It’s only been a couple of years since the release of the original Persona 5, but Atlus is already back with a new and improved version of the game. Persona 5 Royal comes packed with so much new story content that you can be prepared to add another 20 to 30 hours to the already long playtime. Here’s everything you need to know about what’s new in Persona 5 Royal.
New Confidants
The new Confidants are probably the headlining feature of Persona 5 Royal. You’ve already seen her in all of the promotional material, but newcomer Kasumi Yoshizawa is a brand new first-year honors student who plays a key part in the story as you head towards its conclusion.
However, what you might not know is that there’s actually a second Confidant added into the game as well. Takuto Maruki is another new character who gets introduced here, and he takes on the role of a school counselor who gets brought in after the Kamoshida incident early on in the game. His addition definitely feels organic to the story, and both he and Kasumi are certainly worth spending time with, especially if you want to see all the new content.
In addition to that, Mishima actually gets a couple new scenarios in his own Confidant storyline as well. He was a little bland in the original game, but he gets a much better, much more fleshed out character arc in Royal.
Dungeons Have Been Expanded
Persona 5’s dungeons were pretty nice for the most part, and Atlus has expanded upon them even further in Persona 5 Royal.
While the dungeons do play out in largely the same way in Royal, it does have quite a few new rooms that you can only access by using the brand new grappling hook that Joker receives early on. These new rooms come with new puzzles, new accessories and equipment, as well as new items called Will Seeds.
Each dungeon in Persona 5 Royal has a total of three Will Seeds that you can collect, and getting all three of them will reward you with a powerful accessory that you can equip on a character. If you venture into Mementos, it has the potential to get even stronger.
Mementos Gets a Major Overhaul
Speaking of which, Mementos has received quite the overhaul as well. I was already a fan of it in the original game, but there’s no denying that a lot of players weren’t happy with how tedious and repetitive it was. Atlus definitely took that feedback to heart, and made some major changes.
First off, there’s a new NPC named Jose in Mementos. By picking up flowers and collecting stamps in Mementos, you can exchange them for valuable items, and trade in your stamps to increase experience, item, and monetary gains while in the dungeon.
If you give Jose your Will Seed accessory, he enhances it and also turns it into a much more powerful version. The Mementos music also changes as you progress deeper into the dungeon now. It’s pretty nice.
New Combat Mechanics
With Persona 5 Royal, the turn-based combat is still largely the same, but with a few tweaks and improvements to make it even better. Gun ammo gets refilled in between battles, and as you spend more time with your Confidants at the darts and billiards place in Kichijoji, you can even improve the Baton Pass mechanic to help restore HP and SP.
As you get further into the game, you’ll also unlock Showtime Skills, which are similar to the duo attacks we got in Persona 4 Golden.
Finally, story bosses in Royal also have a few new mechanics to be aware of. Some of these mechanics make the fight easier, while others just make them even more frustrating and annoying, so your mileage may vary.
The Thieves’ Den
Lastly, one of the coolest additions in Persona 5 Royal is the introduction of the Thieves’ Den. The Den is actually completely separate from the main game, and you can hang out there anytime you want without having to waste any precious time from your daily life.
As you get further into the story, you’ll unlock new decorations and other cosmetic items that you can purchase with P-Medals to deck out your Den with. It’s also a fun little area where you can kick back with your teammates and play a card game called Tycoon.
The Den honestly offers nothing substantial at all to the main game, but it’s just a fun way to unwind if you need a break from the story.
Published: Mar 31, 2020 09:48 am