Many great “Persona” games have been released throughout the years, but the game I’m going to be talking about holds a special place in my heart: “Persona 5 Royal.”

This game was created by the Japanese game company Atlus. Atlus was founded on April 7, 1986, in Tokyo, Japan. The company is a big producer of Japanese role-playing games (JRPG). You may have also seen Atlus with Sega, which is best known for the “Sonic the Hedgehog” games. Atlus is a subsidiary of Sega. “Persona 5 Royal” has sold more than 3.3 million copies since being released.

“Persona 5 Royal” was originally a Japanese exclusive, but it was made available to the Western world in 2020. The game was originally a PlayStation exclusive but recently has been added to Xbox’s game pass, which costs $5 per month, but you get over 100 games to download at your discretion. You can find the game in video game stores, such as GameStop, which only charges $20 for the physical copy of the game. It is also available in a digital version for around $60. 

The story of “Persona 5 Royal” is a tale of adventure, mystery and tragedy. It starts with the main character defending a lady from a senator who is drunk. As your character helps the lady, the senator slips and hits his head, causing him to sue you and stick your character with a juvenile record. Subsequently, you get kicked out of school and the city you were living in and transferred to a new school and a new town. 

There are two worlds in the game. The main one in which you and your friends are normal young adults, and the other world is a world that shows the distorted desires of humans. The second world is where your character and friends unlock their personas for use in combat. Once you get to the new school you slowly make a group of new friends and become the Phantom Thieves. As you progress through the game, all of your allies unlock a persona they can use in combat and each persona can use different elemental attacks. You can even fuse personas together to create stronger ones.

The gameplay is like other JRPGs, such as “Kingdom Hearts,” where it is a turn-based style; every character has their own strengths and weaknesses. During battle, the characters can use a special move called showtime, which shows a cutscene between those two characters beating up the enemy. They also have their own abilities that become more powerful throughout the game. In the game you go through palaces. A palace is a distorted place in a person’s heart. In the game there are a total of nine palaces. The palaces show some ties to the seven deadly sins, such as greed and lust.

The style of graphics the game uses are a mix of 2D and 3D. The game also has some elements of platformers. Each palace has a different theme to it, such as the first palace is like a castle and the main enemy is a king. Another palace has assembly lines and robot workers. Sometimes they will put cutscenes into the game to further the story. Mainly, those cutscenes are at the beginning of palaces or at the end.

Overall, the game is a masterpiece. It is the largest selling “Persona” game not only in Japan but also the United States. It is an amazing playthrough with beautiful graphics. It also has a ton of replay ability. It drives you with a compelling story and fluid combat. I would suggest giving it a try. 

“There’s always something new to see even in familiar scenes.” Leana Hafer, a freelancer for IGN, said. 

That shows how on the first playthrough you can be focused on the story and miss details, so as you playthrough the game again you will notice little more subtle details you may have missed. I would without a doubt give the game a 10/10 and suggest you give it a playthrough. The graphics are amazing, combat is superb and the story is compelling; it is bound to engross you. The first time I started the game, I could not put it down. 

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