Persona 5 Royal Launch Edition PS5

I held off from this game for years. I listened to descriptions from critics, friends, influencers, etc and felt that it simply wouldn’t be for me. I’m a fan of JRPGs and grew up with Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Pokemon etc, but I thought that the Japanese teenage melodrama that takes centre stage in the Persona games might be too much for me.

I was wrong. My wife bought me the PS5 version as a surprise gift (and I’m happy to play this version as the 60fps and lightning fast loading really make the experience pleasant) and 40 hours later, the game has already left a mark on my psyche as one of the most exceptional experiences to come from a Japanese developer that I have come across.

Persona 5 Royal is both a commitment and a journey. It would take the average player well over 100 hours just to experience a good portion of the content, but every moment is worth it.

The game is combination of different elements that on the surface don’t appear to have much of a connection. You spend half the game living the life of a student in Tokyo. You go to classes, watch movies, do laundry, date girls, etc. Quite an addictive experience as you gain social skills and improve various practical skills that make you a better/more productive person. This turned out to be much more fun than anticipated because the characters you interact with are wonderfully realised. Of course, this being a Japanese game there is no shortage of mildly inappropriate situations and interactions, but it works.

For the rest of the time spent playing, you take up the role of “Joker” – the Stylish leader of a super-hero group called the Phantom Thieves, who steal people’s hearts. What does this mean, you might ask? You enter people’s minds, Inception style, fighting daemons and other mental projections with the objective of stealing the thoughts or desires that corrupt individuals and make them bad.

Sprinkle in a healthy amount of adult pokemon-like monster hunting, as you can capture these mental projections to use in battle, and even fuse them into more powerful forms to aid in battle.

To summarise, this might not sound like the kind of game you would normally invest time in. The various elements of the game are unusual, and they might not be your cup of tea at a glance, or even appear to make much sense.
It’s absolutely worth diving into this experience however, and giving it a proper chance as the game is very special once it opens up fully. It’s an incredibly stylish experience, the art and graphics are near flawless. Also there is a talking cat.

Grab the steelbook whilst it’s available as it’s a really nice collectible.