“A crown of kisses to the queen of dreams.”
Without going too deep into current events so as not to date this review, lately more than ever we’ve been experiencing an object lesson on the nature of power and authority. To what extent should one submit when authority declares that they know what’s best? What freedoms are we willing to surrender just because we’re asked – or told – to do so? When is it proper to question, even when the systems that surround us discourage or punish questioning? The answers might vary based on your culture, your identity or your beliefs. Some might have more to gain or lose from rebellion than others, after all.
These questions lie at the heart of Persona 5, the latest in the long-running series of psychological fantasy RPGs. It was a solid contender for one of the best games of 2016, competing with the likes of Pokémon Sun and Moon and the remake of DOOM. Over the years it’s beome a fan favorite in the genre, with the protagonist even earning a coveted slot in the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster despite Persona 5 itself never having made its way to a Nintendo console.
Given the game’s status as a definitive title for the PlayStation 4, it should come as no surprise that Persona 5 has seen an updated re-release in Persona 5 Royal. It’s the classic adventure all gussied up for a second outing, with new features, content and excitement abound. RPG fans who haven’t tried the original are in for a treat here, but players who’ve already experienced the Phantom Thieves’ adventure will find it worthwhile to come back and see things in a new light.
If you’re new here: Persona 5 follows the adventures of the Phantom Thieves and their leader Joker, a group of high school misfits brought together and granted supernatural powers. Their job is to infiltrate Palaces, mental dungeons formed from the cognition of evildoers, and covertly force those evildoers to confess their crimes to the world through the simultaneously literal-and-figurative act of stealing their most valuable possession, their Treasure. Along the way they’ll come under fire from both the real-world authorities and the Shadows, demonic Palace guardians, but they’ll persevere using the manifested power of the subconscious. That’s the Cliff’s Notes version, anyway.
Visuals: 9/10
Persona 5 always oozed style and Royal just lays it on even thicker. PS4 Pro owners will enjoy some improved graphical effects like better shading, while everything runs a bit more smoothly regardless of platform and the experience as a whole just feels cleaner. The ‘Persona’ series’ expert use of color continues here with a red-and-black motif intended to represent the darker themes of the narrative and the shady profession of the heroes. Character and monster design alike is top-notch, offering plenty to examine for the armchair analyst, and dungeons look even better with the additional graphical TLC. Persona 5 looked amazing and Royal just looks better.
Audio: 9/10
This is one of the best soundtracks in all of gaming. We’re going past genre or platform here, it’s just great. The Phantom Thieves’ adventures are highlighted by a chill combination of jazz and funk that emphasizes panache. My sole complaint is that Royal introduces a new battle theme, “Take Over,” for when you surprise an enemy, which is most of what you’ll be doing as you explore… and it’s not as good as the original “Last Surprise.” But that song’s still present, so I’ll dock a point and we’ll move on.
Gameplay: 8/10
It almost goes without saying that Royal exists to tweak Persona 5 with some additional content and gameplay changes. The new content is the main reason to check this release out as opposed to the original, since it comprises another 30 hours or so when you consider the lengthened main story, additional Confidant relationships and altered Palace dungeons. Persona 5 was never a short game by any means, but it’s also hard to say about getting more of a good thing. The additional main story content – including new characters Kasumi and Maruki – is absolutely fantastic, adding a lot to the experience without feeling “fanfictiony” as can often be the case with RPG expansions, and the new grappling hook mechanic makes traversing the dungeons feel fresh and new again. Randomly-generated dungeon Mementos, meanwhile, includes a new shopkeeper character and the associated floral currency used to pay him, making the delving experience a little more fresh and a lot more rewarding.
That said, one quirk that might divide fans of the original release is that the majority of changes and additions to the gameplay feel like they were intended to make Persona 5 Royal an easier game. Firearms are fully reloaded between each battle rather than remaining empty for entire Palace runs, for instance. Characters can learn high-powered Showtime combo attacks that are visually impressive, particularly deadly and cost nothing to use. Mementos’ revamp serves largely to give the player enormous amounts of financial and medical resources thanks to a seemingly ill-considered item multiplier bonus. The new Confidants offer enormous passive benefits to Joker, turning him into more of a versatile killing machine than he already was. Even the new Disaster Shadows, which counterattack upon being struck but explode and damage their allies when defeated, tend to be useful tools more than tactical considerations. If you’ve already played through OG Persona 5, you’re advised to crank the difficulty up a notch or two.
Challenge: 7/10
As mentioned above, Persona 5 Royal is, by default, a considerably easier game than the original. You’ve got so much more in the way of resources, both offensively and defensively, that once you’ve got the swing of things you have nothing to fear. Adding to that, Royal also comes with a free download that installs all of the original game’s DLC, which includes both ultra-powerful Personas and the ultra-powerful items they can be converted into. It’s one way of rushing through the game to reach the new main story content as quickly as possible, I suppose, but doing so does spoil the experience a bit.
In what seems to be an attempt to address this, most of the game’s bosses have been significantly revamped, gaining new attacks, skills and battle mechanics, making them much more powerful and allowing them to serve as significant difficulty spikes between story segments. True to ‘Shin Megami Tensei’ tradition, “more powerful bosses” tends to mean that you’re going to have to reload a couple of times until you’ve got an idea for what the game expects. That’s going to be a love-it-or-hate-it kind of thing, though series vets have probably come to expect difficult boss battles and won’t be too surprised.
Accessibility: 8/10
Accessibility tends to be the opposite side of the coin from challenge, but here the two go hand in hand. By default, Persona 5 Royal makes for an excellent introduction to the ‘Shin Megami Tensei’ franchise. SMT’s focus on exploiting enemy weaknesses is front and center, with both regular enemy battles and bosses reinforcing concepts and teaching the player as they go. Where veterans might find the game to be too easy, they’ve got some brutal higher-difficulty options to pursue, while newcomers are sure to find that Persona 5 Royal suits them nicely. To that end, in fact, it could serve as a gateway to other, more difficult games in the same franchise, including the prior ‘Persona’ titles. it’s hard to ask for more from an accessibility point of view.
Replayability: 4/10
Well…it’s a hundred-hour RPG. As great as it is, there’s a fair chance this is already going to be your second time playing Persona 5, so it’s tough to say if you’re going to want to drop 300 hours total…but who’s to say? (Incidentally, much of the furor surrounding Atlus’ streaming restrictions on Persona 5 arose because Atlus fully intends this game to be a “singular story playthrough,” so it seems like they don’t plan for players to go through this one again either.)
Uniqueness: 7/10
This is the Japanese RPG taken to its extremes. There’s tons of content, tons of style, tons of strategy (if you’re playing on the higher difficulties as suggested) and it’s all presented in about as clean a fashion as possible. On the other hand, it’s also a Persona 3-style school life simulator/dungeon crawler and heaven knows we’ve seen plenty of those since that game hit it big. Innovation for innovation’s sake isn’t necessarily a great thing, as we’ve seen time and again in the indie games scene, and Persona 5 focuses more on refinement rather than revolution. That’s fine. It works.
Personal: 9/10
Look, this is a hundred-hour game. There’s going to be parts that drag a little. You’ll finish a Palace dungeon and have a few weeks to burn on nothing but Confidant interactions and Mementos, even in Royal, and that’s an unfortunate remnant of Persona 3‘s revamp of the JRPG genre and a traditional games industry hesitant to modify what works. Sometimes you’ll get one-shot by a boss and have to replay scenes as you work to understand why. Not all of the Confidants are especially interesting but you’re expected to interact with all of them regardless. And… again, the new battle theme isn’t as good as the one from the original game. I’m not hung up on that at all, no way.
On the other hand, controlling Joker and the Phantom Thieves as they delve into the Metaverse and steal bad guys’ hearts is exhilarating. This is a game that desperately wants you to love it and, in the end, it’s hard not to do just that. So I’m going to hand this one a nine and say that, regardless, you’re going to enjoy 95% of your time with Persona 5 Royal. This is one of the best games available on the PlayStation 4 and one of the best Japanese RPGs ever created. If you’ve got the appropriate hardware and taste, it’s in your best interest to check it out.
Aggregated Score: 7.6
Cory G. believes the pen is mightier than the sword…well, depending on how sharp the pen and sword are. A child of the ’90s and a prolific writer, he strews his work about like Legos made of words, just waiting for your brain to step on them. He enjoys a devilish challenge, so when it comes to talking about some of the more difficult games out there, you might just run into the Infernal Accountant Mage. Some advice: hold on to your soul around this guy, and don’t sign anything. Read more at popzara.com.
