A few weeks ago I was able to test the game Soul Hackers 2 from the Shin Megami Tensei license. One of the spearheads of the license, for many players, is the games called Persona and particularly the fifth installment, which for many has been one of the master classes of RPGs for many years. The publisher Altus and the studio P Studio successively released a new edition of the latter on the various consoles of the moment. This time, it's coming to Switch and we're going to discover together what this new edition of the Royal stamped game offers.
The Phantom Thieves
Persona 5 is a game that has been out for more than 5 years already but even after all this time it remains for many one of the best J-RPGs of its generation. In addition, for this opus in any case, it is possible to discover the franchise with the latter because it is quite unique in terms of universe and mechanics. Be careful however for new players, the game introductions whether for P5 or the other games of the license are often quite long and interspersed with cutscenes / dialogues which for some can be discouraging. For information, this introduction acts as a great tutorial by bringing the different mechanics of the game to best start your long quest against the forces of evil.
The game starts a little backwards where you take part in a burglary in the role of the hero and the thug at the same time but where it will not go as planned for you and you will be apprehended at the exit. Handcuffed and beaten up, we don't really know what is going on with the police. Your character thereafter will undergo a life-saving interrogation where you will begin to trace all past events up to this day. The story will pick up a few months before where your young character is transferred to the big city of Tokyo and a new high school for an altercation with a big shot some time before. The story continues with your daily life as a student but you find yourself in a parallel world "a palace" where your powers will be revealed following a contract with a Persona. Without giving you too many details, you will meet other characters also rejected by the current world who will help you in your task of rescuing the living world.
You should know that even if the game is no longer very young, the subjects they deal with are unfortunately for the most part anchored in our news. The game will deal with subjects related to suicide, racism or any form of harassment. The idea is to travel through different dark cases, some of which are inspired by real events in Japan. Your heroes aren't all black, all white either, and you can quite easily feel the darkness in their hearts, which makes them endearing quite quickly and you want to get attached and help them get out of their torpor. You will be able to perform different dialogues with them to increase their relationship with them. The latter is important because it will allow you to increase your Persona as well as acquire new passive skills for your team such as an alteration cure or combo attacks.
Talking a little about gameplay, Persona 5 is an exploration game where you can evolve in the real world to improve your social skills and your relationships but also evolve in the metaverse to increase the level of your characters and your Personas (as well than to acquire it in stride). However, you have to be careful because all the activities you do will take you some time during the day and you have some time to complete the stages of the main mission, otherwise you will take a simple and effective game-over. You will be able to perform different objects, whether utilitarian or for your characters, in the different areas of the game (without impacting time) to allow you to improve your characters or your exploration in the metaverse.
In the metaverse, whether in free exploration or in the dungeon, you will be able to collect different objects but above all fight against Personas who have forgotten who they are. The fights remain quite classic in turns where you can use either your character or the skills of his Persona (the main character can use several). Each character, whether on your team or your opponents, will have weaknesses/resistances against very specific elements. The main mechanic of Persona 5 exploits this notion of weakness where when you exploit it against a character / opponent you will have the right to an additional action. If you perform a character change with the extra action (named "One More"), the damage will be increased.
Continuing on this Weakness / One More mechanic, if you perform a Weakness on each of the characters (which is represented by a stun on the enemy), your team will be able to perform a Heist action allowing you to either recruit the opponent in your Personas, ask him for money or items. In the case of Persona heist, if you already have it in your team, you gain additional experience. In addition to the skills they will gain, it will be possible via a specific merchant to merge Personas together to unlock stronger Personas with increased skills/resistances.
Notable differences
This new version will allow you to get your hands on many additions that significantly modify the gameplay. Question significant addition to the story, we will have the right in particular to a playable character, a palace and an additional confidant character. There will also be new endings available as well as a True Ending for those who are fans of New Game + (it doesn't seem to me that it's possible to do it in a classic game).
There have been many additions of places to visit whether alone or with a confidant. During appointments with the latter, it will be possible in particular at the end of the latter to earn additional points which makes it possible to reduce the number of appointments necessary to increase the ranks of confidants. It is also the same for social skills where you have other possibilities to increase these skills a little faster.
Conclusion
Persona 5 Royal is not a simple port or re-release with a few items or DLC. The additions are not negligible and allow you to explore the game world even more with in particular the grappling hook which will allow you to reach inaccessible places or the thieves' den where you can review your various exploits or even play the Magnate.
Localization is also included for people allergic to English and it is now available on most media.
- Xbox
- PlayStation
- Steam
- Nintendo Switch
