Persona 5 Prototype Played By Fans, Reveals More Cut Content

thegamer.com:

A pre-launch prototype for Persona 5 leaked online this week, giving fans a look at a game build dated February 26, 2016. Now, some are seemingly playing through both this build and another from 2015, taking note of any differences they find from the version of the game we got at launch.

So far, we've seen some bizarre changes. Some of the examples being shared online show that Persona 5 could have been a much ruder, more violent game than what we got before this was toned down for whatever reason before launch.

First, in perhaps my favourite find yet, the store "Beauty Feet" used to be called "B*tch Feet". I've got no idea why this was changed in the final version of the game since Persona 5 is rated 16+ anyway, but we were robbed.

The same user has also shared an unused scene which is way more violent than the version that made it into the final game. Both the 2015 and 2016 builds play out slightly differently, getting less violent as time went on.

There are a few accounts online sharing their finds in both the 2016 and 2015 builds, so more discoveries like this are expected. In the meantime, fans have already dug out the full soundtrack, allowing us to listen to rougher, early cuts of some of the best Persona tracks. There's even a version of the title track "Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There" with completely different lyrics, something we probably never would have heard otherwise.

So, how did these prototypes ever see the light of day? From what we can tell, they were taken from physical discs acquired in a private sale. This discovery seems to originate from the Hidden Palace Discord server, with the site hosting a wiki page of their findings. Even more are listed on The Cutting Room Floor.

Atlus hasn't commented on these leaks, and it's not clear if it will. In any case, it's not clear who was responsible for selling the prototype discs in the first place.