Last Surprise

is a 2016 role-playing video game developed by P-Studio and published by Atlus. The game is the sixth installment in the ''Persona'' series, itself a part of the larger ''Megami Tensei'' franchise. It was released for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in Japan in September 2016 and worldwide in April 2017. It was published by Atlus in Japan and North America, and by Deep Silver in PAL territories. An enhanced version featuring new content, was released for PlayStation 4 in Japan in October 2019 and worldwide in March 2020. It was published by Atlus in Japan and worldwide by its parent company Sega. ''Persona 5 Royal'' was later released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in October 2022.

Taking place in modern-day Tokyo, the story follows a high school student known by the codename Joker who transfers to a new school after he is framed for assault and put on probation. Over the course of a school year, he and other students awaken to a special power, becoming a group of secret vigilantes known as the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. They explore the Metaverse, a supernatural realm born from humanity's subconscious desires, to steal malevolent intent from the hearts of adults and change their hearts. As with previous games in the series, the party battles enemies known as Shadows using physical manifestations of their psyche known as Personas. The game incorporates role-playing and dungeon crawling elements alongside social simulation scenarios.

''Persona 5'' was developed by P-Studio, an internal development division within Atlus led at the time by game director and producer Katsura Hashino. Along with Hashino, returning staff from earlier ''Persona'' games included character designer Shigenori Soejima and music composer Shoji Meguro. Preparatory work began during the development of ''Persona 4'', with full development beginning after the release of ''Catherine'' in 2011. First announced in 2013, ''Persona 5'' was delayed from its original late 2014 release date due to being unfinished. Its themes revolve around attaining freedom from the limitations of modern society: the story was strongly inspired by picaresque fiction, and the party's Personas were based on literary outlaws and rebels.

''Persona 5'' has been cited as one of the greatest video games of all time, with praise for its visual presentation, gameplay, story, and music. Including ''Royal'', ''Persona 5'' sold over copies by April 2023, making it the best-selling title in the ''Megami Tensei'' franchise. Several pieces of related media have also been produced, including four spin-off games—'' Dancing in Starlight'', ''Persona 5 Strikers'', '' Persona 5 Tactica'', and '' Persona 5: The Phantom X''—as well as manga and anime adaptations. The game's cast has also appeared in other games, with Joker appearing as a playable character in the 2018 crossover fighting game ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate''.

Gameplay

''Persona 5'' is a role-playing video game where the player takes on the role of a male high school student, codenamed Joker, who lives out a single year while attending school in modern-day Tokyo. The game is governed by a day-night cycle and weather systems that determine general behavior, similar to a social simulation game. The year is punctuated by scripted and random events as Joker attends school, and outside of school he can have part-time jobs, pursue leisure activities, or create items for use in dungeons or in battle. Joker's activities in the real world affect his social statistics; increasing these values grants additional activities and options. When in the real world, Joker can develop character relationships known as "Confidants"; an evolution of the "Social Link" system from ''Persona 3'' and ''Persona 4''. With this system, he can converse with and improve his relationship with other characters he meets, with some leading to possible romances. Improving Confidant ranks with party members unlocks various abilities for use in combat. Improving ranks with non-party Confidants grants other bonuses, such as access to new equipment or boosting experience point gains.

Alongside the normal school life is dungeon crawling gameplay of two different types within a realm called the Metaverse: story-specific dungeons called Palaces and a randomly generated dungeon called Mementos. Both are populated by Shadows, physical manifestations of suppressed psyches modeled after mythological and religious figures. Within the dungeons of Mementos, the party can fulfill quests received from Confidants and other non-player characters. While navigating, the party can use stealth to avoid enemy Shadows, and some areas hold puzzles that can be solved using Joker's "Third Eye" ability, which highlights interactable objects and enemy strength. Throughout Palaces are locations known as "Safe Rooms", where the player can save their game and fast travel to other safe rooms within the Palace.

As with previous entries in the series, the game uses a turn-based combat system. Battles can be initiated when the party runs into an enemy, or they can launch an ambush and gain an advantage in battle. In battle, the party has weapons and can summon Personas: manifestations of the main characters' inner psyche that are used mainly for special attacks. If a character strikes an enemy's weakness, they knock the enemy down and are awarded an additional turn. If all enemies are knocked down, a "Hold Up" is triggered, during which the party can launch a devastating "All-Out Attack", demand money or items, or convince a selected Shadow to become one of Joker's Personas. Party members are knocked out when they lose all of their health points, and the game ends if Joker is knocked out.

New Personas can be gained from battle through successful negotiation, and different Persona types are represented through different arcana linked to Confidant links. Personas can be combined, or "fused" within the Velvet Room, a realm Joker visits throughout the story. In the Velvet Room, Personas can be fused through the "Guillotine" fusion process, with the resultant Persona inheriting skills and stats from its parents. More skills are passed on depending on how many skills a Persona has, and the strength of the resulting Persona depends on how advanced its associated Confidant link is. Personas can be sacrificed by "Hanging" to grant experience points to another Persona or by being sent to the "Electric Chair" to create a high-end item. A Persona can also be sent into "Solitary Confinement" for multiple days to undergo intensive training and gain additional skills quicker than normal.

Minor online social elements are incorporated through the "Thieves Guild" feature, where players can see what activities other players did during any given day or aid other players in the Metaverse.

Synopsis

Setting and characters

''Persona 5'' takes place within the ''Persona'' universe, revolving around a group of high school students who harness Personas, physical manifestations of their inner psyche. The story begins in April "20XX (2016)" and spans roughly a year. It is set in modern-day Tokyo and features several real-world locations, including Akihabara, Shinjuku, and Shibuya. A major setting throughout the game is Shujin Academy, a high school that the protagonist attends. The second major location is the "Metaverse", a supernatural realm consisting of the physical manifestations of humanity's subconscious desires. In the Metaverse, people with corrupted desires form their own unique "Palace," which is modeled after their distorted perception of a place in the real world, along with a Shadow version of themselves (their true self) possessing a "Treasure" symbolic of their desires. Returning from earlier entries is the Velvet Room, a place that exists for the growth of Persona users and shifts appearance depending on the current guest; in ''Persona 5'', it takes the form of a prison.

The player character is a silent protagonist, a commonplace feature in the ''Persona'' series, codenamed Joker. He becomes the leader of a vigilante group known as the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, who change the hearts of criminals and other malevolent people through the Metaverse. He is joined by school delinquent Ryuji Sakamoto, fashion model Ann Takamaki, and Morgana, a mysterious cat-like creature. As the game progresses, the group recruits more members, including art prodigy Yusuke Kitagawa, student council president Makoto Niijima, hikikomori computer hacker Futaba Sakura, and cultured corporate heiress Haru Okumura. Also interacting with Joker are high school detective Goro Akechi, public prosecutor and Makoto's older sister Sae Niijima, and Igor and his two assistants Caroline and Justine, who are residents of the Velvet Room.

Plot

Much of the story is told through flashbacks while Sae Niijima interrogates the protagonist. After preventing an assault, he is framed for assaulting the man responsible and put on probation for a year, resulting in expulsion from his school. He is sent to Tokyo to stay with family friend Sojiro Sakura and attend Shujin Academy during his year-long probation.

After his arrival, he is drawn into the Velvet Room, where Igor, alongside his assistants, Caroline and Justine, warns him that he must be rehabilitated to avoid future ruin and grants him access to a supernatural mobile app. This leads him into the Metaverse, and the Palace of the school's abusive gym teacher and volleyball coach Suguru Kamoshida, along with a fellow student, Ryuji Sakamoto, who had been labeled as a troublemaker due to having been provoked by Kamoshida into assaulting him.

After the protagonist and Ryuji are captured by the corrupt manifestation of Kamoshida, also known as his Shadow Self, he awakens to his Persona, Arsène, to save Ryuji from being executed. The two escape to the lower levels of the Palace, where they meet Morgana, a mysterious, small cat-like creature who knows much about the Palaces. Morgana informs the protagonist of the ability to change wicked people's hearts by stealing their "Treasure," the emotional root of their behavior and desires, from the Palaces ruled by their Shadow selves. Not long after, upon discovering the truth about Kamoshida's abuse towards other students in the Palace dungeons, Ryuji awakens to his Persona and resolves to stop Kamoshida.

The protagonist later confronts other fellow student Ann Takamaki, who was forced into a relationship with Kamoshida in exchange for her friend Shiho Suzui being on the volleyball team. When Ann doesn't come to Kamoshida's house one afternoon, he takes it out on Shiho the next day (with the implication that he sexually assaults her), driving her to attempt suicide. After which, the group finally decides to steal Kamoshida's heart and force him to confess his crimes, with Ann awakening to her Persona after accidentally stumbling into the Metaverse.

The protagonist assumes the codename Joker, and after changing Kamoshida's heart, he along with Morgana, Ryuji, and Ann form the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, to steal corruption from the hearts of adults to reform the city, and slowly learns of a broader conspiracy to influence the hearts of Tokyo. They are joined along the way by Yusuke Kitagawa, an art student whom they help to reform his corrupt teacher, Ichiryusai Madarame; Sae's sister Makoto, the president of the school's student council who is assigned to spy on them but joins after being blackmailed by a mob boss, Junya Kaneshiro, who they also reform; Sojiro's adopted daughter Futaba Sakura, an expert hacker who became a depressed ''hikikomori'' after the conspiracy murdered her mother and framed her using a forged suicide note; and Haru Okumura, a corporate heiress who rebels against her rich father, Kunikazu Okumura, and his attempts to control her life and mistreatment of his employees. Over time, the Phantom Thieves attract the attention of the public and the police, including Sae and celebrity junior detective Goro Akechi.

However, the Phantom Thieves' popularity plummets after a masked assassin frames them for the death of Haru's father. While pursuing the conspiracy, Akechi joins the group and convinces them to change Sae's heart in order to prove their innocence. After infiltrating Sae's Palace, Joker is captured by the police, and Sae interrogates him despite being removed from the case, at which point the story comes full-circle. Joker convinces Sae of the truth. Akechi is revealed to be the assassin and attempts to kill Joker, but the Phantom Thieves use the Metaverse to fake Joker's death. Aided by Sae and Sojiro, the Phantom Thieves go undercover and learn the conspiracy's leader is politician Masayoshi Shido, who was the one who framed and pressed charges against Joker, resulting in his probation. He has been using Akechi's Metaverse ability to remove obstacles in his path toward becoming Prime Minister and imposing his twisted reforms on Japan. When the Phantom Thieves infiltrate Shido's Palace, they face Akechi, who reveals himself as Shido's illegitimate son and that his collusion with him was part of a plan to get revenge on Shido for abandoning him and his late mother. Once defeated, Akechi sacrifices himself to protect the Phantom Thieves from a group of enemies (including Shido's cognition of Akechi himself) and allow them to defeat Shido. Despite Shido's arrest and confession, the public's opinion of him remains unchanged, and Shido may be released due to the manipulation of the public by his allies.

The Phantom Thieves infiltrate the depths of Mementos, the Palace of everyone's hearts, to steal the Treasure at its core, believing that changing the general public's hearts will cause them to realize and accept the truth. Inside, they discover that the public is in chaos and has chosen to give up their autonomy. The Phantom Thieves are ejected from Mementos by the Treasure itself, manifested as the Holy Grail, and vanish after the Metaverse merges with reality. Upon awakening in the Velvet Room, Igor proclaims Joker has failed to prevent the ruin and orders Caroline and Justine to execute him. Thanks to Joker, Caroline and Justine regain their memories and integrate into Lavenza, their proper form. Lavenza reveals that the Igor in the Velvet Room until this point is actually Yaldabaoth, the God of Control, who imprisoned the actual Igor. Yaldabaoth, the Holy Grail made sentient, was created from humanity's wish to give up control and be free from suffering. Through a wager made with Igor over humanity's goals, Yaldabaoth had given Joker and Akechi their abilities to see the influence of their actions on society while steering the wager in his favor.

Yaldabaoth offers Joker to return the world to its previous state at the cost of the world's freedom. If Joker accepts the offer, an alternate ending happens where the Phantom Thieves return to fame at the cost of humanity's free will. If Joker rejects the offer, he reunites with the rest of the Phantom Thieves in the Velvet Room, including Morgana, who was revealed to have been created by the real Igor to lead Joker the depths of Mementos. The Phantom Thieves attempt to fight Yaldabaoth again, and as Joker's confidants rally the support of the people, they rebel against Yaldabaoth's control and allow Joker to awaken his ultimate Persona, Satanael, to destroy Yaldabaoth and the Metaverse. After Yaldabaoth's defeat, Joker turns himself in to the police for Shido to be prosecuted. While Joker is incarcerated, the rest of the Phantom Thieves and his confidants help secure evidence of his innocence in the assault charge, leading to his conviction being overturned. By spring, Joker's friends drive him back to his hometown.

''Royal''

In ''Persona 5 Royal'', two new characters interact with the Phantom Thieves: Kasumi Yoshizawa, an accomplished gymnast who transferred to Shujin Academy the same time as Joker, and Takuto Maruki, a counsellor hired by the school after Kamoshida is exposed. Kasumi awakens to her Persona after discovering a new Palace in Odaiba with Joker. Maruki, in turn, talks to each of the Phantom Thieves throughout the main story and learns their deepest wishes and regrets via their counselling sessions with him.

After defeating Yaldabaoth, a still-living Akechi turns himself over to Sae in Joker's place. At the beginning of the following year, Joker finds reality distorted; Akechi was released without reason, and each Phantom Thief has had their deepest wish granted, including some deceased people being brought back to life. Joker, Akechi, and Kasumi investigate the Palace in Odaiba and learn that its owner is Maruki, who is revealed to be a Persona-user that can alter reality by forcefully changing people's cognitions. After Yaldabaoth's defeat, Maruki took control over Mementos and is determined to create a world where everyone's dreams become reality. Though hesitant at first, Maruki, at the group's insistence, reveals that "Kasumi" is actually her twin sister Sumire, who had been unknowingly impersonating her to cope with the former's death due to the influence of Maruki's powers. Maruki gives Joker time to choose whether to accept his idealized reality. Joker reminds the Phantom Thieves and Sumire of the strength and growth they gained from their real lives, and they agree to change Maruki's heart before the altered reality becomes permanent.

Joker later learns from Maruki that Akechi is alive in the altered reality because of Joker's desire to save him, and that whether Akechi lives depends on Joker accepting Maruki's world. Akechi convinces Joker to refuse the offer, stating he would rather disappear as himself, than live under Maruki's control. The Phantom Thieves then defeat Maruki the following day, and reality returns to normal. With Akechi gone, Joker finds himself back in prison as he was meant to be before reality was altered, but as with the original game's story, he is cleared and released thanks to his friends and allies. At their final meeting, having reflected on their rejection of Maruki's reality, each member chooses to pursue their own futures, and make their wishes come true under their own power. On the day he is due to return home, Joker escapes tailing government agents with help from both the Phantom Thieves and a reformed Maruki, who is now a taxi driver. At the station, Sumire finds him and bids him farewell. A post-credits scene achieved by reaching Rank 8 of Akechi's Confidant before November 17 shows a person resembling Akechi passing by the window on Joker's train ride home.

Similarly to the original game, an alternate ending happens should Joker choose to accept the idealized reality, instead of resisting and attempting to change Maruki's heart. The ending shows the other Phantom Thieves, including Akechi and Sumire, who is now "Kasumi" permanently, who are seemingly unaware of the true nature of reality, while Joker appears uncomfortable and unsure of his actions.

Development

The game was developed by P-Studio, an internal development studio within Atlus dedicated to handling the ''Persona'' series. Preparatory development began in 2008 following the release of ''Persona 4'', with full development beginning following the release of ''Catherine'' in 2011. Development lasted five years. Series director Katsura Hashino was only fully involved in development after ''Catherine'' was finished, later calling the latter game a test for the next ''Persona'' game's development. ''Persona 5'' would be Hashino's last game in the series as the leader of P-Studio, as he would afterwards form a separate internal team called Studio Zero. When production started, the staff consisted of around 40 people. During full production, this number expanded to 70 with 15 planners, 15 programmers, and between 30 and 45 designers. These included lead designer Naoya Maeda, who had previously done modeling work for the ''Trauma Center'' series. The general development was a challenge for the team, as they intentionally changed their development structure due to the more powerful hardware they were working with.

While the final game retains the turn-based battle system from earlier entries, one of the early design drafts was for an action-based system incorporating real-time elements foreign to the series. This idea was ultimately scrapped, but real-time command elements were introduced into the battle system, allowing the gameplay to evolve without extensive changes to the core system. One major new addition was unique dungeons with locked layouts as opposed to the predominantly randomly generated dungeons of previous ''Persona'' games. This was done to better emulate the game's themes and provide veteran players with something different. A returning feature from both earlier ''Persona'' games and the mainline ''Megami Tensei'' series was Negotiation. As it was considered a key part of the overall franchise by fans, Hashino decided to reintroduce it after being absent from the previous two mainline entries. The Negotiation system for ''Persona 5'' was tied into the origins of Shadows as suppressed psyches within the Collective Unconscious. The "Hold Up" function was inspired by scenes in films where the antagonist would hold people at gunpoint and make demands. These functions were incorporated due to the game being in part a celebration of the series' history. In-game weather and environmental elements were all designed to reflect the real world. Dungeon layout was split into three distinct types: the Tokyo overworld environments, "institutions" such as Joker's high school, and dungeon environments. Some segments take control away from the player aside from limited dialogue choices; this was chosen as it reflects the controlled environment of Japanese high schoolers.

While ''Catherine'' used the third-party Gamebryo game engine, ''Persona 5'' uses a specially created engine. Hashino believed that the new engine would make rendering their ideas much easier, although it would result in a long wait by fans for the game. The event scene software was also developed internally by Atlus, with an estimated 1,160 scenes being included in the final game. The tools for developing and handling them were greatly expanded over the previous two entries so as to better utilize the more advanced hardware. Character modeling, in general, was handled with a specially developed cel-shader which helped properly translate the character designs into the game, while also allowing for easy adjustment of shaders and lighting effects during fine-tuning. The characters were originally rendered realistically like in ''Catherine'', but the team felt that it was "wrong" for the ''Persona'' series. With this in mind, the team did some trial and error before finding a style that satisfied them, doing something similar for the interface and menu design. In contrast to ''Persona 4'', which has a general deformed look due to the PlayStation 2's hardware limitations on the variety of body shapes, the technology available to the team for ''Persona 5'' enabled unique customization for all relevant character models. Two different models were used for members of the main cast: a detailed model for real-time cutscenes, and a general-use model for general event scenes and gameplay. ''Persona 5'' marked the first time a large number of Personas had been rendered in high definition, something which proved a grueling challenge for the team.

Story and themes

The original story concept was written by Hashino, while the scenario was co-written by Shinji Yamamoto and Yuichiro Tanaka. The initial concept was for a storyline that diverged from the established paths of ''Persona 3'' and ''4'', with "self-discovery" and "journey" being its keywords. Originally using the concept of a backpacking trip around the world as a framing device for the story, Hashino decided to refocus on Japan in the wake of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. More specifically, it has been noted that the Japanese government's actions in response to the earthquake and tsunami's fallout, along with Japanese citizens' reactions to how the government acted during that time, may have served as partial influences on the game's themes. Following that crisis and seeing how people were bonding in the face of it, Hashino decided to have the story take place solely in Japan, with the journeying being done through the ever-shifting (dungeon-like) Palaces. Ultimately, the story's central concepts were inspired by equivalent social changes he saw in modern society, particularly in Japan. Hashino also described the central theme of the game as being about freedom and how the characters attain it. He wanted to make the game more "thematically approachable" for newcomers to the series, and to be an emotional experience that left its audience with a strong sense of catharsis and the inspiration to take on problems in their lives.

The narrative of ''Persona 5'' was designed like an omnibus, with the antagonists pursued by the party changing regularly. The development team has cited three main stories as inspiration, the Chinese novel ''Water Margin'', the Japanese crime movie ''Hakuchuu no Shikaku'', and the Spanish novel ''Lazarillo de Tormes''. Furthermore, the setting and style was compared to picaresque fiction; the team originally asked the question of how a character like Lupin III might win appeal in modern society. This picaresque theme was carried over into the aesthetics of Persona fusion and sacrifice, which were themed after styles of capital punishment. Having a more "stereotypical" theme enabled the team to create surprising story developments, mixing contemporary drama with the setting of the ''Persona'' series. The series' recurring motif of "masks" was used more overtly in the game's plot than previous entries as well, and the game's main locations were based heavily on their real-world counterparts.

The main characters, according to Hashino, share a mindset that they "no longer have a place where they belong in society", though the events of the game give them a sense of belonging. Hashino stated that while the last few games were about the protagonists chasing the antagonists, ''Persona 5'' would instead more prominently feature the antagonists and phenomena caused by them chasing the protagonists during the latter's activities. The characters have been described as "juvenile academics," with their activities as thieves being part of the way they break from societal norms and express themselves. Adhering with this concept, the game's main aim was to show the characters finding the courage to go outside the normal limits of society as set by previous generations. In contrast to previous ''Persona'' casts, the party of ''Persona 5'' willingly embrace the unfolding unusual events in their role of masked vigilantes rather than being dragged into them. The cast was originally going to be larger with character Hifumi Togo becoming a Phantom Thief, but as the story was already very large, she was relegated to an optional role as part of the Confidant system. Technological advances such as smartphones and the use of social media were integrated into both the story and gameplay due to their growing prevalence in modern society and how the public responds to real-world scandals.

The characters' initial Personas (Arsène, Captain Kidd, Carmen, Zorro, Goemon, Johanna, Necronomicon, Milady, Robin Hood, and Cendrillon) were themed after outlaws and picaresque heroes to reflect the function and dominant suppressed passions forming the Palace, and also represent aspects of their owners' personalities. Joker's initial Persona was originally the German demon Mephistopheles, but was changed to Arsène as the latter character better fit the game's themes. The cast's ultimate Personas (Satanael, Seiten Taisei, Hecate, Mercurius, Kamu Susano-o, Anat, Prometheus, Astarte, Loki and Vanadis) were based on mythical beings who act as tricksters or rebels. The three main inspirations behind Joker's alter ego were Arsène Lupin, The Fiend with Twenty Faces, and Japanese outlaw hero Ishikawa Goemon. The name of Joker's high school, "Shujin", was chosen because it was a homonym of , the Japanese word for "prisoner". Following a trend from earlier entries, the Velvet Room assistants are named after characters from the novel ''Frankenstein'' by Mary Shelley.

The use of adults as antagonists was a more overt expression of narrative elements previously explored in ''Persona 4''. The relation to police activities was also carried over from ''Persona 4'', but this time with the role of protagonists and antagonists reversed. Several writers have highlighted the parallels between the game's various antagonists with real incidents and figures in different sectors of Japanese society (e.g. political, corporate, academic), and how the game's story and characters serve as social commentary on life in Japan. The game's villains and protagonists were also constructed to be parallels of each other, both groups being misfits trying to shape a world they saw as unsatisfactory or corrupted. This was intended to create moral ambiguity about the Phantom Thieves' actions, causing the player to question their concept of justice and their mission as a whole. In addition, the way a vocal minority online could draw attention to and shift public opinion on events and scandals in the news was cited as an inspiration for the ambiguous nature of the Phantom Thieves' actions.

Art design

The art director was Masayoshi Suto, whose most notable work on earlier games included the user interface (UI) displays. Shigenori Soejima, who had worked on the last two main-series ''Persona'' games, returned as character designer. The art design reflects the picaresque theme aimed for by the rest of the team. Aesthetically, the team felt that they were picking up where ''Persona 4'' left off. Its styling presentation was an unintentional reflection on the hurdles the team needed to overcome during development. The teaser image used for the game's announcement was designed to convey a sense of the main characters' being chained down by the rules of the modern world. Soejima designed the logo to convey the high-speed existences of the young cast, while elements such as Joker's Persona Arsène were designed to appear old-fashioned by comparison. This presented challenges as Soejima needed to balance this with a strong sense of style.

Soejima was working on prospective designs for the game while ''Persona 4'' was still in development, with his designs evolving as the story for ''Persona 5'' came together. The first character sketches were submitted in 2012. Soejima worked closely with Hashino so the characters and environments reflected the game's themes. Due to being high school students, Soejima found it difficult to make each main character's uniform design distinctive, so he expressed their individuality through their thief costumes. Joker's design was cited by Soejima as his most challenging recent work. Joker needed to both convey a taste of the game's overall art style and to act as an avatar for the player. As the main theme and narrative of ''Persona 5'' revolved around crime and vigilantes triggered by Joker voluntarily choosing that path, Soejima needed to convey this while allowing the character to suit whatever dialogue choices the player decided upon. Due to these difficulties, Joker was given multiple designs in a trial and error process to find the best one. As the "phantom thief" premise was a common stereotype in fiction, Soejima initially drew Joker and the main cast in a style similar to shōnen manga, but these designs were scrapped as they clashed with the ''Persona'' series' realistic aesthetics. As with previous entries, the protagonist is a silent character, so Soejima had to work out a way Joker could communicate without dialogue. His solution was to imagine him as the type of person who made plans but did not share them with others. The Persona designs, being based on characters from literature, were intended to evoke both familiarity and surprise from players. Once the names were chosen, Soejima designed the Personas based on that character. The main aim for the game's environments was to create a sense of realism, with its version of Tokyo being modeled after real world locations.

As the team considered previous ''Persona'' games to be "fun" but not well marketed, the UI was designed in such a way as to attract a larger, more mainstream audience. When creating the UI, Hashino wanted to demonstrate how a shift in perspective could alter a dull life into an exciting one in the context of the story. Early UI designs were so "aggressively animated" that it obscured what was happening in the game. As a result, the animations were toned down and text orientation was altered, toning down the UI's graphical elements to present a balance between user-friendliness and style. Following the respective thematic coloring of ''Persona 3'' and ''4'' blue and yellow, ''Persona 5'' uses red, which was chosen to evoke a harsh feeling. Because of this, Suto tested multiple font colors until settling on black and white, as it stood out best against it. Rather than the use of sub-colors like earlier entries, the UI uses only the primary red, black and white colors aside from health and magic point meters, with the menus using a special moving 3D model of Joker which changes position depending on the selected menu.

The game's animated cutscenes were produced by Production I.G and Domerica, and were directed and supervised by Toshiyuki Kono. Kono was contacted three and a half years before the game's completion by Hashino. Faced with the project, Kono felt a great deal of pressure in his role. ''Persona 5'' was the first time Production I.G had worked on the series, though many staff at the studio were fans. Despite this, the studio did not change their standard animation process, focusing on characters as they had done for many of their previous projects. The most important part of the cutscenes was getting the character's expressions right, particularly when it came to the general-mute protagonist. The animated opening sequence was directed by Sayo Yamamoto. The concept behind the characters figure skating around the environment was done as a visual symbolization of the overall theme of breaking free of an oppressive force, and was similar to her work in '' Yuri on Ice''. The scene where Joker first summons his Persona was requested by Atlus to appear "wild", which was difficult as Joker's purpose is as an extension of the player. The blue flame effects related to the Persona were not created with CGI, but hand-drawn by the animators. All the anime cutscenes together were estimated to consist of over an hour of footage.

Music

The score was composed, performed, and produced by series sound director Shoji Meguro. Further contributions, among other general sound design, was handled by Toshiki Konishi, Kenichi Tsuchiya, Atsushi Kitajoh, and Ryota Kozuka; all of them having previously worked on the series as well. Meguro was given full creative freedom to work on the soundtrack and over a roughly three-year period produced about 80% of the total tracks. Seven tracks were performed in English by Lyn (Full Name: Lyn Inaizumi), a jazz and soul music singer. Her first performance in a video game, Lyn claimed that the most difficult part of her contributions was performing a rap segment in the opening theme, "Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There". The lyrics were written by Benjamin Franklin, while the ending song, "Hoshi To Bokura To", had lyrics written in Japanese by Shigeo Komori.

To express the game's mood, Meguro incorporated strong acid jazz elements into the score. He also wanted to make the music sound more realistic than previous entries, aiming to match the visuals. Meguro also changed the way the music flowed when compared to the last two ''Persona'' games. Instead of the opening and ending themes being conglomerates of the overall score, he described the entire score as a single continuous work. A recurring musical element was described as a " do-la" syllable; the opening uses "so la re mi" on strings as a hook, which then leads into the "do-la" syllable for other tracks, including the normal battle theme. While he was creating the music, Meguro received positive comments from Hashino when he made early tracks created for an internal demo.

A three-disc soundtrack was released in Japan by Mastard Records on January 17, 2017. Upon its debut, the album reached fifth on the Oricon charts with sales of over 29,000. The album features 110 tracks with commentary from the sound team, while the cover and liner note artwork were designed by Soejima. In addition to the soundtrack, a 19-track disc featuring a selection of the game's main themes, ''Persona 5: Sounds of the Rebellion'', was released as part of the North American and European collector's edition bundle. The complete soundtrack later received a localized English release on iTunes on April 18, 2017, and on vinyl later that year by iam8bit.

Release

''Persona 5'' was first announced with a teaser trailer in November 2013, alongside spin-off games '' Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth'', '' Persona 4: Dancing All Night'', and the PlayStation 3 port of ''Persona 4 Arena Ultimax''. The game was originally announced for a late 2014 release exclusively for the PlayStation 3. During a Sony press conference in September 2014, it was announced that the game would also be released for the PlayStation 4 and that it had been delayed into 2015. According to director Katsura Hashino, the game was delayed to fully develop for the PlayStation 4, and improve the general quality of both versions. The first gameplay trailer was shown during a special livestream on February 5, 2015. The song used in the first gameplay trailer is an instrumental version of the main theme. A Blu-ray Disc containing an exclusive trailer was bundled with first print copies of ''Persona 4: Dancing All Night'' in Japan on June 25, 2015. During a special livestream at the 2015 Tokyo Game Show, it was announced that the game would be delayed to late 2016. Speaking in a staff interview, Hashino apologized for the delay and stated that it was necessary to deliver a high-quality product without having to hold back in terms of content.

In April 2016, Atlus launched a countdown that ran until May 5, 2016. Shortly after, a special livestream was announced titled ''Take Tokyo Tower'', which coincided with the countdown date. During the Take Tokyo Tower livestream, a trailer revealed the game's final release date. ''Persona 5'' was released in Japan on September 15, 2016. Along with the standard edition, a ''20th Anniversary Edition'' was released, which features all downloadable content (DLC) based on ''Persona 3'' and ''Persona 4'', a five-CD best-of album set featuring music from all six main games in the series, and the official artbook for the game by Soejima. In honor of the game's Japanese release, the series-focused variety show ''Persona Stalker Club'' featured a new programming block titled ''Persona Stalker Club V''. To promote the game in Japan, Atlus partnered with AKG Acoustics to release limited edition wireless headphones based on Futaba's in December 2016. The headphones were packaged in a box with art designed by Soejima, with a music CD featuring two remixed tracks by Meguro and Kozuka. Apparel based on the characters was also released in Japan in early 2018.

Following its release, character costumes and additional Personas were released as paid DLC. The costumes include those incorporated into the ''20th Anniversary Edition'' based on ''Persona 3'' and ''Persona 4'', in addition to new costumes based on '' Revelations: Persona'', the ''Persona 2'' duology ('' Innocent Sin'' and ''Eternal Punishment''), '' Shin Megami Tensei If...'', ''Catherine'', ''Shin Megami Tensei IV'', '' Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army'', ''Persona 4 Arena'', and ''Dancing All Night''. The costumes are accompanied by arranged battle music from each costume set's respective game, which replaces the default battle theme based on what costume Joker wears. Some of the key Personas from ''Persona 3'' and ''Persona 4'' were released in bundles that include a new design and the original design of each. In addition, PlayStation 4 themes and avatar sets were released based on the central characters of ''Persona 5''. An additional difficulty setting known as "Merciless" was also released as free DLC.

Pre-order bonuses and its initial North American release date of February 14, 2017, was announced a week before E3 2016. Its release in Europe and Australia set for the same date was announced the following August. In November 2016, its release was pushed back two months to April 4. The stated reason was that Atlus wanted the game to be at its highest possible quality. Atlus USA published the game in North America. In Europe and Australia, it was published by Deep Silver. As with previous ''Persona'' games, the English localization was handled by Atlus USA and led by Yu Namba. According to Namba, the team began with a "blank slate" when choosing the English voice cast, as it was a new setting for the ''Persona'' series. Localizing ''Persona 5'' was described by Namba as a massive project with the largest staff yet dedicated to the series. As project lead, Namba made the final call on issues brought up by the team during the localization process. In English-speaking regions, the "''Shin Megami Tensei''" moniker was dropped from the title. For the English release, the Japanese dub was made available as free DLC.

Upon its worldwide release, Atlus published a set of guidelines for players livestreaming footage of the game, noting that streamers who shared footage past a certain in-game date " idso at the risk of being issued a content ID claim or worse, a channel strike/account suspension". The guidelines were widely perceived as threatening, and were criticized by many in the games press and streaming community. About three weeks later, Atlus apologized for the tone of its original guidelines and revised its policy, extending the amount that could be streamed considerably.

''Persona 5 Royal''

''Persona 5 Royal'', released in Japan as ''Persona 5: The Royal'', is an enhanced version of the game in a similar vein to ''Persona 4 Golden''. This version features an additional Phantom Thief member named Kasumi Yoshizawa, a new Palace, a new area of the city (Kichijōji), new music, additional plot and social elements, a playable third semester, and support for the PlayStation 4 Pro, alongside many other changes and additions. In a first for the series, ''Royal'' features subtitles in French, German, Italian, and Spanish. It features a new opening sequence directed by Yuichiro Hayashi and produced by MAPPA, and as with the original game, Domerica co-produced the new anime cutscenes. Atlus first teased the game as ''Persona 5 R'' in December 2018, with a full reveal in April 2019. It was released for the PlayStation 4 in Japan on October 31, 2019, and worldwide on March 31, 2020. The game was also released for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on October 21, 2022. These versions were ported by Atlus owner Sega.

Sega published ''Royal'' in Europe and Australia, taking over from Deep Silver who published the original in those regions. Upon release, ''Royal'' received numerous character costume sets and Personas as paid DLC. Costumes include those based on '' Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight'' and '' Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth''. Additionally, Kasumi received her own costume bundle. Personas added include those from ''Persona 3'' and ''4''. DLC adding additional battles against the protagonist of ''Persona 3'' and protagonist of ''Persona 4'' was released. All DLC from the original game was also made available as a free download for owners of ''Persona 5 Royal''. The paid DLC created for ''Royal'' was included for free in the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S versions. The game supports Xbox Play Anywhere on Microsoft platforms, but the PlayStation 5 version does not offer an upgrade path or save data transfer from the PlayStation 4 version.

Reception

''Persona 5'' has been cited as one of the greatest role-playing games of all time, receiving "universal acclaim" according to review aggregator Metacritic. ''Famitsu'' gave it a positive review, with the game garnering a near-perfect score. ''PlayStation Official Magazine – UK'' described it as "an unabashed masterpiece". ''IGN''s Andrew Goldfarb said ''Persona 5'' "stands out as an extraordinary, memorable experience and easily one of the deepest JRPGs of the last decade". ''RPGamer'' said that "With ''Persona 5'', Atlus has once again proven that it is the master of the modern JRPG. With terrific style, addictive gameplay, and an engaging, thought-provoking story...". One of the aspects that was highly praised was its graphical style and art direction. Japanese game designer Masahiro Sakurai named the game as an example of a video game with stylish UI design, calling it his favorite game UI.

The quality of the English localization was one of the few aspects singled out for criticism, with ''Polygon'' describing it as "aggravatingly mediocre". Another was its treatment of LGBT topics. Writing for ''Paste'', Kenneth Shepard considered the game to be heteronormative and noted a "lecherous" gay couple who are treated as a joke. These scenes' dialogue were altered in the Western version of ''Persona 5 Royal'', with its localization team advocating for the change. Shepard and ''Polygon'' writer Laura Dale both opined that ''Royal''s localization changes were at least a minor improvement, but the game was still broadly uninclusive to LGBT identities.

''Royal''

''Persona 5 Royal'' received "universal acclaim" from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic, garnering an even higher score than the original. The game is the third-highest-rated PlayStation 4 game on Metacritic alongside Naughty Dog's '' The Last of Us Remastered''. ''IGN'' listed it as one of the best contemporary role-playing games. ''Famitsu'' praised ''Royal'' newer elements. Michael Higham of ''GameSpot'' lauded the new music, characters, and the added third semester, saying that it solves one of the original game's shortcomings of ending abruptly. He concluded his review saying that ''Royal'' refines an already great game and builds on what was best about it with a great new story and that it is "an unforgettable and empowering RPG that should be recognized as one of the best games of our time." ''IGN''s Leana Hafer said ''Royal'' is "a living master class in how to take an already amazing game and amp it up to the next level." She commended the improvements to the Mementos dungeons saying "The fact that Atlus has made Mementos feel so much more alive is a massive improvement by itself."

Sales

The game received a boost to pre-order sales following the delay of ''Final Fantasy XV'', which was originally scheduled to release the same month as ''Persona 5''. Sales went up on Amazon Japan by 450%, bringing it to second place in their best-seller charts behind ''Tales of Berseria''. In its first week of release, the PS4 version reached first place with sales of 264,793 units, while the PS3 version reached second place with 72,974 units, resulting in total sales of 337,767 units. This made ''Persona 5'' the fastest-selling title in the series' history, surpassing ''Revelations: Persona'', and together with '' Pro Evolution Soccer 2017'' pushed sales of the PS4 up significantly over the previous week. It was later reported by Hashino that combined physical shipments and digital sales had reached over 550,000 units by September 2016. Within three weeks of its launch in Japan, the game became Atlus' best-selling game in the country.

Outside of Japan, it was the biggest debut for any ''Persona'' game to date, with packaged sales five times better than ''Persona 4''. On the PlayStation Network in April, the game topped the PS4 charts, and was third on the PS3, with Atlus announcing that it had shipped 1.5 million units worldwide. By November 2017, that number had risen to over two million, which made it the best-selling game in the series. The success of ''Persona 5'' contributed to increasing annual revenue for Sega, the owner of Atlus, in 2017. At the 2018 PlayStation Awards, it received the Platinum Prize for topping a million sales in Asia. ''Persona 5'' had sold over 3.2 million units by December 2019.

''Persona 5 Royal'' shipped over 400,000 units in Japan by December 2019. This brought total sales of ''Persona 5'' and ''Royal'' to over units worldwide by December 2019. In February 2020, ''Royal'' topped the Media Create sales charts in South Korea and Taiwan. In the United Kingdom, ''Royal'' debuted at number five on the sales chart. ''Royal'' had sold over 1.4 million units by July 2020, bringing the total sales of ''Persona 5'' and ''Royal'' to over . ''Persona 5'' and ''Royal'' had sold over units by June 2021 (when including ''Royal'' units).

When the game launched on additional platforms in October 2022, the Nintendo Switch version placed in second at 45,998 physical units sold, and PlayStation 5 version placed in seventh at 5,051 units during the week from October 17 to 23, according to Japanese publication Famitsu. In the United Kingdom, the re-release of ''Royal'' debuted at number six on the sales chart, with 79% of the launch week sales coming from the Nintendo Switch version. By November 30, 2022, the PlayStation 4 version of ''Royal'' had sold 2.3 million units. By April 2023, the ports to other platforms had sold a combined 1.7 million units, bringing total sales of ''Royal'' to 4 million units, and combined sales of all versions of ''Persona 5'' to 7.2 million units. The ''Persona 5'' series including ''Royal'', ''Dancing in Starlight'', ''Strikers'', and ''Tactica'' surpassed 10 million units sold by December 2023.

Awards

''Persona 5'' won two awards at the Japanese 2016 PlayStation Awards. At The Game Awards 2017, it was nominated for the show's "Game of the Year", "Best Art Direction", "Best Score/Music", and "Best Role Playing Game" awards; it ultimately won for "Best Role Playing Game". It won the Award for Excellence at the Japan Game Awards 2017. It was named the second best game of 2017 by ''GameSpot'', behind '' The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild''. In ''IGN''s 2017 end of year awards, it won "Best RPG", and was also nominated for "Game of the Year", "Best PlayStation 4 Game", "Best Art Direction", "Best Story", and "Best Original Music". The game was also nominated for "Best International Game" at the 2017 Ping Awards, and for the "Best Music" and "Best Style" awards by ''Giant Bomb''.

It was ranked as one of the best games of 2017 by ''Eurogamer'', ''Polygon'', ''The Verge'', ''GamesRadar+'', and ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' end of year lists. ''Destructoid'' nominated it for "Best PS4 Game" in its 2017 Game of the Year Awards. Staff of ''Game Informer'' named it 2017's "Best Role-Playing Game", as well as "Best Narrative" and "Best Cast". In their reader's choice awards, it was voted "Best Role-Playing Game" and came in second for "Best Sony Game" and third for "Game of the Year". During the 21st Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated ''Persona 5'' for " Role-Playing Game of the Year". The game won the Tin Pan Alley Award for "Best Music in a Game" at the New York Game Awards 2018. It was also nominated for the " Best Visual Art" award at the Game Developers Choice Awards, and for "Excellence in Musical Score" and "Excellence in Art" at the 2018 SXSW Gaming Awards. The game was nominated for "Best Game Music Cover/Remix" at the 2019 G.A.N.G. Awards.

''Persona 5 Royal'' won the award for "Best Music" at the ''Famitsu'' Dengeki Game Awards 2019, where it was also nominated for "Best RPG". It was nominated for "Best Role Playing Game" at The Game Awards 2020, as well as " Role-Playing Game of the Year" at the 24th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, but lost both awards to ''Final Fantasy VII Remake''.

Legacy

A standalone anime special, ''Persona 5: the Animation -The Day Breakers-'', aired in Japan on September 3, 2016. Created by A-1 Pictures, ''The Day Breakers'' is set during the events of the game and portrayed as a "sub event" separate from the main narrative. A manga adaptation of ''Persona 5'' by Hisato Murasaki began serialization online from September 15, 2016. '' Persona 5: The Animation'', an anime television series based on the game's events, was produced by CloverWorks and began broadcast in April 2018. Stage play adaptations under the title ''Persona 5: The Stage'' have been performed in Japan, with original music composed by Atsushi Kitajoh.

'' Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight'', a rhythm game for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, features the main cast of ''Persona 5'' and was released in 2018. The cast is also featured in '' Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth'' for the Nintendo 3DS, also released in 2018. ''Persona 5 Strikers'', an action role-playing sequel to ''Persona 5'' co-developed with Omega Force and featuring gameplay based on their ''Dynasty Warriors'' series, was released in Japan in 2020 and worldwide in 2021 for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Windows. A tactical role-playing game spinoff named '' Persona 5 Tactica'' was released in 2023. A spin-off for Android and iOS named '' Persona 5: The Phantom X'' was announced in 2023, developed by Black Wings Game Studio and published by Perfect World Games; P-Studio is assisting in the game's development.

Joker appears as a playable character via downloadable content (DLC) in the 2018 crossover fighting game, ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate''. The game's director, Masahiro Sakurai, is a fan of the ''Persona'' series and stated that Joker was emblematic of the approach that he wanted to take with ''Ultimate'' DLC, adding that he wanted characters that were unique and fun to use within the ''Super Smash Bros.'' environment. Other characters and series elements have also made crossover appearances in various other games.

Notes

References

External links

*
*

{{Portal bar, Japan, Speculative fiction, Video games

Persona 5
2016 video games
Atlus games
Child abuse in fiction
Coming-of-age fiction
Dark fantasy role-playing video games
Deep Silver games
Fiction about theft
The Game Awards winners
High school-themed video games
Japan Game Award winners
Japanese role-playing video games
Manga based on video games
Nintendo Switch games
Persona 5
PlayStation 3 games
PlayStation 4 games
PlayStation 4 Pro enhanced games
PlayStation 5 games
Production I.G
Science fantasy role-playing video games
Single-player video games
Superhero video games
Video games about crime
Video games about suicide
Video games about wrongful convictions
Video games adapted into comics
Video games adapted into television shows
Video games developed in Japan
Video games scored by Shoji Meguro
Video games set in 2016
Video games set in 2017
Video games set in the 21st century
Video games set in Tokyo
Video games using procedural generation
Video games with cel-shaded animation
Windows games
Works about rebels
Xbox Cloud Gaming games
Xbox One games
Xbox One X enhanced games
Xbox Series X and Series S games