Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal are similar at first glance. However, you’ll notice distinct differences between the original Persona 5 and its remastered version, Persona 5 Royal, including new characters, changes to the storyline, and other enhancements worth getting acquainted with before you play.

Persona 5 Royal is also on my list of games to play on my Twitch stream. If you like Jung-inspired JRPGs, you’ll enjoy my streams!

The Persona game is a popular series that features rich character models, an exciting battle system, and new content introduced with every game.

While Persona 5 Royal was released soon after the original game, it led to fans questioning the sudden introduction to a new Persona game in the series and how closely it followed the initial game.

Other releases within the franchise were released after a long time, offering new features and improvements.

What to Look for in the Persona 5 Royal Edition

Since Person 5 Royal was released relatively quickly, following the original game, there aren’t as many significant changes compared to other releases, such as Persona 3 FES and Persona 4 Golden.

When you take a closer look and review the remastered version of this game, you’ll find surprising changes that include new battle system mechanics, protagonists, and enemies throughout the game.

The most notable upgrades may not seem as drastic as other games in the Persona series, though you’ll find they offer a great new dynamic to the experience.

Challenge Fights in the Velvet Room

If you’re up for a challenge, there are some difficult but rewarding fighting matches to enhance your characters’ skills while earning a solid reputation in the game.

You’ll find the Velvet Room Challenge Fights include some of the same characters from Persona 3 and Persona 4, which are featured in post-game content, which is heavily featured in this remastered version.

It’s the ideal addition for players who thrive on more difficult fights and build characters with the skills and strength to battle enemies successfully.

Additional Changes to the Velvet Room

There are a significant number of changes made to the Velvet Room in the new version of Persona 5. These include new personas, including returning personas with upgraded strengths, skills, and attributes that differ from their original version.

You’ll also find additional confidant types in the game, with specific, individual traits you can use during the fusion process and boost stats.

The Velvet Room offers a lot of enhancements to your experience in Persona 5 Royal, including the ability to intimidate a persona, choosing various ways to perform a fusion so you can acquire unique, rare skills, and developing the ability to perform specific actions in memorable battles. At the same time, you earn valuable items throughout the game.

The Kichijoji Jazz Club

If you’re a fan of the social aspect of your character and building your party’s stats with celebratory drinks and games, you’ll find the Kichijoji Jazz Club offers plenty of opportunities to hang out and earn social points.

Not only is this club fun to visit, but it also offers new and experienced players a way to enjoy the game on another level, outside the battle systems and combat strategies. This side activity provides a fun break from the general flow of the game’s structure, especially if you’re looking for a way to spend time and extra earnings in the Persona game.

Introduction of a New Character: Kasumi

One of the most significant changes in Persona 5 Royal is adding a new character, Kasumi, who joins the Phantom Thieves. Kasumi’s introduction into the series offers more options for building teams, attack strategy options, and more social options throughout the game.

She arrives with a rich backstory and has her Person with a Social Link adventure so that you can learn more about her history.

While Kasumi is a new character, she dramatically enhances the game as the story progresses instead of changing the direction entirely. You’ll have the option of learning more about Kasumi’s backstory before joining the Phantom Thieves.

However, it’s not a deviation from the general trajectory of the game or the other characters. Depending on how you play Persona 5 Royal, you’ll find Kasumi’s inclusion either incidental or significant to your experience.

Morgana Fades Into the Background of the Game’s Story

One of the most well-known characters of the Persona series, Morgana, is often regarded as being more interactive with players than needed, whether giving advice, offering more options, or other messages that may be seen as repetitive or unnecessary.

As a result, Morgana’s character becomes the subject of memes and humorous online posts about how irritating and intrusive nature of the messages and interactions.

In the Persona 5 Royal version, unlike the regular Persona game, Morgana becomes less of a nuisance and more of a quiet but friendly sidekick ready to offer help during social parts of the game.

While Morgana maintains a presence in this version, you’ll also have access to many social events with party members and other side activities that enhance your experience throughout the game.

New Palace Fights and Numerous Tweaks, Including the Madarame Fight

A significant upgrade to the new Persona 5 Royal, in contrast to the regular Persona, is the new palace boss fights, which are drastically different from the original game.

You’ll find that all the fights in the previous game have been remade with significant quality and improvements, so you’ll have more access to challenge battles and a more enhanced version of Shadow Madarame.

One of the most notable changes to Madarame in Persona 5 Royal is the added ability to create clones and attack from different angles simultaneously. This unique dynamic is further enhanced with an extra stage, strengthening the combat system while offering more battle options.

New Battle Themes and Music Tracks in Persona 5 Royal

In addition to content changes to the new Persona, this game includes mechanics and visual effects that differ from the original release.

The continuous effort to improve strategic options, create playable characters, and add life improvements to an already fantastic game makes Persona games so enjoyable.

These significant changes may not seem obvious until you get more acquainted with the base game and other changes to the dialogue, battle themes, music tracks, and better graphics.

Overall, you’ll find some aspects of this Persona fusion are improved within the main game, as well as many side quests and activities throughout this version.

You’ll find many aspects of Persona 5 Royal refreshing compared to the original game, whether you play the standard or definitive edition.

These new mechanics offer a better game overall, so you can spend time exploring new features without the repetitive battle themes and background music from the previous version.

New Post-Game Content and the Thieves Den

If you’re a big fan of post-game content, you’ll find secret, fun items to unlock and explore in the Thieves Den. It’s the perfect hideout where you can spend extra game time to chat, find one or two brand new confidants, access behind-the-scenes details for the video game, and explore new music, art, and other features of this new game.

Post-game content is fun and rewarding to unlock additional challenges and details by completing complex but exciting tasks and interacting with other party members.

The Thieves Den is also an excellent opportunity to exchange ideas, strategies, and how to play games within the Persona series. While most games offer a chat component, Persona is among the highest-rated JPRGs.

It offers access to an exclusive community within the game, where you can explore everything from battle strategies to concept art.

Collecting Memento Stamps

While Mementos were part of the original Persona 5 gameplay, they’ve experienced a significant boost in this version, which is a major life improvement. You can collect stamps and use them to finish specific tasks, fight in certain battles, and handle palace challenges.

Memento stamps make confronting and completing certain obstacles easy, though they require an effort to drive around for assistance.

If you enjoyed the minimal advantage of the Memento Stamps in the previous Persona game, you’d find they offer far more benefits in the revised Persona 5 Royal. They are featured as having a much stronger presence, so you can get through random mobs, and achieve main story challenges, dungeon crawling, and battling new conquests with greater ease.

Changes to Persona Game Worlds

You’ll have new scenes, worlds, and locations to explore, not available in the original game. Persona games are well-known for continuously evolving and introducing new adventures and places to investigate for each playable character.

One of the new cities in the Persona 5 Royal is Kichijoji, as well as new locations and featured hangouts, including a jazz club, a shrine, a bar, and places where you can socialize and build relationships with other characters.

These social-building games within Persona offer opportunities for players to improve relationships with Confidants. Socializing and engaging in activities with other Phantom Thieves give you greater strength for your Baton Passes.

You can also earn extra points by selling extra armor in a new shop featured in Persona 5 Royal. There is greater flexibility when you can meet with Confidants, and you can boost your relationship with them with gift items and other tasks within the game.

What other locations and places are new in Persona 5 Royal? The game includes new features and replacements, such as the Athletics Shop, and the Music Shop becomes the Thieves Den.

Cultivating relationships by performing tasks and part-time jobs will help you increase your Kindness, whether you work at Cafe Leblanc or complete tasks in the Underground Mall.

While there are many new locations to explore with additional side quests and adventures to complete, you’ll find the loading times have drastically shortened, which makes it easier to enjoy the game.

More Significant Improvements to Fighting Shadow Sae

If you longed for more exciting fighting scenes throughout the original Persona, you’d find the remastered Royal game features fantastic upgrades to both the Madarame fight and confronting Shadow Sae.

While serving more as a background in the original Persona 5, the casino theme takes on a more interactive role, where Sae uses the roulette to plan her attacks, so you’ll notice a lot more variations in her style and approach.

Persona 5 Royal essentially brings these dormant aspects of the original game to life while making the fight challenge battles more exciting and engaging for players.

The fighting scenes in this new version offer more suspense and character development, where you can experience the territorial nature of enemies and their intentions, which gives you a better sense of the long game time, which gives you more opportunity and incentive to develop new strategies.

Access Hidden Places With a Free Grappling Hook

A new accessory is always a great game option. Persona 5 Royal’s free grappling hook will save you a lot of time and effort in unlocking hidden points and secrets around the map instead of using more extended methods of jumping over treasures or using mobs to locate them.

It’s easier to explore secret pathways and areas within the palaces and more quickly than in the original Persona version.

If you’re content using other methods in the game to explore hidden points, you’ll eventually want to utilize the grappling hook in more treacherous levels, including dungeons and structures with multiple levels and mazes, which can take up a lot of free time and effort.

While the free tool is small, it’s a valuable way to speed up specific tasks in the game, so you can focus on building an arsenal of skills and weapons for battles.

Changes to the Game’s Story Elements

Persona 5 Royal adds several new cutscenes to the story while changing the revised game’s original cutscenes to fit the changing storyline. You’ll find numerous tweaks to the game, which collectively make the game more interesting and exciting for players.

The most notable revisions to the game include the following:

• The in-game calendar is extended by three months, so you can play a Third Semester, which features a new palace and events in the story worth exploring. As a result of these changes, you’ll also have the opportunity to earn a Third Form for each of the primary Personas in the Phantom Thieves. While this section requires that you meet specific criteria to enter, you’ll find that the game will generally continue like the original Persona 5 without this addition
• The user interface is easier to control and navigate, significantly improving from Persona 5 to Persona 5 Royal
• You’ll be introduced to new Confidants, and returning scenes from the original are revised to include new characters and relevant changes to the game and storyline at Shuin High School
• Persona 5 Royal offers additional playtime with an average of 20 to 30 more hours
• The soundtrack is also enhanced and includes 30 new songs with stunning vocals by Lyn, the original vocalist

You’ll find many new features in the Thieves Den, including a mini-game based on cards called Tycoon and lots of new interactions with characters to learn and get acquainted with their individual stories.

In addition to the impressive revisions to many areas of the Persona series, specifically Persona 5 Royal, you’ll find many areas of the game’s interface have improved drastically for easy use.

The Pros and Cons of Persona 5 Royal and How it Compares to the Original Persona 5

Is Persona 5 Royal worth the investment with all the new characters, enhanced stories, and plot twists?

There are significant reasons why the Atlus role-playing series is one of the top-rated games of all time, including the constant improvements in concept art, graphics, new characters, and significant developments to the game’s story.

Many major surprises and improvements stem from introducing new characters and enhancing existing attributes and backstories of other characters.

The Pros of Persona 5 Royal

The appeal of the Persona series is the popularity of the high school student characters and how they must complete everyday tasks and part-time jobs, study, and socialize with friends while exploring a magical world of powers, other worlds, and quests.

There are many advantages to this version of the game, including these characteristics:

• It’s loaded with action-packed scenes, much like a dramatic movie, so you can experience the excitement of plot twists that draw from real-world elements woven into a magical place of casino heists, corruption, rebellious teens, and other stimulating aspects of the game’s storyline
• It’s a flexible game that gives advanced players more challenges while making it easier for beginners or novices to navigate each section at their own pace. There is a lot of support from tutorials, and the plot is flexible, so you can take on as many or as few tasks as you prefer until you’re up for more of a challenge
• Each character has an in-depth backstory, which helps create a much stronger tale within the game, with excellent anime-style cutscenes, a voice cast, and an exceptional music soundtrack
• Since Persona 5’s release, the game has enjoyed excellent reviews for its intense story developments, beautiful visuals, and well-developed mechanics that provide a foundation to build and improve. This is where Persona 5 Royal delivers to fans
• This Persona edition improves nearly every aspect of the Person 5 version, including larger dungeons and palaces, additional weapons, bonus objectives, and more side games and quests to explore

Persona 5 Royal is ideal for adventurous, creative gamers looking to advance their character’s social status and skills throughout the game.

There are plenty of great strategies within each level or quest, including how to ambush your enemies, restore resources, discover hidden secrets with a grappling hook, and many other improvements that allow you to navigate many possibilities throughout this complex, entertaining game.

If you haven’t yet played the original Persona 5, it isn’t necessary to have experience with this game before you dive into the exciting world of Persona 5 Royal.

The Cons of Persona 5 Royal

Are there any drawbacks to the revised version of Persona 5? Essentially, Persona 5 Royal is exceptional and highly regarded as one of the best JRPGs overall and provides hours of play, which is one of the game’s main attractions.

The length of this game is also a drawback, precisely because some of the tutorials and changes in the Persona 5 Royal version take a while to get used to and can feel overwhelming or complex.

There are many new places to explore and characters’ backstories to learn, which requires a bit of time management and planning so that you can get the most out of the game.

Essentially, some of the perceived advantages of the Royal version, including longer playing times, more robust themes with more options, and side activities, can prove equally complicated and time-consuming for new players.

Summary

Persona 5 Royal is challenging, complex and fun for players of all levels. From an artistic perspective, you’ll marvel at the beautiful backgrounds, graphics, and excellent animation, which is a part of the many improvements you’ll notice in this edition.

One of the best upgrades in this version is the Thieves Den, which allows gamers to socialize with other players, where you can collaborate, discuss strategies, and engage in teambuilding.

What makes this game’s series so appealing is the contrast between the ordinary lives of high school students and their repetitive tasks, which clashes yet brilliantly integrates with a series of medieval, magical worlds where there are plenty of challenges and exciting adventures.

Persona 5 Royal is the perfect escape for gamers of all levels, with lots of thrilling journeys, opportunities to plot an attack against your enemies, fighting in palaces, and team building with characters, while completing several extra tasks to gain a higher status.

The complex nature of the series is complicated at times, though it’s what ultimately makes the game most enjoyable. Persona 5 Royal amplifies the best attributes of the series, including the original Persona 5, while reducing the redundant, irritating items for a more polished, superior version.