See AI Summary of Review

Persona 5 Royal is the definitive edition of Atlus’s award-winning JRPG, thrusting players into the double life of a high school student in modern-day Tokyo. By day, you navigate the complexities of teenage life – exams, part-time jobs, and relationships. By night, you are a Phantom Thief, entering the Metaverse to steal the distorted desires of corrupt individuals. This enhanced release expands the original with a new arc, new characters, and refined mechanics.

Pros

• 🎨 Unmatched Visual Style: The UI, transitions, silhouettes, and color usage are super artistic; no other game comes close to this level of polish and style.
• 🎵 GOATed Soundtrack: A stellar, catchy collection of acid jazz and rock that destroys your typical video game soundtrack and goes into musical masterpiece territory.
• 🏙️ Peak Tokyo Vibe: The setting being the capital of Japan is immersive and alive, making it feel really like the definitive Persona experience.
• 🔫 Peak of Turn-Based Combat: Fast-paced turn-based action with fun mechanics like weaknesses, ranged gun attacks, showtime attacks, and baton-passes.
• ❤️ Emotional Depth: The story creeps up on you, evolving from a slow start into a deeply moving journey.

Cons

• 🐌 Tutorial Slog: The first 10 hours are a heavily guided, restrictive introduction before the game truly opens up.
• 🔒 Missable Definitive Ending: The massive “Royal” content expansion (and definitive Ending) is easily missed if you don’t max a specific Confidant.

I haven’t played the original Persona 5 before this, so this was my first time experiencing the acclaimed fifth Persona entry. I came into Persona 5 Royal expecting a solid RPG, considering my experience with Persona 3, but I wasn’t prepared for it to completely win me over. What starts as a slow burn eventually explodes into what I consider the peak of the entire franchise and an interest that spans multiple games and even the Anime adaptation. For me, it nails the fantasy of being a highschool teenage vigilante so perfectly that it’s hard to imagine how Atlus can top this.

Style and Substance

The first thing that grabs you is the visual style. It is simply unmatched. From the transitions and the silhouette work to the aggressive use of colors, predominantly red and black in the stylized menus, everything is super artistic. No other game even comes close to having this complete “package” of presentation, with the possible exception of newer Persona games.

This art style is backed by an absolutely stellar soundtrack. The acid-jazz-infused soundtrack is catchy, smooth, and easily listenable even for those not playing the game. Initially, I thought Persona 3’s music was better, but Persona 5 is an acquired taste that hits hard once it settles in. By the time the credits rolled, I felt the music was on par, if not better, than the games in the series. I constantly have it on my playlist and on repeat. It’s just that good. And it perfectly reminds you of the good times you have playing this game as well.

The setting itself is a character on its own. The Tokyo vibe is amazing, bustling with life and distinct locations. They really did Tokyo justice in this game, creating a world that feels busy and alive. Aside from the usual fictionalized brands, streets, and transit lines, the recreation is faithful. This backdrop adds a layer of grandeur to the experience; the setting being the capital of Japan made me feel like this game is the ‘capital’ or the flagship experience of the entire Persona series. 

Part of me wishes I had played this before my trip to Japan last year so I could have recognized the spots in real life, but playing it now creates a wonderful sense of familiarity. It has aged incredibly well even if the game is approaching 10 years old at this point. With how the artstyle is, this kind of game is truly timeless.

Gameplay That Will Change Your Life

Turn-based RPGs can sometimes drag, especially with repetitiveness, but Persona 5 Royal is fun, challenging, and engaging. The combat flows with incredible speed, centered around the addictive loop of exploiting enemy weaknesses, countering enemy types, and finding the right party and skill composition. Hitting a weakness knocks an enemy down and grants you a ‘One More’ action, but the real magic happens with the Baton Pass. This mechanic lets you shift your extra turn to a teammate, boosting their damage and recovery. It turns simple encounters into a stylish relay race and combo of destruction. And its even more fun if you can chain those things together to get a higher bonus and also keep the streak going.

Once everyone is down, the signature ‘All-Out Attack’ makes its return, allowing your team to gang up on the enemies for massive damage, capped off with a victory screen so stylish you’ll want to screenshot it for every character. There is also a Showtime attack that was added in the Royal Edition, which is a unique and powerful combined duo attack of any two of the party members.

I also particularly love the inclusion of new ranged attacks (guns). It gives the combat a distinct flavor and adds an additional option of attack instead of the usual choice between basic attack and using skills.

Furthermore, the dungeon crawling (Palaces) feels vastly superior to many of its peers. The dungeon design and platforming here are actually better than in Atlus’s newer fantasy title, Metaphor: ReFantazio. Persona 5 Royal still wins on the complexity and verticality of its dungeon layouts, as well as including a somewhat barebones but still compelling stealth mechanic. It proves that despite being older, P5R has aged like fine wine and is still unique enough.

Beneath The Mask

Persona 5 Royal thrusts players into the double life of a high school student in modern-day Tokyo. Student by day, Phantom Thief by night. Narratively, this structure works wonders. It allows the game to tackle heavy themes of rebellion, corruption, and societal pressure with a slice-of-life nuance rarely seen in the genre or at all in video games.

What makes Persona 5 Royal truly special is how it balances the supernatural with the mundane. Not a lot of games have this as an element where you are also living a regular life on top of heroic activities. Most games only have you as the larger-than-life hero, not a regular person with a daily routine. 

The slice-of-life elements are surprisingly addictive. Whether it’s answering pop quizzes in class, working a part-time job at a beef bowl shop, roaming Shibuya shopping for supplies, hitting the batting cages with a friend, or going on a date with a classmate, managing your daily schedule is just as compelling as fighting demons or ‘Shadows’.

At the heart of this social simulation is the Confidant system (relationships) like we’ve seen in past Persona games. The cast is incredibly diverse, ranging from your party members to a back-alley doctor and a washed-up politician. The writing here is top-tier; each character has their own struggles and arcs that feel genuine and relatable. Spending time with them isn’t just for narrative fluff, either - it directly feeds into your power and feels like its part of the whole narrative instead of just filler episodes. Ranking up a relationship might unlock crucial combat abilities, dungeon crawling perks, or store discounts, making every social interaction feel rewarding. 

My only minor gripe is that less critical dialogues aren’t fully voice-acted. However, given the massive 100+ hour scope of the game, this is a forgivable compromise, especially since the stellar art direction and JRPG format keeps even the silent text boxes engaging.

The overarching story also deserves praise. As said earlier, it tackles heavy themes of rebellion, corruption, and societal pressure. As well as properly and carefully dealing with more mature themes such as harassment, abuse, and self-harm.  

While the plot creates a slow burn, the payoff is immense, creating a narrative momentum that makes you genuinely care about your ragtag group of misfits and their fight to change hearts. By the time the game ends, you would have interacted with the characters for over 100 hours by then.

The Royal Pains and Gains

However, the game is not without its flaws. The tutorial / introduction section is a bit of a slog. While still overall interesting, it still takes around the first 10 hours to introduce the gist of the game — the first starting mechanics and characters — before you are finally set free to enjoy the slice-of-life elements and dungeon crawling at your own pace. 

There are also some missing minor Quality of Life (QoL) features; such as the inability to preview costumes in the menu, skip/pause being bound to the same button depending on the cutscene/dialogue leading to confusion and mis-skips until you get used to it, and afternoon to night segments being weirdly short and paced**.** For the costumes for example, you have to equip them, exit the menu, look at the character, and go back in if you don’t like it. For a game so focused on style, this is a baffling omission.

Most critically, the Royal side content — which adds over 10 hours of gameplay and a new ending — is easily missable. There is a hard requirement to unlock the third semester: you must rank up a certain counselor confidant before a specific date (date is mentioned in the game). A lot of people miss this and think this isn’t a crucial thing to do, and then get locked out of the new Royal ending. My advice: prioritize the confidant, and use all your save slots to properly space your progression apart so you don’t lose a lot progress if you make a mistake. Aside from that, Royal also added some minor additions like the aforementioned Showtime attacks, new locations, and expanded some of the gameplay mechanics.

Lastly, I have just a small bone to pick with the business model. Atlus should stop selling the game all over again just for the extra content. Royal should have been just a DLC expansion, with Persona 5: Royal being the definitive edition that includes the base game and the Royal DLC.

There also needs to be a better way to handle bonus content for players who already finished the original Persona 5. We need features like a “Chapter Select,” the ability to skip fights, or a “Load Game+” that lets returning veterans jump straight to the new content. Asking Persona 5 players to replay a 100-hour game just to see the new 10+ hours is a big ask.

Conclusion:

Its a bit of an acquired taste, as with the eccentricity of the Persona games, but at the end of the day, Persona 5 Royal is a total masterpiece. Despite approaching almost a decade old now, Persona 5 remains a towering achievement and a benchmark in the JRPG scene. As far as JRPG titles go, I would even rank Persona 5 Royal higher than the recent highly acclaimed game, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 or Atlus’ own recent game Metaphor.

From the stylish combat and addictive social simulation to the incredible soundtrack and Tokyo atmosphere, it is a package that feels complete and lovingly crafted. The Royal Edition refines everything that made the original special and adds layers of depth that elevate it to new heights. Its not just added flavor but something that completely overhauls the experience, especially the ending - Provided that you don’t accidentally miss it.

While it demands a significant time investment, every hour spent in this world feels earned and rewarding. It is, without a doubt, the definitive way to play one of the best games of this generation and the next. If you have the time to commit to it, it is an experience you won’t regret.