Persona 5 Royal's Additions Are 'Beyond' Persona 4 Golden's

By Matt Purslow

Persona 5’s expanded re-release, Royal, will include an extra semester of gameplay that goes “beyond the expectations of those who have experienced the volume of Persona 4 Golden.”

The comment comes from the latest issue of Weekly Famitsu (via Gematsu), which features an interview with the game’s producer Kazuhisa Wada, and director Daiki Itoh. Itoh previously directed Persona 4: Golden, and so has experience on developing expanded re-releases of Persona games.

The latest issue of Famitsu also explains the new Play Assist feature, which calculates your social interactions and confidant levels and automatically suggests people and places you should visit next. This should help players min/max their characters with more efficiency.

In addition, Wada and Itoh say that they’re making it easier to earn experience points so you can play at a better “tempo”.

New Phantom Thieves character Kasumi is being blended into the story, and you’ll learn her various different sides as you play. She acts as a confidant, alongside new NPC Maruki, and Atlus tease that there will be other new confidants introduced, too.

The developer confirms that Persona 5 Royal is a standalone game and that Persona 5 save data cannot be used with the game. However, apparently there will be some kind of bonus for those who have original Persona 5 save data.

Persona 5 Royal will release in Japan (as Persona 5: The Royal) later this year, and in the West in 2020. There is also a Switch game on the way, but this is Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers; a musou spinoff akin to Dynasty Warriors.

Matt Purslow is IGN UK’s News and Entertainment Writer, and wonders if there will be enough time left before the heat death of the universe to complete Persona 5 Royal. You can follow him on Twitter.