactics based strategy game similar to Fire Emblem or Triangle Strategy. It also introduces a new character and faction known as the Rebel Corps, who were previously were helped by the thieves themselves in some capacity. The gameplay shown has elements of the original game such as the skills, but has new elements like "Triple Threat" which can execute an All-Out attack-esque maneuver.
Persona 5 Tactica will be launching this November, while Persona 3 Reload's trailer states its window will be within Early 2024. While these trailers indicate that it will launch exclusively on Xbox, there have been some leaks that seemingly confirm the existence of physical versions for PlayStation and Nintendo Switch as well.