PERSONA 5 Royal (ペルソナ5 ザ・ロイヤル) is a 2019 Japanese video game developed and published by Atlus. This is the updated remake version of the 2016 video game PERSONA 5 and is part of the Shin Megami Tensei and Revelations: Persona franchises. The UK version was officially released on 31st March 2020.
Note: This post has been updated in August 2023 to reflect the current blog layout and some minor tweaks to the original write-up.
Background:
It’s been four years since the release of the original PERSONA 5 game. Much like the previous entries in the Persona franchise, Atlus had decided to release a new version of the game and there are a number of adjustments to this particular version. Some examples are as follows:
- A new character that joins Joker and his crew
- A new semester to explore
- Thieves Den, which allows you to view unlockable bonus content
- Kichijoji, a new location in the city world map to explore
- New animated cutscenes
- New confidants
- New enemies
- New items and equipment, i.e. weapons, armour, accessories
- New events
- New Personas
- Akechi’s social link has been modified
- Two new story ending routes
- Gameplay adjustments to battle system and exploration of Mementos
- Velvet Room now has optional boss battles
- Bloody Morgana can’t tell you to go to sleep anymore, allowing more free time
- New Game Plus now carries over more additional bonuses such as HP & SP increases
- Modified scenes that were deemed homophobic in the original release and Japanese versions.
- A new trophy list.
And there’s many more adjustments to the game which you can read here.
Now the question many would ask is whether or not it is worth buying Royal over the original. I would say it is on two conditions – 1) you have not played PERSONA 5 before, and 2) you really liked PERSONA 5 and wanted to revisit it ever since. This is basically a similar situation with Catherine Full Body in that sense. If you have played PERSONA 5 before and completed it, when you start New Game it will also offer some bonuses as a reward for finishing the original.
Steelbook Edition Contents:
There were a couple of editions released for PERSONA 5 Royal and the one I ordered was the Steelbook Edition. The reason for going with the steelbook release is because I have PERSONA 5 in steelbook as well, so the two will match pretty well.
The steelbook also comes with a downloadable code that contains a Dynamic Theme for PlayStation 4.
Disc Specs:
Distributor: Atlus & SEGA
Released: 31st March 2020
The PlayStation 4 release for PERSONA 5 Royal that I own is the European/UK release from Atlus & SEGA. The disc is region free, like the other games released for the console, and takes up 38.65 GB of hard drive space as of Version 1.01.
The one part that I want to highlight is the trophy list because it’s actually easier to progress compared to the original. In the original, you had to do a number of completion related tasks which often results in having to re-attempt them again through New Game Plus. Now the list is more of a ‘one-off’ task rather than a ‘100%’ task, for instance the infamous Passionate Listener in the original that required Joker to hear 250 different unique lines is now no longer a trophy requirement in the Royal version.
| Region | UK/Europe |
| HDD Space | 38.65 GB (as of Version 1.01) |
| Remote Play Support | Yes |
| Trophy Support | Yes |
| Local Players | 1 |
| Online Players | 0 |
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
PERSONA 5 Royal is available to own in digital and physical form for PlayStation 4. Much like the rest of the franchise, there’s currently no word of the game being brought over to other platforms.
You can order the Steelbook Edition for PlayStation 4 on Amazon UK.
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