Persona 5 Review

Persona 5 brings a number of new aspects to the series whilst maintaining the game’s original tone and gameplay style, welcoming new players and returning fans alike. The game begins as the player moves to a new city due an arrest following the player’s intervention in a fight. This move opens up the player to meeting and making new friends during their time at their new school, through days out, chatting online, or crawling through one of the game’s several dungeons.

Firstly, Persona 5’s story is once again largely self-contained allowing new players to enter the game’s world without too much difficulty. However, once again the velvet room makes its return to the game, taking the form of a prison due to the player’s current feelings of imprisonment to both fate and society. As well as this, players are once again placed into a high school environment in which they must create new bonds, in order to unlock new personas, players are able to do this through a multitude of different features both new and returning to the game.

In addition to this, the game also sees the return of several different and major dungeons, throughout the world of persona 5 giving players the option to explore new areas, and methodically plan their strategy in between floors, and school days. As well as partaking in dungeons, the game also allows players to spend time with friends and allies during weekends as well as during school, increasing their social link and unlocking new personas.

In addition to new gameplay features, Persona 5 also introduces a new and far more stylized menu system, with vibrant colours that separate themselves from the main game, further enforcing the game’s themes of freedom and standing out against society. This stylized menu system is also accompanied by a wide range of anime style cutscenes as players progress through the story, each presenting both vibrant and dull settings throughout the storyline and heavily depending on the game’s current setting.

The game also introduces a sense of surprise and mystery into battles with enemies, as players will be unable to see the type of enemy or their numbers until they enter the battle. Not only does this force players to ensure they are prepared with items in order to heal themselves or allies during the battle, but also makes players think on their feet, and alter their party’s attack order based on enemy attack types. As well as this, players are also able to enter battles in a number of different ways, firstly players can run directly into battle, gaining no buffs or debuffs and continuing the battle normally, however the player can also utilize the game’s new and seamless stealth system in order to avoid enemy presences and ambush their foe, in order to gain a number of different buffs providing an advantage, especially over large groups of enemy mobs.

However, the game’s in-game graphics have not been significantly improved since Persona 4 Golden’s release making for little detail in character designs due to the game’s PS4 and PS3 release format. However, this error is corrected through the game’s smart use of character images and vibrant colours in order to allow players to maintain a sense of involvement whilst talking to characters. This leads onto the game’s dialogue features, allowing players to select a wide variety of retorts, and other dialogue options, often leading players up different routes with certain characters, ranging from romantic interactions, to a sense of unease around alternate characters or the player.

In conclusion Persona 5 brings a range of new story features as well as gameplay features to the series, allowing both new and returning players to easily access the title. As well as additional gameplay features, the game also brings a brand new style to the series giving the game a unique and rebellious aesthetic to the game, strongly linking to the game’s overarching themes of rebellion and society.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Sony Playstation 4 code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.

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