5/5 ★ – asoola's review of Persona 5 Royal.

This review is long overdue considering I finished the game in 2020 and replayed it in 2022 but I finally decided to write a review for the best game ever, Persona 5 Royal! ✨ Persona 5 was the game that started my Persona journey in 2019, so when Persona 5 Royal was announced I was so happy to play this new version of Persona 5. I had high expectations for the game and I’m glad to say it managed to live up to those expectations. I always loved the original Persona 5 story so I was excited to see what the new added third semester will offer, gameplay wise Persona 5 was great and I didn’t think it needed improvements BUT Persona 5 Royal came out and I found myself enjoying the new and improved gameplay way more than Persona 5, for example Show times why weren’t they in P5 because I can’t imagine myself playing Persona 5 without that feature anymore! Like I said the original Persona 5 story was amazing and when I played it in 2019 I found myself tearing up when I reached the ending because I realized how well done this game, characters, and story was (and well maybe I didn’t want to say goodbye to the Phantom Thieves). So I never imagined the Persona 5 Royal content will make me love this game more than I already do but that’s exactly what happened, the third semester content is easily one of the best written story in gaming if I say so myself, and the new characters Sumire Yoshizawa (introduced as Kasumi Yoshizawa) and Takuto Maruki were as well fantastic and well written characters, also he isn’t a new character but Goro Akechi new confidant IS Perfect. In my honest opinion Maruki’s Arc is the best Arc in Persona 5 not saying the others are bad it’s just that the way this one was written makes me love it so much and the subject being about mental health, trauma, and wishing your pain goes away just hits different and of course it wasn’t out of place it’s something that fits Persona 5. I’ll talk about Sumire now because she’s my favorite character from Royal so here goes Sumire and Kasumi story made me cry a lot the survivor’s guilt Sumire felt after her sister death is just so sad but I loved how her story is written and how she little by little was overcoming her struggles. Also I loved the Sumire scenes they added in the previous arcs, both of her awakening scenes are so PERFECT 👏🏽 her confidant was really fun and… maybe it’s just me but her relationship with Ren in the romance route to be specific is just so cute! (I did the friendship route in my first playthrough in 2020 and it was good as well) I can talk and talk about why I love her character but not enough words can describe how much I love her so I’ll just say her character and story is written very well and she as a character is very likable and adorable and I just adore her so much. Now onto best antagonist and character with the best arc ever, Takuto Maruki! I love his character and I love how they tied his character to Shido and the last arc in the original Persona 5 (the mementos one) he never really had bad intentions he only wanted people to be free of the painful things they went through, but just because someone have good intentions doesn’t mean what they’re doing is completely right. He really cared about Ren and his friends and wanted everyone to be happy but again life is all about losses and gains sometimes pain and mistakes help us grow as human (not saying being happy all the time is bad btw and I don’t think the game suggests this in any way). His actions of removing someone’s pain and trauma being tied to him not being able to process his own grief is genius writing I think! He’s a really complex character I really enjoyed his story and how it ended. Back to the Phantom Thieves and Akechi I love how they grow mentally because of Maruki and decide to give their dreams another try (I also love how even though it wasn’t their fault when they break from Maruki’s reality they apologize to Ren also Ryuji and the rest saving Ren yeah that’s real friendship). As for Akechi I have no idea if he’s alive but if we consider what Maruki said (forgive me if I’m wrong I replayed this game last year) pretty sure he implied Akechi was dead? but like it’s never confirmed? That aside his social link and his scenes in third semester were so well done I found myself enjoying third semester Akechi more than the Detective Prince Akechi, he was so true to himself and just wanted to solve what’s going on love that for him! I actually love how he wants to make his own choices and that’s why he is against Maruki’s reality his words in February 2nd are the second reason why I picked to go against Maruki’s reality (first reason is what I mentioned before about life losses and gains). Goes without saying but the new music tracks in Royal are so good my personal favorites are You and I it plays when Maruki shows the Sumire and Kasumi memory (it made me cry so much but it’s so good!), I Believe, Throw Away Your Mask, and Gentle Madman but like I said all of the new tracks were good! Well now that I covered everything I wanted to talk about let me conclude by saying that Persona 5 Royal is a game that means a lot to me and it’s a game that I love very much to me it IS a masterpiece and I prefer the new ending more than the old one in my honest opinion! ❤️ (Doesn’t mean the old ending is bad both endings are spectacular!)