Been a while since doing one of these, and what better game to review than the one I spent hundreds of hours on basically all throughout this year.

Persona 5 originally released in 2016, but a few years later in 2019 an expanded and improved version, Royal, was released. Since I ended up playing it on the Nintendo Switch port (released in 2022), that’s where I’m posting this review.

Persona is a JRPG (Japanese role-playing-game) franchise, and as such the gameplay reflects this both in and out of combat. A lot of focus is put on world building, character development, and the concept of making the player explore moral dilemmas and often controversial societal themes. In battle you’ll make use of different menus and action commands to deal damage and take on enemies. As is common with a lot of JRPG games, there are also external factors like character stories or quests that can give you rewards, powerups and other useful items in battle.

Graphics

As a Playstation 3 (and 4) release, Persona 5 really took advantage of the higher specs to take a huge leap in terms of graphics compared to the earlier Playstation 2 releases, including Persona 3 and 4. Everything looks cleaner, HD, and the color palette is deliberately chosen to accentuate the characters. The story is filled with animated cutscenes that are well produced and feel fun and immersive. It’s nice to transition from a classic RPG overhead look to a full on animation.

The game has a certain art style that you can find everywhere. An example of this are the textboxes when characters talk, with a few letters in every name being inverted in color. Black and white are recurring colors that again refer back to the moral dilemmas the game is centered on.

The game distinguishes between important characters and NPCs by only giving the important ones (named) a detailed face and outfit. This way it’s easy to find the relevant characters in certain cutscenes, and you can even sometimes recognize one in the background if you pay attention. Sometimes I do wish more of the background characters had personalities, but it’s a small price to pay if it means they can improve graphics elsewhere.

Lastly the game has very beautiful and stylized palaces that you get to explore, each themed around their respective owner. The art styles on these go from ancient buildings to futuristic space stations, so every new adventure feels unique. The outfits of the phantom thieves also make you feel like you’re really infiltrating these palaces, which adds to the immersion.

Sound

Persona has always been known for its fantastic soundtrack, and Persona 5 Royal is no exception. The game finds a way to add to every atmosphere with the right background track. Mundane cities make you feel like you’re just taking a stroll, story events sound exciting and fun. One of my biggest gripes with this game is that the in battle music is extremely repetitive. Every time you ambush an enemy (which you should try to do!) you hear the same old song over and over again. I sometimes chose not to ambush enemies just to try and have some variety. It’s a good song on its own but I grew sick of it after playing for a while.

The game also has voice acting! Persona is always pretty good with this, but the cast really outdid themselves here. I played in English and didn’t have many complaints. There’s this one voiceline of Ryuji (For real?!) that they blatantly copy/paste all over his dialogue, which I found funny but some do not, and Morgana can sound pretty whiny and annoying sometimes, but generally they did great. Even some of the side characters are voiced in certain parts of their story quests, although I wish they took the time to fully voice act those as well.

Addictiveness

Persona 5 Royal is a very long game. JRPGs traditionally tend to be, but I easily logged around 120-150 or so hours beating this game. And there is still content that I wasn’t able to complete all the way! That might scare more casual gamers, but I kept finding myself longing to play more and figure out where the story was going next.

The combat is very fun, relying on ambushing enemies and hitting them with attacks that target their elemental weaknesses to get damage bonuses and down them for a turn. It makes every fight a bit different, and means that you need to plan your team building appropriately to take advantage of the enemies in front of you.

Honestly sometimes I also wished I could be done exploring for the day so I could go back to the overworld and hang out there. I really love a lot of the side characters and their stories, and would look forward to hanging out with them and seeing how their life unfolds.

Story

Persona 5 Royal’s biggest selling point is its expanded story. The original Persona 5 shares most of its story with Royal, but it ends a lot sooner and it honestly felt a bit abrupt when a friend pointed this out while we were playing. I think Persona 5 Royal adds just enough content to not feel like a slog to get to the end, but it wraps everything up very nicely and focuses more on the general theme of the game.

Persona 5 Royal focuses on its protagonist Ren, or Joker as we will get to know him as. In the prologue of the game Joker gets falsely accused of sexual harassment and has to relocate away from his home as punishment. He ends up living in the attic of a café in Tokyo owned by Sojiro, a grumpy older man who accepts Joker as a favor to his parents. Joker immediately receives a very negative reputation at his new school as this criminal, which prevents him from forming many meaningful connections. Still, his teacher Kawakami sees potential in him and takes him under her wing. Eventually Joker does form some friendships, primarily through this peculiar app that suddenly finds its way on his phone. It allows him to enter the ‘Metaverse’, essentially a world where people’s subconscious thoughts and personalities reside. Soon Joker & Friends figure out that defeating certain creatures and stealing certain treasures in this world has a direct effect on how the relevant people behave in the ‘real world’.

Classic themes such as good vs evil are present in the plot of the game, but there is more nuance to it than that. Suffering and salvation is also a theme that will become more relevant as the story goes on, particularly in the Royal specific story content. Is it okay or necessary for suffering to exist in this world? Is it inevitable that there will be sadness alongside the joy? Persona 5 Royal really makes you question your own world view. It tries to provoke you into following your own personal beliefs. There are certain choices that you need to make that can drastically change the outcome of the game. That doesn’t necessarily mean these are all bad endings, but you’ll have to be careful if you want to follow the ‘true ending’.

The side stories are also worth exploring! You’ll find them by interacting with different characters, jobs, etc. throughout the districts of Tokyo.

Depth

Like I said, I clocked around 120-150 hours on the game and I still have not explored plenty of content. Next to the main story there are a bunch of side quests, minigames and more to explore. You can play certain sports like darts or baseball, both of which are very fun to try and beat the harder levels in. There are books to read, movies to watch, and even video games within your video game!

As the name implies, personas are very relevant to the game. They are the creatures that represent someone’s psyche and that Joker uses to fight in battle. Each Persona has a list of skills that it will learn, some offensive and some supportive. There is a massive list of them. Some of which you’ll encounter in the Palaces, others you have to figure out yourself how to obtain by fusing two existing Persona. If you’re a collector, try to max out your compendium!

On the main menu you can enter the thieves den. This is like a little hangout space in which you can talk to characters and also play Tycoon, a very fun card game with its own rules.

There are secret boss fights in this game that you can only access on a second playthrough. It’s up to you if you deem that worthy for a replay.

Still, the main selling point is the big main story. This game is worth every cent you pay for it (unless you get ripped off for like 200 dollars of course lol). It’s the golden standard for a modern JRPG game, and has brought so much attention to the genre here in the west.

Difficulty

Persona 5 Royal is not an easy game. Some areas in the palaces are genuinely littered with enemies, often surpassing your own level. If you get caught by them, you will get surrounded and probably slaughtered, so be careful and try to catch them off guard instead. Like many JRPG games, if your main character dies in a battle (or goes down, but dying sounds more serious) you will lose the fight and go back to your last save. Prioritize keeping Joker safe!

There are certain boss battles in this game that will genuinely be a puzzle to beat. There are certain fights in which your elements are of the highest priority, and not having access to a particular one can mean disaster. Other fights require you to time your attacks perfectly unless you want to reset the health bar. It’s okay to lose a few times, just try to learn more attack patterns as you go.

The game includes a few difficulty settings, both giving the player the option to make the game easier as well as making it more challenging. Don’t be ashamed to use these if it means improving your gaming experience! I had to do so at one particular point for my own sanity.

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Persona 5 Royal is a fantastic game for any JRPG enthusiast, and it serves as a good introduction to the genre for those interested. It has incredible characters, deep storytelling that leaves you longing for more, and plenty of other fun content to explore.

I loved the review though I'm not sure if Sexual Harassment was what Joker was accused of I think it was just normal Assault.

I might have misremembered that point. I can recall a woman being harassed in the prologue and Joker coming to her aid by getting the random man away from her, but I seem to recall that the woman later (falsely) testified that he was the one harassing her. It's been so many hours of gameplay that small details like that elude me.

SonicOlmstead :