Persona 5 Royal Review: Show Me Your True Form

From the characters, to plot, to music, to gameplay, this game is a masterpiece that everyone should enjoy.

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Persona 5 Royal is one of the greatest games of all time. A perfect balance of plot, characters, and gameplay, any RPG lover will find joy in playing the game. Even with DLC added straight to the game, players have the option to use the bonuses, which allows that player to tailor their experience to their comfort levels. The soundtrack is also a bop, so everyday tasks in the game are never boring.

The Persona franchise has always been something that I’ve heard of, but since most of the games were found on non-Nintendo systems, it was hard for me to get my hands on a game that I could play. I was first exposed to Joker, the protagonist of Persona 5, probably like how most people got exposed to him, his addition to the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC.

I was also exposed to this character during collaboration events in a game called Another Eden, which by the way is a great mobile game. With Persona 5’s popularity, Atlus, the developers, eventually released an expansion to the core game in the form of Persona 5 Royal. Not only was the DLC from the base game added, but an extra semester was added to this game. If that doesn’t make sense, I’ll explain more about it in the coming article.

When the game went on sale a month ago, I decided to get it. Little did I know, this purchase would send me on an adventure with the Phantom Thieves of Hearts that lasted over 115 hours of gameplay on a first play-through.

This right here is your spoiler warning. I’m going to go in depth of many aspects of Persona 5 Royal. This is a game that you should 100% experience first before it gets spoiled. After beating the game, I’ll never be able to experience all the twists fresh. So, do yourself a favor and play the game. You won’t regret it. I will leave the plot spoilers at the end of the article, so until then, enjoy reading about the other aspects of Persona 5 Royal.

Still here? Then let’s get started with some of the great things about Persona 5 Royal.

So, to start, I’m going to explain the gameplay a bit. The game follows a self-inserted protagonist. The canon name is Ren Amamiya, but players get the chance to name the protagonist after whoever they want. In this game, you are a second year in a Japanese high school system. Over the course of a year, you experience day to day life as a high school student, as well as the excursions of the Phantom Thieves.

Gameplay follows a circular path: spend the day as a student, then have the chance to explore Palaces, this game’s version of dungeons, then spend any free time boosting ones social stats or building bonds with your companions. Simple in concept, but it promotes time management to plan out ways to achieve your goals.

Now, inside the dungeons, known as Palaces, the party will face off against enemies known as Shadows. Besides melee weapons and guns, the party also has access to Personas, the physical embodiment of their rebellious spirit. In most RPGs, the player has to manage two gauges, HP and MP. In order to use skills, most games use MP to cast magic and whatnot.

What I found interesting about Persona is the fact that skills can be activated using MP or HP. Magic abilities are obviously tied to MP consumption, but I found it interesting that physical skills need HP to cast. It added another layer of depth to combat that I didn’t expect. You can use a strong physical attack, but it leaves you more vulnerable to getting knocked out. Very cool.

The main gimmick with protagonists of the Persona franchise is that they can use many different kinds of Personas. This was really fun gameplay wise, since it opened up many avenues to tackle the problems in the end. Each Persona is unique, so the possibilities are endless. While the protagonist has the power of the wild card, the rest of the party members only have access to their original Personas, so it was interesting seeing how Joker, and his ability to wield multiple Personas, fills in the gaps of the group. Battles are turn based, just like many RPGs out there. So, if you’re used to games like Pokémon or Final Fantasy, you’ll have no trouble here.

So quick side note here. The DLC of this game gives players access to special Personas that honestly break the game. If you are here to experience the story, using these strong Personas is a great way to speed up fights to experience the story. If you’re here for a challenge, you can always ignore these gifts as well. I appreciate this about Royal, since the benefits aren’t forced upon you. You have access to game breaking things, but it’s up to you if you want to use them or not.

Now, gameplay aside, the next topic I want to cover is the music. Persona 5 Royal not only has the original soundtrack in its game, but new songs were added as well. Playing through the game, I realized how great each song was, and how they all fit the atmosphere around them. I’ve played many games before, but Persona 5 Royal’s soundtrack holds a dear place in my heart. Almost every song is a banger, which is surprising.

Even while writing this review right now, most of the songs I’m listening to are from the soundtrack. If you want examples, the battle themes Last Surprise and Take Over are great songs. They have an upbeat beat, which makes getting into combat a bop. Besides that, the Palaces all have unique themes that are also surprisingly catchy. Songs like Price are great for the ambiance, and it isn’t tiring to listen to as you spend hours infiltrating the Palace. Besides combat and Palace themes, overworld themes are great as well.

Most of the time in the real world, you’ll be listening to Beneath the Mask as you do your daily tasks. Being a calming song, it really compliments the tasks you’re doing, while being different enough from the battle songs that everything melds perfectly together. The last song I want to mention that’s a classic has to be Swear to My Bones. Mostly used in emotional moments between characters and the protagonist, it sends chills down my spine when it plays. Overall, very solid soundtrack that I listen to constantly.

The next area I want to cover is going to be characters. Now this section will start having some slight spoilers, so please keep that in mind. With all that said, let’s talk about The Phantom Thieves and their allies.

The playable characters in Persona 5 Royal belong to the Phantom Thieves. I think the best part of the characters in the game is that all of them are fleshed out and feel real. The only way to truly experience each character is to build Confidant bonds with them, but this happens pretty naturally, because not only does this offer benefits while in combat or in Palaces, but it fleshes out the characters.

When first introduced to characters, they might seem hollow, but all of them have great development. Take Makoto Niijima for example. Originally, she’s the student council president. Uptight and trying to live up to the expectations set for her, she eventually breaks free from those parts tying her down to reveal her true self. When it comes to the base game, she is definitely my favourite character. Even more eccentric characters, like Yusuke Kitagawa, have their places within the Thieves and the story. I don’t know if I have any other game that made me care so much about the cast.

Another benefit of bringing these characters to life is the voice acting. When I first started playing the game, I wasn’t sure which language to have it set in. Although Japanese was great, the English dubbing was also solid. Now, in their speech, the honorifics are used, so to non-native speakers, it might be weird to hear that translated to English. Either way, it added more to their characters, which I’m all for.

Besides the main cast, I loved all the villains too. Since the game is all about changing the hearts of rotten adults, I loved the way each villain felt real and had tangible faults. Some were pitiable, but their voice acting really helped convey their evil side. Kamoshida, the first boss of the game, had the perfect balance of menace and charisma, which made him a dangerous person. Honestly, great characters, and 10/10 on the voice acting. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The final aspect I want to talk about is the plot. And oh boy, what a story it was. This is your final warning for spoilers. Persona 5 Royal is a game that you need to experience yourself. Knowing all the twists does ruin the experience. So, if you do have plans to play the game, go ahead and do that now, then come back. If not, you’ve been warned.

Alright, with that in place let’s get started.

First thing’s first, I have to say the prologue does a wonderful job introducing the game and setting everything up. I love how the majority of the game ends up being a flashback. In the game, Joker is caught during one of their infiltrations of a Palace to steal the Treasure to start a change of heart. After getting caught, he gets the chance to speak with a lawyer, which is where the story begins. You flashback a year, and get to explain your actions from there up until Joker gets caught. It’s an interesting premise, though it is a bit confusing if you aren’t paying attention.

Since this game operates on a calendar system, I really enjoyed when the story flashed forwards to the present. The current date is always in the top left corner, and when flashing to the interrogation, the dates flip fast in the corner. My favourite detail about this is that when you get to the present, the days slow down, which is a fun detail.

Small details aside, the plot itself is captivating. I liked how the whole story went from changing the hearts of people to make them good again, to fighting the god of control. They built up everything perfectly and the foreshadowing was done masterfully. The twists came out of nowhere, and they also evoked the most amount of shock from me. Certain betrayals were nice twists, but at the same time, they were set up with enough hints throughout the story that you could’ve seen it coming. If you paid attention, you’d see it. Either way, it was great.

Once the player catches up to the present, the game really takes a dive to the darkness. The game is rated M for a reason. The game doesn’t shy from controversial topics like assault and death. Honestly, it’s refreshing to see a piece of media dive into the nitty gritty of the real world.

After the main story, the added semester created for Royal was a fun experience. There is a party member that joins in this last Palace, but I wish we got to play with them more. However, story wise, I loved their integration. It felt natural in the main story, and the expansion really fleshed out their character. Overall, just a fun way to end off the game.  

The final thing to mention is that the game features many animated cutscenes. There is about an hour of hand drawn animated cutscenes throughout the game. Now this might seem like a lot, but it’s only 1% of the total game, since you will be playing for over 100 hours.

Persona 5 Royal was an experience like no other. It’s a been awhile since I’ve felt this way about a game. From the characters, to plot, to music, to gameplay, this game is a masterpiece that everyone should enjoy. It is totally worth the 100+ hours you’ll sink into the game.