Atlus at E3 2017: What to Expect Them to Show

Atlus at E3 2017

Atlus has been on the up and up ever since the release of Persona 3 back on the PS2, but the company only really began to hit its stride with the Vita port of Persona 4. Persona 4 Golden packed in hours of new content, giving series fans more fleshed out characters and stories to explore, while also introducing the polished RPG high school life simulator formula to new players who’d never played a Persona game before.

With the massively successful launch of Persona 5 back in April, Atlus is officially one of the top JRPG developers to look out for, and you can be sure that they’ll have a big presence at E3 2017 alongside SEGA. Here are our predictions for the company, and what we think they’re likely to bring to E3 this year.

Persona

Persona is the company’s biggest franchise right now, so it seems obvious that they’ll have more to show at this year’s event. While Atlus doesn’t have its own press conference like some of the other bigger players at the show, it’s always possible that they could release new teasers and trailers to show off what they’re working on next.

A month ago, the company registered several Persona-related web domains and trademarks, indicating that they could be interested in producing Persona 5 spin-off titles and other smaller games in the franchise. Some of these trademarks include P5Ag, P5R, P5D, P5U. Judging from the company’s track record with their Persona 4 spin-offs, it’s highly likely that a Persona 5 dancing game and 2D fighting game could be in the works. We’re not sure what P5Ag and P5R could possibly be, but we’re really hoping for an enhanced version of Persona 5 itself, similar to what Golden was to Persona 4.

P3D was another interesting trademark that got registered as well, and we’re thinking that it could be a dancing game for Persona 3. Persona 3 still retains a rather hardcore fan base, and fans have been clamoring for a remaster of the game on modern consoles. Sure, we got P3P on the PSP years ago, but it was missing the crucial Answer chapter that was available in Persona 3 FES.

Lastly, Atlus has also registered a trademark for PQ2, which could only mean a sequel to Persona Q, the 3DS crossover title starring the casts of Persona 3 and 4 in cute chibi form. The game featured the first-person dungeon crawling style of the Etrian Odyssey series, and also marked a huge step up in difficulty from what Persona fans might be used to. It was a refreshing spin-off title, and we certainly wouldn’t be opposed to seeing even more of it.

We’re not expecting Atlus to reveal all of these spin-off games in one go at E3 2017, of course. However, don’t count out the possibility that we might see the announcement of one or two of these games. An announcement of the Persona 3 dancing game sure would be nice.

Shin Megami Tensei

2017 marks the 25th anniversary of the Shin Megami Tensei series, and Atlus has already shared some of its plans for this momentous occasion. The first is a 3DS remake of Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, which was originally released on the Nintendo DS back in 2009. The game will feature full voice acting and several other gameplay improvements, and it’s set to be released in the fall for Japan. However, there’s no word on whether the game will be coming west. Though, considering the company’s pretty decent track record of localizing their popular Japanese games, this seems highly likely. We’re definitely hoping to get a solid release date for the English version of Strange Journey this E3.

That aside, Atlus also teased a brand new Shin Megami Tensei game on the Switch during Nintendo’s livestream presentation earlier this year. They didn’t reveal if it was going to be the next mainline SMT game in the series, and all we know is that the game will be made with Unreal Engine 4. The teaser trailer did give off a very Nocturne vibe, so for all we know, it could very well be an enhanced remake of the notoriously difficult cult classic PS2 game.

Either way, Atlus hasn’t said much about the Shin Megami Tensei Switch game since the initial reveal, and E3 2017 seems like a prime time for the company to share more information with us.

Everything Else

Aside from Persona and Shin Megami Tensei, Atlus has been known to help publish several niche titles as well. Over the past few years, they’ve featured games like Abyss Odyssey and The Deadly Tower of Monsters at their E3 booth, so we’re definitely expecting the company to bring some new indie titles to show again this year.

One particular game we’re hoping to see more of is 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, the new sci-fi side-scrolling action title from Vanillaware, complete with the gorgeous art and style of George Kamitani. The game was originally announced back in 2015, but aside from a short trailer, we haven’t heard much else about it.

Atlus also recently announced Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology, and the game is set to hit Japan this year. Like Strange Journey, Radiant Historia hasn’t been announced for localization just yet, so it’s possible that we could hear more about it next month.

Finally, and we’re keeping our hopes way down on this one, it’s also not out of the realm of possibility that Atlus could potentially announce a brand new IP that they’re working on. Similar to what they did with Catherine on the PS3, which ended up being a big hit with Atlus fans, we’re keeping our fingers crossed for a brand new project from the company that isn’t related to Persona or Shin Megami Tensei. Given the success of the Persona series, however, it’s more likely that the company has their hands full working on the Next Big Persona Thing.

What do you think Atlus will bring to E3 2017? Feel free to sound off in the comments down below.