Persona 5 Review

Although released in 2016 in Japan and 2017 worldwide, this game is a huge success by Atlus and one of the most popular stories still being played today.

It is a role-playing video game and the sixth instalment in the Persona series. An enhanced version with fresh and new content was released later in 2019 for Japan and 2020 worldwide.

Persona 5 is set in modern-day Tokyo, following a young second-year student in high school who was falsely accused of assault and was put on probation. This leads him to transfer to a new high school where over the course of the year, he and other special students awaken to a special power.

They all form a group of secret vigilantes, known as the ‘Phantom Thieves of Hearts’. They explore the Metaverse, a supernatural realm born from humanity’s subconscious desires, to steal malevolent intent from the hearts of adults.

The game incorporates role-playing and dungeon crawling elements alongside social simulation scenarios. The fighting style is a turn-based combat, with many puzzles and exploration to complete within each ‘palace’ of the game.

The character development is one of the best elements of this game, especially because the relationship can grow in different ways depending on what choices you make. The plot itself is another great part of this video game, since the twists and reveals are so unexpected and create some amazing goosebump worthy moments.

Persona 5 Royal:

In the original game, there are only two semesters of school to play through. In this extended version, Atlus have added a third semester, three new characters and a new palace making the game completely worth buying even if you already own the original Persona 5 game. In addition to this, there are new cut scenes throughout the game and new moves for combat, not to mention new items and equipment.

The game becomes a little easier in the beginning but works its way to being harder towards the end. This is satisfying for players who already played the original game and are now looking for new content, however the original elements of this game aren’t taken away either so it’s great for complete new players too.

Persona 5 Strikers:

This game is a sequel to the original Persona 5 game. It was released in 2020 on the PlayStation and Nintendo Switch.

The game is set throughout the following summer of when Persona 5 game ended. We follow the group on a road trip going to each city in Japan and completing ‘jails’, another version of a ‘palace’ or ‘dungeon’.

Battles are mostly initiated when the player character comes into contact with the enemy, where they can launch a surprise attack to gain a combat advantage if the enemy has not spotted them. Battles are also now in the form of a real-time combat system. However, players will use a command-based skills menu when using Persona skills.