Persona 5 won’t hit the U.S. until Feb. 14, 2017, but the recently released official rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) suggests stateside fans of the series are in for all kinds of grown-up delights. Sex, violence, drugs: Persona 5 has it all!
On Tuesday, Persona Central reported Persona 5 has garnered an “M” for Mature rating, for the following reasons:
- Blood
- Drug Reference
- Partial Nudity
- Sexual Themes
- Strong Language
- Violence
In Japan, where the game debuted to strong reviews on Sept. 15, it earned a Computer Entertainment Rating Organization (CERO) rating of C, making the game suitable for ages 15 and older. Persona Central points out “every Persona game has received a rating of CERO B (ages 12 and up), with the exception of Persona 4 Golden due to its added sexual content from Persona 4.”
Blood and violence are par for the course in the Persona series, so nothing particularly new there. Previous games in the series have also included a trip to the beach and/or some hijinks at a traditional bath, so a similar episode with the Phantom Thieves is most likely where the “partial nudity” comes in. That is, unless Social Links / Co-ops have become a whole lot steamier, which they probably haven’t.
What sticks out is the singular “drug reference” -- what could this be? It seems likely this could relate to one of the dungeons in the game, which seem to revolve around vices, perhaps even the Seven Deadly Sins.
Previously, both Persona 3 and Persona 4 also received M ratings from the ESRB for violence, language and suggestive themes.
What do you hope to see in Persona 5? Would you like to see the series take a darker turn? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
- Gripping, twisty-turny story
- Collect all the waifus!
- Rapid-fire turn-based combat
- Infectious soundtrack
- Literally everything
- A cat making you go to bed when you're not tired
- Say goodbye to your actual life
