During the “Revealing the Phantom Thieves” livestream event on Nico Nico Live this morning, Goro Akechi was revealed as the mysterious ninth member of the Phantom Thieves for Persona 5.
Previously, Goro was featured on Persona 5‘s official cover art (top right). He was presumed to be a party member like the rest of the characters on the cover, but had yet to be officially identified until now.
While not much was revealed about the character, we did learn that Goro is a detective in high school and is voiced by Sōichirō Hoshi. Hoshi is a voice acting veteran whose work includes voicing characters like Kilik from Soulcalibur and Kira Yamato from the anime show Gundam Seed.
The livestream also revealed the “Cooperations”, which will act as Persona 5‘s new social link system. Cooperations are created between the Protagonist and the people he meets around Tokyo. Much like the social link system, your interactions will build a bond that gives players access to new abilities as a Phantom Thief.
New trailers were released by Atlus for three of these Cooperation characters:
Tae Takemi
Arcana: Death (La Mort)
Tae Takemi appears to be a nurse who also acts as a shopkeeper for the Protagonist.
Sojiro Sakura
Arcana: Hierophant (Le Pape)
Sojiro is a coffee shop owner and father of fellow Phantom Thief, Futaba Sakura. He also acts as caretaker for the Protagonist during his stay in Tokyo.
Munehisa Iwai
Arcana: Hanged Man (Le Pendu)
Munehisa is a shopkeeper who provides air-soft guns that the Phantom Thieves presumably utilize in battle.
It is yet to be seen how exactly Cooperations differ from the social link system, but there’s a good chance that the new name brings new mechanics along with it.
Lastly, if you’re confused as to why there are French translations for each arcana, that’s because Persona 5 is using each arcana’s French name for the game’s redesigned tarot cards. The new design helps the cards fit in with Persona 5‘s unique aesthetic.
Images via Persona Central
In case you missed the news last week while nestled under a rock, new story info was also revealed for Persona 5, including how the Protagonist finds his way into the Velvet Room.
