Developed by Atlus
Published by Sega
Released October 21 2022
RPG, Life Sim
$59.99


Story
Persona 5 Royal tells the story of a young Japanese teen who has been convicted of a crime he did not commit. As he is ordered to transfer schools, his world turns upside-down as he adjusts to his new surroundings and the people he meets along the way. Soon after, however, he and his friends begin to awaken to strange, otherworldly powers and are thrust into a whole new world as they band together and harness these newfound abilities to disrupt the corruption of society as a group of modern-day gentleman criminals known as The Phantom Thieves of Hearts.

Presentation
Persona 5 Royal is one of the most visually striking games I have ever played. Every single aspect of the game's art and UI is dripping with style and charm. The unique visual style of everything from background environments, character designs, VFX, UX elements, animations and more make up one half of what gives Persona as a series it's one-of-a-kind identity.
The other half of that whole is the music. God, the music. Where do I begin? Virtually every single track in this game is a god-sent gift to mankind. The entire OST consists of truly vibe-worthy acid jazz that never seems to wear despite how long you'll be listening to the same tracks considering the game's length. This makes just playing the game a much smoother experience overall as the music uplifts you and makes it feel like you're gliding through the whole experience.

Gameplay
As far as controls go, this game was definitely designed with console in mind, that much is apparent. I'm sure you could find a keybind setup that works, but at least by default the setup is atrocious and basically commands you to play using a gamepad rather than recommending it. That being said, the controls for the pad are absolutely seamless and come incredibly naturally as you progress and unlock more and more abilities, commands, and mechanics. Thanks to the aforementioned buttery-smooth UI design, combined with a really solid control scheme, this makes the game a joy to just control.
Difficulty is highly customizable with Safe, Easy, Normal, Hard, and Merciless difficulty options. Safe mode is essentially a Story-Exclusive experience with very little challenge which is unable to be turned off once enabled, for those who simply want to experience the life-sim portions of the game without worrying about combat and stats. Merciless is for those hardened RPG fans who really want the game to kick their ass unless they're playing super optimally. I experienced both the game and the New Game+ on Normal difficulty, and aside from one boss fight around mid-game (those who have played probably know the fight I'm referring to) which is so bafflingly overtuned it made me consider cheating in the DLC Personas for an edge, the game was nicely balanced and allowed me to play at a leisurely pace while still providing the occasional roadblock.
Replayability is a huge factor in Persona. Depending on how you play the game, this could easily be one of the most replayable games of all time. There is so much game here. Like, a criminal amount of game for $60. If we're playing by the "$1 per hour of fun" rule, I should have paid $142 for this game. It's insane just how much you can get out of the experience if you really dig into everything it lays on the table.

Singleplayer/Multiplayer Experience
Persona 5 Royal is a purely singleplayer RPG experience, though that's not to say you're necessarily alone. The Thieves Guild is a mechanic which allows you to tap into the network to view the stats, decisions, and mindsets of everyone else who has been playing with the network enabled. This allows you to see how they spent their days, who they decided to interact with, what people chose for dialogue, etc. which lends a sort of sense of cameraderie despite being a totally solitary experience.

Price Point/Monetization Model
Persona 5 Royal is a premium game.
Pay once. Play forever.
Persona 5 Royal is a fully packaged game which includes all of the original game's DLC as well as the Royal expansion, so there are no additional DLCs/microtransactions within the game whatsoever.

Optimization/Performance
As far as optimization goes, it's a whole lot of good with a tiny bit of bad sprinkled in for good measure. It might just be a personal experience based on my hardware, but occasionally I could see some pretty obnoxious stuttering in the gameplay which hindered my enjoyment a bit, but it seemed to occur at random with no rhyme or reason, and it stopped happening for the majority of my mid-late game and New Game+ run, so I can't really complain all that much, but figured it'd be worth mentioning regardless. Otherwise, it ran perfectly with no real issues aside from I think one or two hard crashes throughout the entire experience, but again, totally possible that it was my hardware's fault and not the game's.

Persona 5 Royal is easily one of the best games I've ever played, and I'm so glad I finally took the time to really buckle down and finish it. I think it's probably my new favorite RPG (sorry Elden Ring) of all time, and all I can really say is that in order to truly understand what I mean when I say that, you have to experience it for yourself. While the task may seem daunting and night insurmountable, for any who are willing to take the plunge and fully devote themselves, Persona 5 Royal proves worth its weight in gold. Absolutely a Treasure worth stealing.