Persona 5 Royal Guide#

Persona 5 Royal is the definitive edition of Persona 5 — the same double-life structure of school days by daylight and Palace heists after class, expanded with an all-new third semester, two additional Confidants, and a brand-new Palace. Royal launched on PlayStation 4 in Japan on October 31, 2019, and the remaster followed on October 21, 2022, arriving simultaneously on Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch. The story follows a teenager sent back to Tokyo on a false assault charge and enrolled at Shujin Academy, where he awakens to the power of the Persona, forms the Phantom Thieves with a band of fellow outcasts, and infiltrates the Palaces — crystallizations of distorted adult desire — to steal their Treasures and force their owners to repent.

Game Information#

Development, Publishing, and Ratings#

Persona 5 Royal was developed by P-Studio, Atlus’s in-house studio, and published by Atlus and SEGA, with official Simplified and Traditional Chinese support. Regional ratings are CERO 15 in Japan, ESRB M in North America, PEGI 16 in Europe, and USK 16 in Germany — confirm your region’s guidelines before letting younger players in.

The protagonist’s name is customizable when you start a new game. Encyclopedic convention gives his formal name as Ren Amamiya, the manga adaptation calls him Akira Kurusu, and his teammates know him as Joker — so any claim of a single “official name” doesn’t hold up. His initial Persona is Arsène, and the rest of the cast starts with the following:

Versions, Platforms, and Save Data#

Two hard constraints to confirm before you buy:

• There is no upgrade path from the PS4 version to the PS5 version, and the PS5 remaster cannot read PS4 save data. Moving from the PS4 edition to the remaster means starting a fresh file — the most common mistake new players make.
• The remaster includes every piece of Royal DLC out of the box; the DLC for the PS4 version must be purchased separately.

Five Things to Know Before You Start#

1. The true ending has a hard deadline: Maruki at Confidant rank 9 before November 17#

Royal’s biggest addition is the third semester, a fully new chapter running from January through March of the following year, and it has exactly one unlock condition: Takuto Maruki’s Confidant (the Councillor Arcana) must reach rank 9 before November 17. On November 18, the story automatically maxes it at rank 10, and the third semester opens. Miss that window and the main story converges on the original’s structure in late December — no third semester, no new Palace, no true ending; a first playthrough that misses the date forfeits every piece of new content Royal added.

Maruki’s Confidant unlocks automatically on May 13 as part of the story, so from then on you need to reserve time for him on every available day. The official rank abilities: ranks 1 and 2 unlock Detox X, rank 3 unlocks Flow, rank 5 unlocks Mindfulness, ranks 6 and 7 unlock Quick Flow, ranks 8 and 9 unlock Detox DX, and max rank unlocks Wakefulness.

Two other threads have to be scheduled alongside his. Goro Akechi (the Justice Arcana) must reach rank 8 before November 17 to see an additional scene on the true-ending route; his rank 3 gate requires Knowledge 3 and Charm 3, and his rank 7 gate requires Knowledge 4, so fold all five social stats into the plan. Kasumi Yoshizawa (the Faith Arcana), meanwhile, is not a true-ending condition — raising her Confidant to rank 5 before December 22 lets you keep advancing it into January. Fall short and you lose the rest of her Confidant for that playthrough, not the true ending.

2. Time management is the real gate of a first playthrough#

Free time slots are finite, and Palace infiltrations, Confidant ranks, the five social stats (Knowledge, Guts, Proficiency, Charm, and Kindness), and part-time jobs all draw on the same calendar. Over one playthrough you will work through the Palaces of Kamoshida, Madarame, Kaneshiro, Niijima, Kitagawa, Futaba, and Shido in order, with Maruki’s Palace joining them in the third semester. Each Palace has a firm deadline once the calling card goes out, and missing it breaks the infiltration. Confidants and social stats carry entry requirements of their own, and the two true-ending threads above are doubly sensitive to both dates and stats — so before starting a file, build the habit of reserving fixed slots for priority Confidants. For concrete scheduling, see the schedule management and Confidant growth guides.

3. Mementos has no fixed floor count#

Mementos, the subway labyrinth that carries the game’s side requests, generates its corridors procedurally by design. Atlus has never published an exact total number of floors, so any “how many floors are there” reference table is invalid. Royal adds randomly generated side Palaces and Deviations to it, along with a Stamp Rally hosted by the newcomer Jose — and as your stamp collection grows, Mementos expands further, with a complete reconfiguration of its cognition tied to a silver trophy. For grinding and request tactics, see the dedicated Mementos guide.

4. Execution and Showtime are the combat core, not optional extras#

Royal turns several combat changes into the default experience. Baton Pass is unlocked from the start — it required Confidant investment in the original — and its chain can be boosted to triple damage; Technical hits combine status ailments with matching attack types for a 1.5x damage multiplier; and 1MORE, the extra turn earned by striking a weakness or landing a critical, remains central to battlefield control. On the growth side, Royal adds Execution: fuse new Personas in the Velvet Room by feeding existing ones to the Guillotine, Group Guillotine, Gallows, or Electric Chair, while a forced fusion completed inside the time limit of a Fusion Alarm can yield a Persona with massively boosted stats. Showtime, the full-team cinematic attack, only opens once bonds run deep enough, and Royal also grants three characters a third-form Persona. Full breakdowns live in the combat system and Personas guides.

5. The remaster bundles all DLC; the PS4 version does not#

The October 21, 2022 remaster ships with all Royal DLC included at no extra cost, while PS4 owners have to buy the DLC separately. The remaster launched day one on Xbox Game Pass, left the service on November 1, 2023, and returned on June 9, 2026. One caveat: the Xbox version has no platinum trophy — its completion rewards exist as achievements only. Check the platform table above to confirm which version you are getting before you buy.

FAQ#

Which platforms is Persona 5 Royal available on?#

Royal launched on PlayStation 4 (October 31, 2019 in Japan), and the remaster arrived on October 21, 2022 for Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch.

Can I upgrade the PS4 version to the PS5 version?#

No. There is no upgrade path, and the PS5 remaster cannot read PS4 save data — moving to the remaster means starting a fresh file.

What is the deadline for the true ending?#

Get Maruki’s Confidant (Councillor) to rank 9 before November 17. The story auto-maxes it on November 18; miss the date and both the third semester and the true ending are locked out for that playthrough.

How many endings does the game have?#

Five main endings: three bad endings, the normal ending (the original route’s good ending), and the true ending. The Royal ending is an extended version of the true ending with an extra scene, not a sixth ending.

How long does the game take to complete?#

Roughly 100 hours for the main story, 90-150 hours to see all five endings, and 100-120 hours for the platinum trophy.

How many trophies are there?#

53 on PlayStation: 1 platinum, 1 gold, 7 silver, and 44 bronze. The game also has 52 in-game achievements displayed in the Thieves Den, which are separate from platform trophies.

Does the remaster include DLC?#

Yes — all Royal DLC is bundled with the remaster. DLC for the PS4 version must be purchased separately.

Does the game support Chinese?#

Yes, both Simplified and Traditional Chinese are officially supported.

Endings and Key Choice Dates#

The game has five main endings: bad endings one through three, the normal ending (the original route’s good ending), and the true ending. Royal’s ending is an extended cut of the true ending with one additional scene — not a standalone sixth ending. The formula for the true ending: refuse every deal, clear Maruki’s Palace, and reach Confidant rank 9 with Maruki before November 17.

Maruki is the final boss, wielding the Persona Azathoth and awakening as Adam Kadmon for the deciding battle. A number of interruption-type endings triggered by failed key actions also wrap the story up early at their respective points. Branch details are covered in the endings guide.

Trophies and Completion Time#

The PlayStation version carries 53 trophies — 1 platinum, 1 gold, 7 silver, and 44 bronze — with platinum requiring every other trophy in the set.

The seven silver trophies cover: top scores on both exams (January 11 and February 11), maxing all five social stats, entering a romantic relationship with a character, maxing at least one Confidant, completely changing Mementos’ cognition, obtaining a skill accessory from a Palace boss, and defeating the Reaper.

Eleven hidden trophies track story progress: each of the seven Palaces (Kamoshida, Madarame, Kaneshiro, Niijima, Kitagawa, Futaba, and Shido) has a corresponding hidden trophy, clearing Mementos and clearing all Palaces each have dedicated trophies, and completing the game itself is the set’s only gold trophy.

• Five execution-related trophies map to the four execution methods — Guillotine, Group Guillotine, Gallows, and Electric Chair — plus execution during a Fusion Alarm. Obtaining a Persona through negotiation instead of fusion also has its own trophy.
• The game contains 52 further achievements, displayed in the Thieves Den added in Royal. They are not platform trophies and do not count toward platinum.
• Time reference: roughly 100-120 hours for platinum, and roughly 90-150 hours to see all five main endings.

Sales and Reception#

On the review side, Metacritic gives Royal an average of 95/100, against 93/100 for the original Persona 5 — the two figures are not directly comparable, so don’t mix them when citing.

Related Games#

• Metaphor: ReFantazio — a fantasy RPG from the same Atlus lineage
• NieR: Automata — an action RPG built around multi-playthrough storytelling
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth — the second chapter of the Final Fantasy VII remake project
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom — open-world action adventure
• Baldur’s Gate 3 — the flagship of the CRPG revival

One honest note to close on: this is a long-haul JRPG, with a main story of roughly 100 hours and full completion around 100-120 hours. The slow pace and the long daily routines are design intent, not flaws. Accept that rhythm — and remember the November 17 deadline — and Royal’s complete experience truly opens up.

Related Rankings#

Best RPGs of All Time, Ranked · Hardest Bosses of All Time, Ranked

Full Guides#

In-depth sub-guides — beginner basics, the date-by-date walkthrough, every Palace, the full combat breakdown, all 22 Confidants, Persona fusion and execution routes, the five endings, and the complete trophy list — are available in Chinese on NTGame’s Persona 5 Royal section.