Persona 5 Royal is proof that you can indeed improve upon (near) perfection. This greatly enhanced and expanded re-release of Persona 5 is a masterpiece — a refinement of an already standard-setting RPG. Its headline acts include a brand new playable character as well as an entirely fresh and final story chapter, but Royal's huge range of improvements go far beyond these two back-of-the-box bullet points.
Systems have been tweaked and rethought. Mechanics have been overhauled for the better. It's one of those instances where there's absolutely no reason to play the original game over this; Royal is an improvement in every possible way.
As mentioned, the game has a new conclusion — a whole new story chapter that ties everything up far more elegantly than the original ending ever did. We won't spoil anything here, but it's an emotional ride. Not for the first time, The Phantom Thieves have to question their actions — but the stakes are sky high. It's a masterfully executed series of events, complete with some truly tear-jerking moments, and overall, it's probably the best chapter in Persona 5, period.
Listen, we could rant about how life-affirming Persona 5 Royal is all day long, but bottom line is that this is an absolute must-play for anyone with an eye for style and craft. Without a doubt one of the PS4's best games, and a marvel that we'll be replaying for years to come.
You can read our full Persona 5 Royal review through the link.
Did Persona 5 Royal steal your heart all over again? Remember to get up and get out there in the comments section below.
How we decide our Game of the Year: This December, our editorial team created a list of nominees for Game of the Year based on our own review scores and a variety of other factors. After much discussion, we trimmed the list of nominees down and asked all Push Square staff and the Push Square community to vote on their five favourites using a points-based system. The ten games with the most points by the designated deadline were then determined as our favourites of 2020.
Comments 38
I haven’t played this game, but I’m at my brother’s house for Christmas and he has a theme on his PS4 that is unlocked playing this game and it is so freakin’ cool I might just have to buy it when I get home.
This game oozes style.
I've played the first 4 hours of Persona 5 in the PS Collection and I'm sorry to say it didn't appeal much. Very, very stylish, but the jittery movement put me off.
@PossibLeigh To be fair, it’s a cross gen game on PS3. It’s not exactly going to have the animations of Demon’s Souls.
Bought Demon Souls, Miles Morales, and Sackboy at launch. What have I spent the most hours on? The original Persona 5.
I can see how loosening Morgana’s stranglehold on you (damnit, I want to train tonight!) would make this an improvement. I just don’t ever see myself playing it over just for some extra content. Original recipe it is.
"How would you rate Persona 5 Royal?"
I don't see "among my top 10 games of all time" as an option. "Very good" as the highest option is way too low of praise for me.
Played it for about 20 hours, but didn’t really click for me. Then after a while I decided to return and decided to play in Japanese. For some reason it suddenly clicked, and I like it much bette now. Also, if anyone’s played Steins;Gate, main character VO voices Ryuji in the Japanese which instantly increased my liking towards the game too!
@JapaneseSonic Everything about the final part of that dungeon is horrible, and Royal made the boss battle even more frustrating. I honestly can't blame you if those bits soured you on the experience. Absolutely terrible misstep in an otherwise nearly flawless game imo.
While I enjoyed this enhanced version a lot, the 60$ price tag was a big turn off for how much content there actually was and it never felt like it deserved GOTY. If there was waaaayy more then yes I absolutely think it would be a worthy contender for it.
WAY too low....criminally so
Played this game so much. I've put at least 2 and a half hours into it already.
@nessisonett The inevitable PC port will fix that. Just like P4G was improved so much by it, and that was a PS2/Vita game!
On topic, P5R was the joint best game I played released this year. It gets joint because it's "only" an enhanced version of my 2017 GOTY and the other game it tied with is the best version of an enhanced game I'd already played. PC version of P4G. That's why they both got a joint top spot.
If you remove straight re-releases (P4G PC) then P5R is the best "new" game.
@menchi That's if he wants to play on PC in the first place.
@nessisonett That is being fair. I didn't realise P5 was that old. Less an issue of animation though and more a weightlessness of movement. Things that bother me that no normal person is bothered by!
Full disclosure: I know it's a massive game, wish I had the time.
Best video game soundtrack of all time!!
@AdamNovice Well then he will have to deal with the limitations of consoles or miss out.
As an rpg game, what else compares to this? I used to loved final fantasy till 13 and 15 ruined my nostalgia. I played dragon quest 11 recently, still get used to it it but I'm not sold at the minute.
It’s a re-release of a 2016 game. Why is it nominated for anything?
10/10. Quote possibly the greatest game I've ever played!
Got the platinum for vanilla P5.
Currently going for platinum in P5R. It's THAT good.
Haven’t gotten around to play P5R, but I’m sure Makoto is still best girl regardless.
I played Persona 5 from last December to March with about 120 hours put into it.
I bought a copy of Persona 5 Royal and I know damn well I'll enjoy it in the future as much as the original.
Should I spend 30 bucks on P5R or just take advantage for the free Persona5 on the PS Plus collection? Love RPGs, but never played a persona game.
@Bdbrady P5R definitely. No question.
Definitely my game of the year
I played through the original one twice and still missed out on the plat. I think I did enjoy it at the time but I can't remember much about it. Very overrated, in my opinion.
I played the original and it really was quite good, I wanted to play Royal too at some point but I don't feel like the PS4 was worth keeping just for that.
This was a top 5 for me this year. I certainly enjoyed this second version of Persona 5 more than Personal 3 FES. It helps that it was a couple years after Persona 5 that I played Royal. I definitely agree with its ranking here though since it not exactly a new game so should make way for others to take top positions.
I absolutely adored the original P5, a great example of stepping outside one's comfort zone and finding new treasures and delights in doing so.
One day I'm sure I'll play Royal and love it as much second time round.
Brilliant game.
10/10
This was the game which finally got me to pick up a PS4. I've been wanting to play it since the original release but only managed to convince myself to get a console for a single game (well, this and Bloodborne) this year. Absolutely one of the best games I've ever played - I've been playing games for over 30 years. Brilliant dungeon crawling, combat, characters, music and presentation. It took my 107 hours over a couple of months to finish but it went by in a flash.
I've since played P3P which is also brilliant (and much shorter!) and am now part way though P4G (just before the third dungeon kicks off). I have a feeling my ranking will be 5, 3 and 4 but I will see once I finish. I also have Persona ready and waiting to play too.
@ApostateMage yet you love Cyberpunk lol
It didn't quite have the same impact as playing the base game, but it is better in pretty much every way. One of my favourites ever. Far too easy though, but I guess intentionally so.
@Akurusu So what? He described his experience with the game, not everyone is obliged to love it.
@ApostateMage true. I like Persona 5 but it's quite overrated. For those early 2017 games, I had way more fun with HZD.
@Matej You can not like a game without calling it overrated. By definition, calling something overrated implies that your opinion is more valid than the opinions of all the reviewers who did like the game. I don’t really like Bloodborne’s base game or Horizon Zero Dawn but I wouldn’t say that critics are wrong. They have their opinions and I have mine.
@nessisonett Oh come on, calling something overrated is nothing bad, just that something is rated higher than a person think. Like me saying Zelda is overrated and Horizon is a better game. Both are opinions, true to me, false to other. That’s all.
Everything is overrated in the opinion of someone. I get why people.use this word but personally I think it's a lazy insult and usually roll my eyes when I see it.
Must. Do. Better.
😉
Also, Persona 5 isn't overrated at all. It deserves all the praise it receives.
Received it as a gift for Xmas and played for a few hours. Persona games were always dark but this one is DARK. I love it for far.
@dskatter got the platinum in P5R now
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