At 6AM EST, the Persona event was livestreamed and kicked off with who I think was the voice actress for Teddie (well… she sounded like Teddie). After a brief introduction by her, Teddie himself showed up and began talking a bit about the series, or at least the bits and pieces I can understand since it was in Japanese. Then the games came, and there sure was a lot of Persona. Hit the jump and let’s take a look.

First up was Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, a 3DS game. It stars characters from both Persona 3 and Persona 4 (which surprisingly includes the Persona 3 protagonist and Shinji) and takes place within Yasogami High. There’s a good chance this is more of a fanservice story and not necessarily canon. All of the characters are chibified both in-game and in animated cutscenes. The battles look to be a mix of the system seen in Persona 3/4 and the old-school style of the first-person dungeon crawlers. In the little bit shown, movement it done in first-person.

This time around Etrian Odyssey director Daisuke Kaneda will be at the helm, and it definitely shows as this looks to be using the same engine as both Etrian Odyssey IV and Etrian Odyssey Untold. In a way this could be viewed as a throwback to the first Persona game on the PS1/PSP, since that one was a first-person dungeon crawler in the same way as Shin Megami Tensei, the series Persona spun off from.

Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth will be released on the Nintendo 3DS in Japan on June 4th, 2014.

Next up was more info on Persona 4 Ultimax: Ultimate Suplex Hold. Judging by the action onscreen, there is a blackout an eerie presence engulfs what seems to be Inaba, and it looks like the Dark Hour. However some of the set pieces still have the static of the TV world. And even though he was locked up, [highlight to reveal spoiler] Tohru Adachi is back, and it seems he’s up to no good once again. Adachi was first shown covered (though obvious who it was). The next time he appeared was in front of Yukari Takeba, this time in sprite form. It’s important to note that he’s never met the P3 cast. So unless his arrest made the news, the P3 character don’t know who he is nor what he did in P4.

Next up was Persona 4: Dancing All Night. It’s a rhythm game featuring the music of Persona 4 (and presumably P3 and the others). Some of the songs are original mixes while others are dance remixes. This game stars Rise Kujikawa and P4 protag Yu Narukami dancing on stage. The game sees the player following on screen prompt that go to the beat of the music.

This one is scheduled to release on the PS Vita next year.

It seemed like that was it and the show was about to end, then another countdown appeared with Teddie freaking out trying to get it to stop. After the countdown, the following appeared.

Ladies and gentlemen, Persona 5!

“You are slave. Want Emancipation?” Judging by the chairs with the ball ‘n’ chains attached to them, it seems to suggest entrapment. When the names of Katsura Hashino, Shigenori Soejima, and Shoji Meguro flashed on screen, their romanji names were “linked” together, and their kanji names were affixed to a ball ‘n’ chain.

So what do we see? Well, the chairs look like school chairs, so it’s that setting again. But the with the ball ‘n’ chains attached suggests that maybe whoever occupies these chairs are trapped in a school. “You are slave. Want Emancipation?” suggests that maybe someone has trapped them there, and they’re probably slaves to do the trapper’s bidding. And that if they want freedom, then they have to do what the trapper says.

Or maybe whoever’s asking this is not a trapper, but someone that knows a way out of the predicament the characters are in. This isn’t the first time a Persona game dealt with being trapped in a school, with Persona 2 (I think) touching on the theme in one scenario. Another could be “slaves by society,” or possibly slaves to boring, uneventful lives and seeking a way out.

I’m certain more will be revealed. Until then, all we know is that Persona 5 will be released on the PS3 in Winter of 2014.