Looking cool, Joker!
While Persona 5 Royal is technically a port of the original Persona 5 with enhancements, made only for the PlayStation 4, it's also so much more than that. What's offered in this package is more depth to the already incredible story, with new characters, confidants, palaces, music, and even a new semester. Persona 5 Royal is a game with heart, ambition, style, and a killer soundtrack, all of which adds to the immersion, emotional payoffs, and engrossing character arcs the game offers.
At its core, Persona 5 Royal, is an awe-inspiring adventure with a bunch of rebellious kids fighting to change the hearts of corrupt adults who take advantage of, and abuse, kids for their benefit or pleasure. It's through this main plot where you meet your team, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, and can go through the emotionally rich story the game offers. Many times throughout my playthrough I was left on the edge of my seat, with my jaw on the floor, while other times I was left speechless with tears in my eyes. The unwavering, unapologetic themes of this game can and will hit you like a ton of bricks. This is welcomed, though, because this game has a message and a heart. The injustices in which some of these characters go through is traumatizing, and does a great job at fleshing out not only the character but the world and does a spectacular job at setting up the motivation and drive your team has to move forward and put an end to it.
What's done so expertly is the execution of being a Japanese high-school student by day and a complete badass vigilante with a Persona by night. The day-to-day, social, and life simulation is a great way to find out what drives your allies, and the surrounding others, forward and a great way to flesh out your character and find out all the cool things there is to do throughout Tokyo... And then there's the metaverse, where you can unleash your Persona onto foes as you push forward to fight the forces of evil with style and grace. Both are blended so effortlessly and make you appreciate the outside world as you make a direct impact on it from within the metaverse. Both are fun to poke around in and encourage you to do so. You often get rewarded for going off the beaten path, leading to helpful items, skill points, or even powerful Personas. All of this encapsulates the fun gameplay loop that has only been expanded upon in P5R. Going about your day, trying not to draw any unwarranted attention to you, and deepening your bond with your friends is a great tone-setter that is beautifully contrasted with going to the metaverse and blowing off steam after school to put your foot down against the corrupted adults who lost their way.
The more important chunk of new content falls heavily on the two new characters added to the game. One of which is Kasumi Yoshizawa, a competitive gymnast that has a rather dark and complex past that's driving her to become the best-of-the-best. Although you get glimpses of her here and there at the start of the game, you don't get to build a strong bond with her until the second half of the game. But, whenever that moment arrives, it's executed flawlessly and makes you appreciate her motivations and character. The other important new addition to the long roster of great characters in P5R is the guidance counselor, Takuto Maruki. The way he's implemented is pure genius, as he fits so perfectly into the themes of the game and doesn't feel out of place in the slightest. He offers support for the student's mental health after certain events transpire at the school and is a genuinely awesome character. He's also a very important part of accessing the new content P5R has to offer and is worth following through his arc to the end. Also, the game adds in more opportunities to hang out with Goro Akechi, which allows you to get a better grasp of his goals and desires. Which helps tremendously and makes you get a better understanding of the overall themes and story of the game.
The metaverse is where everything comes together. It's a place built of the distorted desires of those who have abused, and oppressed, your friends. It's up to you, The Phantom Thieves of Hearts, to sneak into the oppressor's metaverse (AKA Palaces) and steal their corrupted desire (AKA Heart). Most of the Palaces in P5R come along with a new member to join the team, and their reasoning and drive. While others are important to move the story along and offer a greater insight into the overarching world and characters involved. It might be easy to write these stories off as being over-the-top or dramatic, but it's not done just for the sake of it. These characters have a heart and a drive to overcome the years of torture and abuse that led them here. It's endearing and heartwarming when these characters make a breakthrough and had me smiling from ear-to-ear whenever they realized their true potential and meaning in the world.
Besides the incredible Palaces and character development that comes along with it is the absurdly fun and stylish turn-based combat system that the game offers. Like most turn-based combat systems, the game offers an elemental system in which some enemies are immune to, weak to, or neutral to. Some foes may even be immune to all of them and only weak to physical damage or bullets. All of this, however, is made fun and rewarding with how many enemies, elements, and Personas there are in this game. There are some phenomenal battles in this game, ranging from random encounters while exploring Palaces, to the incredible boss fights you encounter throughout the game. Once you learn an enemy's weakness, you get to roll through them on subsequent encounters but as you get deeper into the game, you will meet new foes that are much more complex and challenging, which is why this combat is so engaging, fun, and rewarding. The combat is flashy, sometimes quirky, and overall a blast every time. There's never a dull moment, especially when you can perform a Showtime attack with two characters that are a visually stunning display of an ass-kicking every time one comes up.
The grand finale of the game is a perfect culmination of the emotional themes and tremendous combat of the game. The final stretch of the game is off the charts in terms of execution with superb story beats, twists, music, and exceptional battles. It's here where you truly appreciate the long-winded journey that P5R offers, and everything you've been through hits you. The common theme of Persona 5 Royal is to keep looking forward and never accept defeat. This is beautifully summed up in the final act, with a lot of sad and personal moments sprinkled in. The bonds made along this grand adventure make everything much more profound when rounding out the last few moments of the game. You care so deeply about a lot of these characters and never want it to end. But, as they say, all great things have an end. And this end does not disappoint in the slightest.
Persona 5 Royal isn't just a flashy turn-based JRPG. It has substance and depth, and genuinely shocking twists and turns that will have you on your feet or on the verge of tears. Beyond the engaging combat is a phenomenally written, and emotional, story with an even more phenomenal cast of character who you will love to the very end. The people you meet are not only your teammates but are your new family. Which is what makes P5R shine brighter than most and made it so much harder to put the game to an end. Even after a total playtime of around 120+ hours, I found myself excited to jump back in and experience that world, story, and characters again in New Game+.
