Atlus USA showed off a Japanese build of Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth behind closed doors during E3. On the surface, the Nintendo 3DS game looks like it could be an Etrian Odyssey title since it has first-person dungeons to explore and players can draw their own maps.
The battle system, however,feels more like Persona. When you attack or use a skill a character leaps on to the screen to slash or cast a spell. Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth rewards players that exploit enemy weaknesses with a Boost. Characters with Boost status can use any skill without spending SP and they get to attack first.
Players pick a team of five characters from Persona 3 and Persona 4 to bring with them. Each character has a unique Persona, but new for Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth are Sub-Personas which you can equip. The only characters that don’t have Personas are the newcomers, Zen and Rei. The two of them take up one slot in your party. Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth lets players save their favorite parties for easy access.
When you start Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, you can either pick the Persona 3 or Persona 4 side. By the end of the first dungeon, players will have access to the entire roster of characters regardless of what storyline you pick. I saw two dungeons in Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth. The first one was a dark take on Alice in Wonderland and the second was based on the group date cafe from Persona 4.
The biggest takeaway is that Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth is canon, a representative from Atlus USA explained. However, the representative could not explain why the game is canon, since that would supposedly be a story spoiler.
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth is slated for release this fall in North America.
