Persona 5 vs Persona 5 Royal: All the biggest differences

Ever since Persona 3, enhanced re-releases have been a normal part of the Persona franchise. Some are better than others though, so how do things stack up in the battle of Persona 5 vs Persona 5 Royal and what are the two games’ biggest differences?

While Persona 4 Golden added a lot of new features to the PlayStation 2 classic, not all Persona re-releases are straight upgrades. That’s the case with Persona 3 Portable, which added new content to the base game while also stripping away features to make the game run on the PSP.

But that’s not the case with Persona 5 Royal. The game adds a load of new features to the game, expands on existing ones, and generally makes the game both more approachable for newcomers and more digestible for those who already beat the original. So what are those new features, and what are the biggest differences between the two versions? 

What’s new in Persona 5 Royal

Persona 5 Royal adds a number of quality-of-life improvements to the game and adds new content to every facet of the original.

There are a number of time-saving features in Persona 5 Royal, foremost among them being the ability to automatically win field battles. Once the party hits a certain level, players can simply dash into an enemy on the field and they will automatically win the fight and receive its rewards. This saves a lot of time when backtracking through palaces and tracking down targets in Mementos.

Those aren’t the only changes, though. A load of other features were added to the game.

First and foremost is an all-new epilogue chapter to the game. This adds a new palace game and leads to a new “true” ending that is quite different from the original. It also adds new playable character Kasumi Yoshizawa, codename Violet.

Kasumi and fellow new character Dr. Maruki are both confidants. Alongside this, Goro Akechi becomes a standard confidant that players can hang out and talk with.

This doesn’t cover it all. Alongside this are a number of new story events, new ways to get stats, new mini-games, new Personas to collect, and more.

Is Persona 5 Royal worth getting?

Persona 5 Royal is worth getting for anyone who enjoyed the original game. Though the majority of the story is a retread of the original game, there’s enough new content that players can have fun on a second go.

The game is also specifically tailored to be easier to complete for those who are already familiar with Persona 5. There are more opportunities to gain social stats and chances to boost relationships with multiple confidants. This makes things more accessible to new players, but also allows returning Persona 5 fans to more easily enjoy the new content.