Persona 5 Royalis finally making its way to PC, Switch, and Xbox X|S, and players who haven’t had the opportunity to experience the highly acclaimed Japanese RPG masterpiece will finally be able to lose themselves in its charming and utterly fascinating world. A social-sim with heaps of combat, RPG elements, hilarious interactions, and a story that absolutely captivates,Persona 5 Royalis a big step up from its original and will captivate both old and new players and even those that dislike RPGs or JRPGs.
When developer P-Studio andpublisher Atlus first releasedPersona 5in 2017, they were obviously hoping for success with the newest game in the long-runningPersonaseries. Both companies probably didn’t expect to be releasing a game that would garner almost universal praise for almost every characteristic and attribute that games are judged with. Now, after over 5 million copies sold before coming to PC, Switch, and Xbox, as well as a multitude of awards and cast members making their way to other games likeSuper Smash Bros. UltimateorPersona 5: Dancing in Starlight, it isn’t hard to see whyPersona 5 Royalmight be one of those titles where its greatness won’t soon be forgotten.
Fans experienced with the original version ofPersona 5won’t find any drastic changes to thegame they fell in love with. Instead, thePersona 5 Royalversion works hard to improve almost every part of the game without taking anything away. There are new friends as well as new enemies, changes to most boss fights, more clothing options for the squad, a new interactive gallery mode called Thieves Den, new music to enjoy, and a few tweaks to puzzles and some gameplay that most won’t notice but will enjoy all the same. There are even new combo attacks where characters team up to devastate their opponents together. Though these new attacks aren’t usable until deeper into the game, it is just an example of P-Studio and Atlus adding something fun to an already enjoyable system without taking anything away.
One of the biggest changes previous players will notice first is the addition of new social contacts. In a game that already had quite a few options for what to do in the player’s day-to-day life, these additions are valuable alternatives to what was originally offered and expand the user’s choices significantly. Players will be pleasantly surprised at what some of these new associates can give, while still remaining completely optional. There are still awesomebenefits to maxing out these new relationships, and most add surprising thought and context to a game already full of deep thoughts and cognitive issues.
Thetweaks toPersona 5 Royal’s boss fightsare mostly positive changes, with some exchanging the order of the boss’s different phases during the fight, while others have added entirely new phases to the conflict. Those that have memorized the fights in the originalPersona 5won’t find it too difficult to quickly pick up on the differences and how to deal with them, but a few boss fights did get significantly easier due to their rearranging, while a few got more difficult, but most changes added definitive improvements to player engagement overall.
Persona 5 Royalalso received a noticeable graphical upgrade from its days as a PS3 game. The game is more colorful and impressive than its already gorgeous original version, and fans will be struck at just how pretty the game can be even outside its anime cutscenes. Character graphics are crisp, enemies are well-defined and don’t sink into or stand-out from backgrounds, and traveling around the various areas doesn’t cause framerate drops or any stuttering.The aforementioned cutscenes arestill a highlight of the game and anyone who isn’t paying attention might think the game was stopped, and an anime show or movie was turned on instead based on its quality.
Fans of the originalPersona 5will undoubtedly notice that right from the start there is a rather large list of summon-able shadows that didn’t exist in the original. Some of these have skills that might seem overpowered given the ease at which they are obtainable but the trade-off of havingthese overpowered shadows early onis the a higher SP cost. Some users will see this as a crutch and avoid it entirely, while some may find that having an overpowered ally makes the game more gratifying. Either choice can work, and they aren’t needed to enjoy the game at all but are a nice option in case someone gets stuck somewhere.
These changes might not sound like a lot, but they all mesh together to make a great game even better. Something assimple as the new grappling hookcan give players a sense of vertical depth that the original version lacked. In fact, a lot of the new secrets located in dungeons are put at the end of a grappling hook location, making it a tool that can expand explorable areas. It is also used in some places to change how puzzles are solved entirely, making a few of the challenges slightly easier than before. Most puzzles withinPersona 5are pretty simple already, but this change at least adds a wrinkle to some players' problem-solving that helps make them a little more memorable.
For anyone brand new to the game,Persona 5 Royalis a turn-based RPG where the party fights against and captures creatures from mythic tales and stories, a staple of theMegami Tensaiseries of games for years. Users have a variety of ways to make their targets submissive enough to be captured, and captured creatures (or shadows as they are known in-game) can be fused together to create others.Persona 5 Royaleven expands on this basic system by giving characters more ways to down or capture targets, but the system as a whole is a joy to play with very few annoyances. It has even drawn in many fans who dislike turn-based combat, only to find themselves eager to capture or kill their next foe to see its skills or who it can be fused with to create an elusive shadow. When not fighting shadows thegame switches to a more social-centric focusgiving players choices on where, and also whom, they want to spend their time. Activities can vary from fishing, visiting temples, going to movie theaters, or just eating in a maid café. Users are given a lot of chances to increase their rapport with other characters during these times by just hanging out, choosing locations to visit together, or even going on dates. Increasing the protagonist’s relationships with people can grant small or huge bonuses that can greatly affect the way users go about playing.
It is difficult todiscuss even the smallest aspects of the storywithout concerns about spoiling a valuable first-time experience. Going in with the least amount of knowledge will allow new players the same type of joy that first-time users had back in 2017. The game weaves a riveting tale from start to finish, with themes of self-reflection and the difficulties in changing someone’s heart and how their experiences and doubts can intertwine throughout not only their lives, but also everyone around them as well. It really doesn’t drag anywhere except maybe during the in-game days waiting to ascertain the next target, but even then there are so many social choices to do in the interim that it’s actually hard to be bored.
Standard RPG components are all here: upgrading armor, melee, and ranged weapons with money or finding new ones while exploring dungeons, a leveling system that determines who players can capture to fight for them, and enemies with weaknesses and strengths that you determine as you battle them. It might sound basic, and in truth, most of the combat feels pretty standard when starting out. Find a weakness, attack it with that weakness, then enjoy the victory.Persona 5 Royaldoes this loop so well, while adding in special skill uses and battle cutscenes, most users won’t get bored until they’ve delved extremely deeply into the game. Juggling monster skills can be a little intimidating at first with just how many skills each can have and if players want to maximize their abilities. It’s daunting sometimes, but after many hours of playing most users will figure out ways to streamline the process of figuring out which skills to keep and which to abandon.
The game’s music remains one of the most positive aspects of the game, with only minor additions to battle music and fixes to a few bugs left over from the PS3 days. It still carries some of thecatchiest tunes to ever grace a video game, and was another part of what captured the hearts of the fans so easily. It’s such a good blend of different musical styles, from pop to funk mixes and everything in-between, that users won’t even want to skip the games opening cinematic tune. Every sound effect carries weight behind it, every voice carries their characters' personality well, and none sound so off-putting that it ruins the immersion. The differences in the Japanese and English voices can be hilarious sometimes, but it doesn’t change how well they go with their respective characters.
While a lot of dialogue is voiced amazingly well, some story sections and messages on the protagonist’s phone are just conversations that need to be read. Some users may feel slightly put off byhaving such a large amount to read, but it never feels like it drags the story down or slows progress in any meaningful way. There is a fast-forward button, but using it on a first play-through will cause players to miss some very important plot points. The game also had a few z-axis lighting issues on the PC version, but these are barely noticeable without looking for them. Also, anyone looking for a game that will challenge them with puzzle-solving will need to look elsewhere. Most puzzles in dungeons merely require finding an item, defeating a specific enemy, or remembering a set of codes to turn off alarms and are not difficult to solve at all.
WhenPersona 5came out in 2017, it stole the hearts and minds of millions of gamers. Many players who avoided the JRPG genre entirely would find themselves strangelycaptivated by the tale of the Phantom Thieves. Some even found themselves searching for and playing previousPersonagames simply based on how goodPersona 5is.From its captivating music and memorable story to its gorgeous style, every aspect of the game seems to mesh together and work incredibly well. Each piece builds up and compliments the next, until the game is justified in standing atop the RPG genre as royalty. With its release onto PC, Switch, and Xbox X|S,Persona 5 Royalwill finally conquer the last locations it had been absent from, and a whole new set of gamers will get the chance to undoubtedly fall in love with this masterpiece.
Persona 5 Royalreleases on Jul 29, 2025 for PC, Switch, and Xbox X|S. Game Rant was provided a PC code for this review.
Persona 5 Royal
WHERE TO PLAY
Don the mask and join the Phantom Thieves of Hearts as they stage grand heists, infiltrate the minds of the corrupt, and make them change their ways! Prepare for the award-winning RPG experience in this definitive edition of Persona 5 Royal, featuring a treasure trove of downloadable content included!Forced to transfer to a high school in Tokyo, the protagonist has a strange dream. “You truly are a prisoner of fate. In the near future, ruin awaits you.” With the goal of “rehabilitation” looming overhead, he must save others from distorted desires by donning the mask of a Phantom Thief.Explore Tokyo, unlock Personas, customize your own personal Thieves Den, experience alternate endings, and more. Become the ultimate Phantom Thief and defy conventions, discover the power within, and fight for justice in the definitive version of Persona 5 Royal.
