Persona 5 Royal varies-with-devices

Definitive edition for Persona 5

Persona 5 Royal is a roleplaying game developed by Atlus. This is the definitive edition of the Persona 5 game. Here, players can get added content to the popular 2016 action RPG. It adds an extra semester at the end of the vanilla game. This semester comes with its story segment and palace.

More than that, P5R also introduces new characters and two new possible endings to the game. It also offers battle changes and tweaks to the combat. However, if you already play Persona 5, playing this one means essentially playing through the entire thing again.

What's new?

As mentioned, Persona 5 Royal adds a new semester at the end of Persona 5. This new semester comes with its own story segment and palace, which translate to around a month of time to clear the palace and mop up any unfinished confidants. However, you will find that the additional plot section isa little tacked on. It also doesn't blend seamlessly with what came before it.

Besides a new semester, this edition also introduces new confidants, Takuto Maruki and Kasumi Yoshizawa. It also improved the detective prince Goro Akechi, who has an entirely different confidant arc. Unlike the original, he does not level up automatically. Joker has to spend time with him like everyone else. However, you can only see a different side to his character if all content is unlocked.

As there is a new story section, players could also expect new potential endings. Note that while you can technically get the old one, you can only unlock the extra semester by maxing all-new confidants within a set time scale. Additionally, you can only experience the new bad ending by reaching the new semester. As noted, this game also made tweaks to the battle systems, improving the game.

Raising the P5 stakes

Aside from the new storyline and a new party member, Persona 5 Royal adds a lot of other content. A whole new location, Kichijoji, is now available — and it’s the single largest real-world location in the entire Persona 5. It has a club you can visit to explore new interactions and bonding events. It has a darts minigame you can play while improving the baton pass for each character. Although it also has an interactive billiards table, it doesn’t come with a minigame.

Additionally, the Phantom Thieves now have stronger Showtime attacks, which are tag-team moves between certain characters and are unlocked as a part of the story. All Palaces are also reworked, with some locations now containing new secrets that warrant revisiting. Also, there are a couple of quality-of-life improvements, such as ammo restocking after every battle and rebalancing the enemies. Also, the calendar got a rework, allowing you to pursue additional interactions with a slightly relaxed timeframe.

Is it worth it?

Overall, P5R is essentially improving the excellent. It brings new content to the original game and introduces new characters. The gameplay is also improved, and there is more spare time to do a bigger range of activities. Virtually every change made ensures that this edition is far easier than Persona 5. That means a lack of challenge for hardcore fans though. Thankfully, you can adjust the difficulty setting.