We totally saw it coming.
When Persona 5 was released on the PS4 in 2016, it did so to extremely high acclaim. The flashy presentation, snappy combat, and catchy soundtrack were punctuated by engaging characters and a captivating storyline that set the JRPG world on fire. While we eventually saw the release of Persona 5 Royal, an enhanced version of the game packed with even more content, features, characters, and charm, this beloved game has now been made available across nearly every available platform.
While my time with the original Persona 5 was cut short due to various other games and other factors, I wanted my first full playthrough to be that of Royal, a version that includes new characters, a third semester, a wealth of gameplay improvements, and extra content that took a game that was pretty much already a masterpiece and somehow made it even better. While accessing some of the later content does require a few things to happen that are not particularly well communicated to the player, this version is nonetheless the superior experience that shouldn't be missed. Even if you have exhausted everything the original Persona 5 had to offer, the amount of new content and changes to the base game here are substantial.
Persona 5 Royal is an investment. This 100+ hour JRPG is packed to the brim with a variety of gameplay systems from your typical turn-based combat to the social dynamics of forming bonds with your friends, getting a part-time job, and pushing through the daily chore that is high school. And yet, for as trivial as that may sound, Persona 5 Royal strikes a balance that makes every single second shine, primarily due in part to smart writing, engaging characters, worthwhile mechanics, and a healthy dose of top-tier voice work.
While Persona 5 Royal is largely about a young man who would eventually be granted the codename, Joker, its entire young cast shares much of that spotlight to varying degrees. What starts out as the young man attending a new school with new living arrangements in the attic of a cafe, all due to a bogus assault charge branding him an underage criminal, quickly turns into a daily tale of diving into a supernatural realm dubbed the Metaverse to steal the hearts of criminals and saving those who are helpless to act.
See, in the real world, Joker and his friends are students at Shujin Academy, living day by day with the same pressures that plague any real-world school. Throughout the calendar year, there is the stress around exams, bullies around every corner, and students just trying to survive the grind by any means necessary. However, on Joker’s first day, he is pulled into the Metaverse, a twisted warped version of our reality. This supernatural world grants him powers through what are called Persona, a being that holds a binding contract with its host.
Throughout the use of this Persona, as well as building a team that would eventually become the Phantom Thieves, Joker and his newfound allies start to alter the hearts of criminals, exposing them for their crimes and carrying out their own unique brand of justice. This causes the public to either see them as heroes or as the very criminals they are looking to expose. This also places them on the watchlist of government organizations and the law, often within a whisker’s length of being caught at any moment.
Within the Metaverse are Palaces, materialized hellscapes warped around the desires of their owner. These act as the dungeons for our heroes, landscapes that are mechanically driven and built upon the psyche of their host. They vary from the confines of a castle, an art gallery, to even an Egyptian pyramid. As you sneak around to get the drop on enemies, catching them by surprise, each Palace has a variety of mechanics, puzzles, and plenty more to keep you occupied. Persona 5 Royal also brings with it a whole new palace as well to explore during its newly included third semester which is honestly one of the best across the entire game.
When Joker investigates his first Palace, belonging to an abusive gym teacher, he does so alongside fellow classmates Ryuji Sakamoto and Ann Takamaki, or as they are known in the Metaverse, Skull, and Panther. This trio forms a very tight bond from the start, eventually discovering additional Palaces that see a new member join their ranks with each mission. This team takes the better part of the game to become whole, but there is never a second wasted in allowing you to truly get to know each and every member.
Each Palace is in some way grafted onto each subsequent member of the Phantom Thieves, causing them to feel betrayed by those around them and triggering the spark that grants them their Persona. This causes them to be emotionally invested to see the mission through. And, with how engaging the writing and character work is here, alongside some top-tier voice acting, you share in those very emotions and get heavily invested in each and every character.
While stopping criminals from terrorizing the innocent is the modus operandi of the Phantom Thieves, it’s a Palace a few dozen hours into the game where the group is caught off guard, personally invited into someone’s palace who has committed no crime, other than wallowing in doubt upon themselves and taking the blame for the death of their mother. This causes more than a Palace to form around them, but rather strict walls to keep those around them at bay, as well as a shadowy figure that keeps the host’s mental state in check. This Palace may not have been my favorite in regards to its design, but its message was easily the most potent and memorable of them all.
Each Palace varies in its design, its scope, and its message. Each host has committed a unique crime to cause this world around them to flourish, to fester into a themed space so unhealthy that its roots run so deep that only a change of heart can turn it around. As the Phantom Thieves investigate each Palace, they are on the lookout for a treasure; something deeply personal to its host that the Phantom Thieves then threaten to steal, forcing a showdown between the group and that Palace’s host. This change of heart then triggers within the real world, causing them to admit their crimes publically and deal with the consequences.
This is more or less the pattern that follows as you work towards finding a target and diving deep into their Palace to force their change of heart. However, while diving into a large mechanic-driven hellscape is one way of dealing with those who need a change of heart, it’s not the only method you’ll have at your disposal. As Palaces are created with a much stronger force, smaller efforts exist within what is called Mementos. This randomly generated maze of tunnels is perfect for grinding away for experience, as you can take on smaller bite-size missions that have you encounter those that require a change of heart but do not have a massive palace constructed around themselves.
These missions are largely side quests, and are sometimes tied to the part-time jobs you can take on, or find through other means,. In fact, some of the supporting cast around you are often plagued by some soul that is tormenting them, and this space can offer a resolution for those problems, often resulting in romance if you play your cards right.
Mementos is aesthetically the same experience each time you dive in regardless of the path changes or how deep you dive into it. Apart from a new area that opens up in the third semester, you’ll see various color changes as you dive deeper, to stronger enemies as you advance down its depths. Mementos is designed around being how you continue to level up your team when the current Palace has been completed and you find yourself at the mercy of the day-to-day experience. Mementos isn’t as visually thrilling or mechanically satisfying as a Palace, but the quick nature of how you explore it allows for it to be a fairly breezy way to grind away at some experience.
As you explore Mementos, you will also find Jose, a child that is interested in collecting flowers and can trade you some items for them. You’ll find him every so often and if you track down special objective markers within Mementos, you can also trade those stamps for earning more experience or money during your time there.
Throughout Persona 5 Royal, you’ll encounter a memorable cast of characters regardless if they are part of the Phantom Thieves or those who are in some way still an important part of your day-to-day rhythm. While Ryuji is your first overall friend that you’ll make, with Ann soon to follow, Joker and Skull, as they first explore the Metaverse, will meet up with Morgana, a talking cat-like creature that swears he is not a cat but is also surprisingly well-versed in just what exactly the Metaverse is and how it functions. However, when returning to the real world, and living alongside Joker at the cafe, Morgana is, or at least, takes on the form of a cat. Throughout the narrative, Morgana starts to have flashes of memories that start to explain certain things about who they are and whether they were at any point, a human.
As you dive deeper into additional Palaces, you’ll recruit more members, fleshing out your team with a group that each brings with them some new approach to your task as a Phantom Thief. Whether it is Makoto’s sharp mind, or Futaba’s assistance in hacking and navigation, each member of the Phantom Thieves feels valuable in some ways, with Haru likely feeling the least well used due to her inclusion so much later in the game. Royal also introduces us to Kasumi Yoshizawa, a new character that will join up with the Phantom Thieves some hours into the game. You’ll have interactions with her prior to her dive into the Metaverse, but it’ll be some time before you’ll come to rely on her in battle.
Persona 5 Royal has a deep well of characters that can all mean something to you across a wealth of different conversations, interactions, or how they work towards making your time in the Metaverse more beneficial. While some characters will simply be someone you can engage in conversation with, nearly all main and supporting characters can act as a confidant, a system where their friendship rank with Joker can often result in providing perks in combat to providing bonuses to Persona fusions if you rank up a certain confidant who is tied to a specific arcana.
This ties into the social aspect of Persona 5 Royal, which makes up for a significant chunk of the whole experience. When you are not diving into the Metaverse or grinding away in Mementos, you’ll fill segments of your day either in school or hanging out with a wide variety of characters. While most of your hangouts will come from a text from that specific character, several of them are found around certain parts of Toyko at certain times of day. As you have conversations, read books, or push throughout the story, more locations will open up that can act as a hub for commerce or a place to hang out with any number of characters.
While most of your day will be filled with school, you have almost every afternoon and evening free, with certain things you can do to allow for more freedom, such as one confidant that when maxed, and a relationship goal hit, can result in having extra freedom at night. This time is meant to be used towards leveling up your confidants, but also your own skills as well. While school is a solid place for working on your knowledge, you’ll have numerous other stats that aid Joker in being able to hang out with characters that have progress restrictions based on your available stats.
Part of the balance of Persona 5 Royal comes in hanging out with characters at certain points of the day, engaging in conversations with them, and using your time to ensure that you are set for the battles ahead. Part of progressing into some of the new content, as well as getting the true ending, is ensuring that certain characters are maxed out through the confidant mechanic, so keep that in mind. Now, maxing out the confidants in your party results in upgrades to their own Persona, as Joker is the only member of the team that can just simply swap out their own Persona for anything they have acquired.
During battle, you will encounter shadows that turn into strange creatures. And, depending on how the battle is going, you can engage in conversation with these creatures, sometimes even convincing them to form a binding contract with you. This is how Joker will acquire additional Persona to take into battle. Eventually, you can fuse Personas to create stronger ones, to even sacrifice some to enhance others. There are several additional systems put in place to flesh out your arsenal with more substantial options and even an alert scenario that can result in even stronger fusions and can backfire if it is used too much.
Combat itself is your traditional turn-based affair but the presentation and music here are what elevate Persona 5 Royal to incredible heights. Characters all have a standard attack, as well as being able to use items to shrug off status effects or gain back a bit of health. But it is using your Persona skills where combat starts to have a bit of flavor. Each enemy you face has a weakness and knowing and exploiting those weaknesses are where you’ll start to really rack up the victories. Exploiting a weakness triggers a “1 More” which is essentially a second follow-up attack available for the current party member. but you can use what is called a Baton Pass to carry that additional attack to another character. It’s not revolutionary by any means, but the presentation built around its systems is why it works so well.
Eventually, you’ll unlock a special move between a certain pairing called a Showtime attack. These special collaborations between certain characters get added to your repertoire at key moments in the game, highlighting your group’s personalities and friendships as a battle technique. Seeing Morgana attempt to convey their love for Ann during combat is downright hilarious, especially as some post Showtime Attack dialogue even mentions this quick exchange afterward. These attacks take a while to work their way into your combat options, but are extremely powerful moves to keep an eye out for.
In base Persona 5, guns were rarely effective as once you ran out of bullets, they were useless unless you left the Palace and returned on a later day, Now, guns refill their ammo after each battle but also hold less ammo as a result. This causes guns to actually be a viable option instead of something you occasionally used to lightly pepper away at health to initiate a possible allegiance with a recruitable Persona. While guns are not a difference maker in some of the more challenging encounters, they certainly have far more use here than ever before.
With a slew of changes and quality of life improvements to combat and exploration made with Royal, one of the biggest shifts is how Palaces and their bosses have changed. Palaces have been expanded on with the inclusion of a grappling hook, and bosses have seen changes to their phases that look to improve the pacing of certain encounters. While not every fight has been dramatically improved, the encounters themselves do feel better and, in some instances, feel more balanced.
While I won’t dive into every single change that Persona 5 Royal brings with it, as that list would be longer than this review is already, some of the most notable mentions are the inclusion of new characters Kasumi Yoshizawa, as mentioned previously, and Takuto Maruki, a guidance counselor that gets involved into the main story in some very interesting ways. These are two characters that you will want to spend some extra time ensuring that their confidant levels are maxed. Their inclusion is also part of the newly added third semester that adds another 20-25 hours of content as well as a whole new palace and ending.
Adding even more to do is the addition of a whole new location in Kichijoji. This newly explorable part of town has a darts mini-game, the ability to summon your friends for a game of pool, as well as a Jazz club that serves non-alcoholic cocktails that aid you in leveling up your companion’s Personas. You’ll also have some all-new social link scenes between the cast, new events, new Personas, weapons, armor, and a wealth of new enemies. One of the most beneficial new changes is additional time granted to you throughout the year, including fewer restrictions on being able to go out at night, even if there are several times when you have little to no freedom based on what is going on in the story.
With the addition of Persona 5 now having current-gen versions on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, the game now runs incredibly slick at 60fps. The Switch version does run at a pretty constant 30, but given the turn-based nature of the title, the FPS issue here is not something that really struggles when it comes to the lower-end hardware. My time with the game was 100% entirely on the Steam Deck and it ran like a dream, constantly hitting 60fps with no problem.
Persona 5 Royal was always known for two things; being incredibly stylish and having one of the best soundtracks of all time. Whether it is the stunning opening with Colors Flying High, to the main theme in Last Surprise, this soundtrack constantly entertains with one impressive track one after another. Royal brings with it a ton of new and remixed tracks that work themselves in beautifully. Alongside some new fully animated cutscenes that are stunningly crafted, the visual language that makes up Persona 5 Royal is plastered all over every system, menu, and mechanic, that you can’t help but just be impressed with not only how stylish everything looks, but that it all functions and is very easy to read.
Persona 5 Royal also has a few quality-of-life functions that really aid in pushing through any sort of grind or being at a loss on what to do. Conversations and battles can be sped up in case some of the chatter or fights start to push past your attention span. Battles can be blitzed through should you simply want to allow the AI to take control of most fighters or simply to speed through the fight itself. And, should you tire of the subway chatter or scenes that have Tokyo’s population discussing current affairs or even through any conversation you can have here, you can speed through all of that as well. This allows additional playthroughs to be less of a chore considering the game is a hefty 100+ to really soak up everything this game has to offer. Lastly, you can use the Persona Network to see what choices other players made on what to do at any given time, such as hanging out with a confidant, doing laundry, or leveling up in Mementos.
Persona 5 Royal is a masterwork of its genre. This is a game that is beyond refined and stands atop its peers. Its characters, story, and stylish charm fill every second of its world with so much to do that you literally won’t have time to pull it all off. From the complexity of its social links to min-maxing the Personas themselves, P5R offers a wealth of variety in how you go about each and every option available to you and gives you almost unlimited freedom in tinkering with everything and everyone you have at your disposal. With Persona 5 Royal being available on every major platform, and even part of Game Pass, you now have no reason to not dive headfirst into this legendary JRPG.
Developer - P-Studio. Publisher - SEGA. Released - October 21st, 2022 / Original PS4 Release October 31st, 2019. Available On - Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One/Series X/S, Windows, Steam Deck. Rated - (M) Blood, Drug Reference, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Violence. Platform Reviewed - Windows Key - Steam Deck. Review Access - A review code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.