Let's get right into it: Persona 5 would not be the success story that it is without the PS4. And with that in mind, the complete lack of an upgrade path for existing PS4 players is a slap in the face. It doesn't matter if you've already paid full price for Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal on Sony's last-gen system — SEGA and Atlus are asking you to do it again for this straight PS5 port of the latter.
This port's enhancements are almost non-existent. It runs at 60 frames-per-second, which is nice, and makes an already silky smooth presentation that much smoother — but being a turn-based RPG, a higher framerate was never a necessity. Oh, and Royal was already pushing a native 4K resolution on PS4 Pro, so you aren't getting any improvements there.
But hey, at least all of the previously released DLC is included from the start. Loads of character costumes and new personas do add a bit of spice to proceedings if you never forked out for them on PS4. The added content isn't quite worth the price of (re)admission, but this port does actually get something right.
Moving on, the PS5 version has its own Trophy list (it's the same as it was on PS4), but there's no way to transfer your save data, and so there's no way to simply pop all of the Trophies that you already earned last time around. Not only are players being asked to pay up for the game again, they're being asked to start over from scratch on a 120-hour adventure that has a very comprehensive New Game+ option. It's a bit of a piss-take.
But for all of SEGA and Atlus' bullsh*t, there's no denying that Persona 5 Royal is an outstanding RPG. Playing through it again has only solidified our opinion that it's still one of the best ever, even years removed from its initial release. If you want our full thoughts on why it's so good, you should read our original Persona 5 Royal PS4 review, as all of those points still stand.
With its melding of excellent gameplay systems, married to an unmatched sense of style and an iconic soundtrack, Persona 5 Royal is a true work of art — and that makes its publisher's greed all the more shameful.
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Comments 61
If anyone's got any questions about the PS5 version, let me know.
Content-wise, this is exactly the same as the PS4 version (plus all of the DLC). Again, you can read the PS4 review of Royal for much more insight into the game itself: https://www.pushsquare.com/reviews/ps4/persona_5_royal
It sounds like this version exists more to put it on other platforms than deliver something outstanding for PlayStation players, which I suppose makes sense.
I guess this PS5 version was never going to be anything particularly special compared to the PS4 one, though.
Still a highly recommended game, of course!
No save transfer? They’re bugging. This is too much now. Heh, maybe I should have waited but I have 40ish hour save on P5:R. Hopefully they’ll update thus outrageous release.
Great game. Still prefer 4 over 5 but it is a really good one nonetheless. I'm not in any hurry to play it again though. I still need a few trophies in the vanilla one for the Platinum.
I’ll wait for a sale, not purchasing it a third time for full price 😂
Historically, ATLAS has always repackaged the Persona games at full price. This is no different.
@CRASH64 Aside from the recent rereleases of P4 Golden and Arena, this is not the same at all. Royal added tons of new features and was most certainly not a repackaging when it came out in 2020.
Looking forward to buying this game for the third time and getting the platinum for the third time.
It has always felt like the PS5 version was the odd one out in these ports. All the advertising has heavily leaned towards the Xbox and Switch versions too. I understand why considering they will be getting many new players on those platforms but it would have been nice of them to throw us Playstation users a bone. It did start on Playstation after all.
Oh well. Maybe on a steep sale like $15-20 I'll bite. Same deal as TLOU1 remake.
Will buy when it goes to around 20-30€ but only because I only have the Vanilla version for the PS4 and want to own a copy of Royal. Will leave it sealed though, the original has the actual canon story, evidenced by it's succesor, P5 Strikers.
Thinking I'll triple dip once it drops down to $40 or less. By then I'll hopefully have a 1440p OLED screen which will make P5D look even sexier!
@Sil_Am completely respect your decision on that, but at least try and catch the extra bits on youtube or something. The additions in Royal are 🔥🔥🔥 even if they are not cannon
I picked this game as best of JRPG's to convince me of this genre's qualities bit i couldn't find myself liking it. It's not for me
Boycott pointless full price remasters!
Im fine with my ps4 persona 5 royal.it already looks good on my ps4 pro.word up son
funny, i called out atlas on its bs since the release of persona 5 royal on ps4 as it did not have an upgrade path for vanilla owners, either. nice to see people are finally beginning to see the light about this publisher. the business model really does hurt the overall impression of atlus, regardless of how much we enjoy their games. ultimately, there is nobody to blame but those who triple dip and give publishers incentives to do this in the first place. it is just unfortunate that some members of the persona community are so desperate to throw their money away. i won't be shocked if this useless release on ps5 will turn a nice profit for atlas and the cycle continues!
@Melee_Ace You make a good point. I'm still not surprised though.
@MUG3NHC it’s not pointless though, it largely exists to put on Xbox, PC, and Switch.
Its on Gamepass and the Switch version was the version i was interested in double dipping so honestly i don't care all that much for the PS5 version.
I'll probably wait for a PS6 re-re-remaster or something -.-'
@McBurn makes sense, as it's gonna look the same.
This has been on the list for years. Might as well play the PS5 version. That said, is better to just wait for a sale? I have the standard PS4 non-Royal version through PS+. For someone who has never played it, should I go for the PS5 version of Royal or just play the vanilla PS4 version I have?
I got royal cheap but never got around to properly playing it. Started it with the missus and then she wanted to see other games lol give it time and maybe they will do an upgrade path (doubt it would be free tho)
@shogunrok hi! How are the load times compared to the PS4 version?
***** SEGA for milking PS-User once more...
That's walls of text at 60fps from Morgana.
Removed - unconstructive; user is banned
Triple dipping SEGA? Disgusting.
As much as I am a HUGE fan of this game: I am NOT purchasing it again just to play it on my PS5. Enough is enough. I have already played and purchased it (the original and the Royal version) twice.........
@Cheski Royal is much better than base Persona 5, not just for the new story stuff, but it has sooooo many quality of live improvements. Definitely go Royal if you can. Whether that's the PS4 version or PS5, that's up to you.
PS5 version comes with all the DLC (which is just costumes and additional personas) and runs at 60fps, but it's obviously going to be expensive compared to the PS4 version. You could always just wait for the PS5 version to come down in price, but it might take some time. You're not missing out on a whole lot by getting the PS4 version of Royal.
@IanAlbarn As far as I can tell they're marginally faster — and by that I mean milliseconds at most. They basically don't exist on PS4 anyway, so there's not much to improve on!
@ShogunRok I see. Thank you!
I played the base Persona 5 about 3 years ago and I loved it. I still have so many fond memories.
I still haven't played Royal yet, I mean I did sink about 125 hours into the base game, but I do eventually want to in the future.
Ain’t buying it a 3rd time nope lol
Assuming that they aren't adding even more dlc (which wouldn't surprise me), I guess this could at least be considered the complete version.
Maybe in a couple years I'll feel like playing again and pick it up, certainly too soon for me to play again yet though.
Nobody should be getting this on PS5 when you can buy it on Switch or get it on Gamepass.
people buying the exact same game 3x wtf?
this IS the reason Sony are doing the remake bs. simply coz they know people are stupid af.
@Darth_Stofi you type like you are actually the guy in your profile picture
@ShogunRok I just received the PS5 version in the mail today but the release date is Friday. Is it safe to play or should I wait until Friday October 21st?! The temptation is real. And yes, I am a sucker for buying this.
I will say this...I am a HUUUUGE fan of P5. I got P5's collector's edition, as well as P5R's collectors edition. Ive put over 120 hours into Royal too, and I definitely would love to play this again. However...I will NOT be picking this up unless its discounted. Like the fact that theres no upgrade is ridiculous.
That being said...I do highly recommend this game.
@ShogunRok Things I am wondering (1) it sounds like they also added a feature where different costumes trigger different battle music. (2) differences between platforms
@Darylb88 i mean.. not everyone has those platforms? I really enjoyed playing P5R on my OLED. The art just pops. If there was a save transfer I would get this — the bundled DLC and the 60fps upgrade would be worth it for me especially on sale. But Steam seems my future for P5 especially since save games in Steam are pretty much forever.
I'll be picking this up on pc instead. No point in buying the literal same game on a platform I already own it on with zero differences.
I bet they want to see how many people they can get at full price before the "sale" price that will drop for the holiday sales. I wouldn't be surprised if this drops by half come black friday
It's a fantastic game, and while it is mentioned in the review, I feel like the point isn't driven home enough:
Persona 5 Royal is already playable on PS5 via the PS4 version.
What does this version of the game actually give you that is meaningful?
Even for someone who has yet to experience this game at all, just buy P5R for PS4 on sale with all the DLC for around $20.
This version is a 1/10.
Between persona 5 and plague tale requiem on gamepass i dont know if ill have time for anything.
@CWill97 Nah you should have no issues playing it early — not your fault it arrived before release!
@koffing Nah the different music was already there as part of the DLC. You get battle music from the respective games if you wear the costumes.
As for platform differences, it's what you'd expect. Game seems to be pretty much identical in terms of performance on PS5 / Series X / a good PC. On Switch I believe it runs at 30fps, and obviously a lower resolution, but people might prefer the potential portability.
Content is exactly the same across all platforms, as far as I know.
@ShogunRok thank you for that very detailed, thoughtful answer. I don’t have the dlc. Definitely going to have to buy this again for Steam or Switch. But only after P3P which I have been wanting to play for years.
@ShogunRok Im happy i never played it before so i guess im lucky this time.
Does anyone know if it has HDR now? Anyone seen the settings menu? Crazy how they haven't release anything on the PS5 version, no "features trailer". If all they did was patch 60 fps and bundle 95% of the dlc I'm cancelling my CE. Really disheartening news, hope Persona 6 is more up to date with features like Dualsense support, hdr, performance mode options.
Thankfully I never got very far into Persona 5 Royal, was starting the third Palace I believe?
After all this controversy, I'll definitely be waiting until the PS5 version is $20 New or cheaper in a few years...
@shogunrok This "review" is highly unprofessional. If you wanted to complain about the lack of extras, you should have just posted a quick write up. By listing it as a review, that implies you are going to go into detail and talk about the game's mechanics. You did none of that here. A game review is supposed to be an unbiased look at what the game is, not what it isn't.
@Spazzh20 That's why it links to the Persona 5 Royal PS4 review, and why I linked to it in the comments as well. There's no point in us writing another review of what is almost exactly the same game for a third time. This review is designed to get straight to the point of what's new.
@Shogunrok My point is that you shouldn't have labeled it as a review. You should have just labeled it as a quick write up about what you did and didn't like. Just write a quick rundown about the game's features to inform potentially new players.
@Spazzh20 That's essentially what a Mini Review is, but I see your point. I would hope that people seeking a full review would read this and click the link to the PS4 review, however.
>No upgrade path from PS4
>No save transfer from PS4
>Full price, again
Yeah.. Glad to see you actually mentioning that. Still such a scummy move. Such a ridiculous lazy cash grab. And worst part is, its gonna sell. Atlus always get away with crap like this.
@CRASH64 Golden was $20 when they put it on PC.
@brazzios_84 There was no upgrade path for P5 from PS3 to PS4 (there was such an upgrade program for these in the past), no upgrade path from PS4 Vanilla to P5R, and now no upgrade path for PS4 P5R to PS5 version. The bottom line is, this shouldn't surprise anyone. I'm personally not buying this game for a 3rd time.
This is not for people that already played it on PS4, if you already played it then you shouldn't buy this, simple. Bagging it out because there is no upgrade path is valid though, especially at the price they charge but in the end you have a problem if you have already finished it on PS4 and then buying it again, it's the exact same game.
What is this PS4 I keep hearing about?
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