Persona 5

 PlayStation 4
User Score
8.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 5569 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4,794 out of 5569
  2. Mixed: 212 out of 5569
  3. Negative: 563 out of 5569
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. IPintheForest
    Apr 25, 2017
    7
    This is a good game that has a few frustrating elements in it.
    You get to choose what to do on your own free time. Spending time with party members increases their skill level and other activities usually net your main character skill points or money. At first i thought this would make the game a lot more interesting because you could do multiple playthroughs but apparantly i was wrong.    This is a good game that has a few frustrating elements in it.
    You get to choose what to do on your own free time. Spending time with party members increases their skill level and other activities usually net your main character skill points or money. At first i thought this would make the game a lot more interesting because you could do multiple playthroughs but apparantly i was wrong. the way you supposed to play is maxing your main character skills then they are saved on new game+ where you can focus on the other things like social links. I do not understand why anyone would think that this is good game design.
    The cat companion won't allow you to anything after you had story event on the same day or the next day which feels like 99% of the game. The cat commands you to go directly to bed whatever you're trying to do it will not allow except for making infiltration tools which is normally a time consuming activity so it's weird why that is allowed but nothing else. (The cat thinks making tools is the smart thing to do however it won't even notify you that is an option while commanding you go to sleep right the hell now.) Activities that actually require the player to something and which you can fail somehow net less rewards than passive activities even when you complete them perfectly it makes no sense at all. do a crossword puzzle fail you get nothing succeed you get 2 knowledge points vs go have dinner and earn 3 free knowledge points + 1 free kindness/guts point without possibility of failure.    … Expand
  2. sityoazzdown
    Apr 29, 2017
    7
    An amazing game that will almost certainly take regular players over 100 hours to complete. Apart from a few pacing issues here and there (and general repetitiveness), this game is addictive and unique. The cast of characters and story, plus the addictive and rewarding game play makes this game shine. Yes it does get repetitive, but the rewards whether that be for the perks for hanging outAn amazing game that will almost certainly take regular players over 100 hours to complete. Apart from a few pacing issues here and there (and general repetitiveness), this game is addictive and unique. The cast of characters and story, plus the addictive and rewarding game play makes this game shine. Yes it does get repetitive, but the rewards whether that be for the perks for hanging out with friends, or grinding for better personas, the repetitiveness for me was worth it in the long haul. Plus the majority of the side stories (hanging out with confidants) are truly interesting. Now the core gameplay consists of traversing about 8-9 dungeons, each truly unique and different from each other, until you reach the end boss. Combat consists of turn based gameplay, you either grind away or target enemies weaknesses, forming your own team of "personas" (or pokemons per say) and controlling what skills and fight moves you want. It's a lot of grinding but again to me it's also rewarding and addicting. Difficulty is about average even a little easy if you know what you're doing, but some bosses do present a good challenge. The only thing I truly hated about this game was the chatting after finishing each dungeon, sometimes it takes me a couple of hours of "cutscenes" to advance to the next dungeon to progress the story. But overall as a newbie to jrpgs, I truly enjoyed this game, so much so I bought a vita to play persona 4. Pros: great story, amazing cast of characters, addictive and rewarding game play, general combat. The so-so: can get repetitive for some, most will finish game in 100 hours +. Cons: pacing issues, too much letter box chatting sometimes.… Expand
  3. roman_emperor
    Apr 14, 2017
    7
    A lot of this game is hidden behind some serious limitations. The game denies freedom at every turn. If you decide to talk to somebody it takes all your day. Morgana is seriously annoying. I wish you would shut up. She decided what you can or can't do and it's annoying. I hate her being the game. The **** even tell you when to go to sleep. When you can or can't exercise or read a book. TheA lot of this game is hidden behind some serious limitations. The game denies freedom at every turn. If you decide to talk to somebody it takes all your day. Morgana is seriously annoying. I wish you would shut up. She decided what you can or can't do and it's annoying. I hate her being the game. The **** even tell you when to go to sleep. When you can or can't exercise or read a book. The game will ask you to study but them be like this, story, story, story, story, story, story, story, (Can I have some freedom here), story, story, story, story, (Thank you, finally! Oh, **** you mean I'm a the library but I can't read any books because Morgana decides I can't), story, story, story, story, story, story. It feels like if you're a prison. This game isn't a perfect 10, and it is definitely not for everyone. I really like the combat the endless limitations and narrative drags me down at times. When I had my first school break, I thought, "Cool I can focus on a few things for once, but then the game drags you on a long, long narrative, consuming all of your "free" days.… Expand
  4. DarkMagix
    Apr 17, 2017
    6
    I'm new to the series and JRPG world so my opinions and review are based on being a non-anime person reading how this is the best JRPG ever and wanting to experience a new type of game. Overall, it's a mix of being too bizarre/silly and simply put *old*. I feel like I would have seen this on a system 5-10 years ago and I would wager a guess that this is intentional but as a noob it'sI'm new to the series and JRPG world so my opinions and review are based on being a non-anime person reading how this is the best JRPG ever and wanting to experience a new type of game. Overall, it's a mix of being too bizarre/silly and simply put *old*. I feel like I would have seen this on a system 5-10 years ago and I would wager a guess that this is intentional but as a noob it's painful to experience coming in without a background.

    Graphics: Subpar at best. It's got the anime feel down but it looks pretty old. A lot of effort was clearly put into details but it's just not that great and maybe that comes with JRPG territory (expect graphics to look like they are from early generations of video gaming) 5/10

    Story: Pretty bizarre but nothing special. Again maybe it comes with the territory but the translation seems completely off, sometimes the speech and story just doesn't make any sense whatsoever. I'm assuming in it's original form the meaning is likely drastically different. At times the translator appears to read directly from an incorrectly translated script which is void of the meaning of what is being presented on screen. Take what would be a 6/10 and throw a wall of button smashing text to get to any real action and you get a 5/10.

    Gameplay: For what there is, it's not too bad. Pretty intuitive though not very challenging. 8/10.

    Overall: It's for those that love the style I think. If you are used to the previous games then it's probably a blast. If you are new like me, then it feels like a 30 dollar-ish game that you start and want to love but give up after the mind numbing button smashing for the next best thing (and on PS4 that's probably in a week or two). I think it's a good choice in December when it's down to almost no price (30 or under) and you want a game to go back to when you are in a lull between your many other awesome PS4 games. 6/10    … Expand
  5. merryinc
    Apr 30, 2017
    6
    the game just isn't that great, how on earth IGN give is 9.7/10 and game informer 10/10, i've played 5 hours so far, and in that 5 hours, there is about 30 minutes of actual game play, the rest is hitting X after every sentance. I don't understand how every review i've read besides this one, gives is 90% plus, but 4/5 is still to high to me.
  6. PlayorNaygames
    Apr 24, 2017
    7
    Should you buy Persona 5 (P5)? If you're a hardcore fan of the series, of JRPGs in general, or you really enjoy slice of life anime, then yes. Persona 5 is a unique experience if you've never played a Persona game before. Since it's been a long time since Persona 3 on PS2, this is probably going to be many people's first Persona game. So, I highly recommend this to people that are fans ofShould you buy Persona 5 (P5)? If you're a hardcore fan of the series, of JRPGs in general, or you really enjoy slice of life anime, then yes. Persona 5 is a unique experience if you've never played a Persona game before. Since it's been a long time since Persona 3 on PS2, this is probably going to be many people's first Persona game. So, I highly recommend this to people that are fans of video games in general because there're no games like Persona series.

    I played this game on a PS4 Pro with a custom hard drive. This minimized load times for me, but there were a lot of them. They were so short they didn't bother me however. I've finished the game at 110 hours, although you can finish in as little as 90 like my brother did.

    Lets give a critique by category:

    Graphics: Nothing impressive here. This is a game developed for the PS3 after all, ported to the PS4. The animations are worse than prior games. You character just stands there most of the game, occasionally doing a gesture. There are not facial animations at all. Even the character portraits when the character talks just have a mouth moving. They could have used several portraits for each character, like in past games/other JRPGs. The art style is fantastic and really carries the game however. There are very few object that have a model in game, for example, if I spend $100 on a gift for someone, it would be cool to see the gift being given. 6/10

    Music/Sound/Voice: You'll hear some really catchy tracks in this game. The music is by far the best in the series. The voice acting is top notch, my only complaint is that some of the voice actors used are a bit too familiar and I would have appreciated new voices I haven't heard before. The game lacks musics tracks for how long the game is, which is the case in every Persona game. The sounds effects are what you would expect, I thought they were great. 8/10

    Story/Writing: Here's where things turn ugly for P5. The game shamelessly follow a VERY similar structure to P3, which makes it boring to fans of the Persona series. From characters, to overall plot, as you go along, you'll see what I mean. The game also has less voice acting than expected and a lot of reading boring exposition in the form of text message conversation. The text conversations I mostly skipped through because it's small talk that just restates what the game has already gone over to death. There are some interesting characters and plot lines from the minor characters at least and the game rewards you with additional powers for spending time with the characters, so you are at least given incentives to go through the characters stories you may not like.

    There's so much dialog in the game between the main characters, I'm not sure if they needed as much as they put in. You will get fatigued reading unimportant day to day drivel that blows up your phone.

    There are more places than ever to go to than ever and while small, they all were interesting if you enjoy Japanese culture at all. There are also a ton of secondary locations that you can choose to take some of your social links to, which is new to the series and a great addition.

    It's not that P5 writing is bad, it's that there's too much boring dialog and that the overall story and characters too closely follow P3. This is a highly subjective category and doesn't weigh that heavily into overall score due to that. 4/10

    Controls: Not much to say here as it's a very basic game to control. The new stealth mechanics are obnoxious to control as the camera doesn't automatically pan to your next cover area like it should. This can lead to you accidentally unsticking from cover and getting ambushed. Getting ambushed by the enemy early on most likely mean you lose. 8/10 Which leads me to gameplay...

    Gameplay: The game can be fun often, but there are several niggling issues holding the game back. Namely they brought back some old school features that suck. Did anyone like that you lose a battle when your main character dies in P3? They got rid of that "feature" in P4, but brought it back here. You also got full mana and health by attaining a level in P3, but here you do not, forcing you to go back out of the main dungeons more often than you may want early on.

    The highly praised main dungeons are just okay. The puzzles are very easy and you are too often forced to fight more enemies than you would like do to the sticky cover controls being imprecise. Also, regardless of how high level you are, enemies will always chase you. In past games, if you were higher level than the enemy, the enemy would run away from you.

    The battle system is improved in that you can get some cool abilities that weren't in to old games. They also brought back guns and the ability to talk to Personas to catch them, both from Persona 1, which I thought was cool. The problem with talking to Personas is that it takes more time than the previous roulette wheel in an already long game. 7/10    … Expand
  7. akiranet666
    Dec 8, 2019
    7
    A solid game but highly overrated. There is a good turn based system, the visual style is there, but lets be honest: seeing Persona as the pinnacle of JRPG nowadays is at least misleading.
  8. SplitMind
    Jun 19, 2019
    5
    I have no idea why this game has such universal acclaim; presumably the hype has deluded people.

    The single major issue I have with this game is the pacing of it. It is so incredibly slow, repetitive and linear despite seeming to be the opposite. There are a plethora of activities and methods to develop your character, yet most of the time you are conscripted into story-based    I have no idea why this game has such universal acclaim; presumably the hype has deluded people.

    The single major issue I have with this game is the pacing of it. It is so incredibly slow, repetitive and linear despite seeming to be the opposite. There are a plethora of activities and methods to develop your character, yet most of the time you are conscripted into story-based activities. Each day has a cycle, yet this can be skipped entirely because of a story event. Finally when you are given some space when there is an upcoming boss, you are further restricted and pressurised by having a limited amount of time to level up, forcing you to choose specific skills, attributes and equipment develop. This really railroads the entire experience.

    Related to the pace are the cutscenes. You are constantly pressing X in order to advance each conversation, a monotonous task in itself.

    The above really marred the entire game for me. The graphics are fine, and the gameplay is excellent when you actually get to battle!    … Expand
  9. Nero_Project
    Jan 16, 2019
    6
    Story: 10
    Gameplay: 3 (in 2019)
    Voice acting: 3 (they should put the whole P5A anime series instead of the text and dialog in the game)

    My score: 6!
  10. Turbodowg
    May 22, 2017
    7
    I feel like I'm in the minority with my opinion on Persona 5. Most gamers appear to really love this game. I'm not someone who hated it, but as a new comer to the series did not understand the hype.

    At best I thought it was an average game with way too much unnecessary dialog and little freedom for the player. But I'll start with the good points. The graphics are unique and the game    I feel like I'm in the minority with my opinion on Persona 5. Most gamers appear to really love this game. I'm not someone who hated it, but as a new comer to the series did not understand the hype.

    At best I thought it was an average game with way too much unnecessary dialog and little freedom for the player.

    But I'll start with the good points. The graphics are unique and the game is full of style. This does wear off quickly though and it can get tiresome watching the same animation after every battle that lasts longer than the battle its self. But visually there's no denying that at times it looks fantastic. The animated cut-scenes look gorgeous and are very well produced.

    The soundtrack is great, although tracks are often repeated there are some very cool and interesting tracks that fit well with what is happening on screen.

    The combat system is very well done. It is simple and effective. Battles are exciting and interesting and the use of personas are a really cool feature.

    The negatives and the reasons why I stopped playing are as follows.

    Firstly it takes a long long time for the game to get going, around 10 hours to get through the training and character introductions and 20 hours before you have beat the first dungeon. It felt like a real slog to get through. The problem was that in that 20 hours very little happens in terms of story or character development. Characters seem to repeat or dwell on the same issues without moving forward, it can become a laborious task reading/listing to the masses of unnecessary dialog.

    Gameplay. As I said before, combat works well, but a lot of the time is spent outside the dungeons. These parts of the game have you attending school, doing leisure activities, planning a dungeon raid or progressing story. This sounds cool but it's all very linear, you are often forced to do things you don't want and if you do go exploring and decide to watch a movie or play baseball the day ends, you are forced to sleep, then go back to school, then another bit of story pops up, then you are forced to do something else and by the time you get back to exploring the town 5 hours of real time have passed.

    SP (magic) is limited in dungeons, so early on before you learn how to stockpile magic recovery items you run out quickly, when you leave the dungeon to purchase an item to restore SP you often end up again been forced into story and dialog that takes days wasting more hours of your time before you can get back to what you wanted to do originally.

    Now I'm aware that one of the game mechanics is time management, so I'm not going to score the game down for it because I'm sure many people enjoy this and it is part of the Persona series, but for me it just isn't fun.

    Dungeons are fun and well designed. They are relatively barren and lack fine detail but each one is different and reflects the character they are based on well. I don't like that you can't just grind a dungeon and that it takes hours upon hours of progressing and leaving and then waiting for days in game for the boss to reveal them-self. It all seems a bit slow.

    And that's probably my main issue. This game requires patience. It's not like other recent RPGs, it is clearly designed for fans and doesn't make concessions for gamers outside the series.
    And that's fine, the game is clearly selling well and loved by many, it's just not my thing.

    Persona 5 has clearly been created with love and care. It has high production values an offers 100's of hours gameplay if you can get into it. I appreciate it as a game, but I've given up on it for now. Maybe one day I'll realize its true brilliance but until then I'll keep it on the shelf.    … Expand
  11. Darcsun
    Jul 22, 2017
    6
    I got about 40 hours into the game before deciding to trade it in. Honestly, it got boring hours earlier. The game is repetitive after the first 10 hours or so. Dungeons are the same, fights are the same, choices are the same... even the music is the same.

    I put RPGs as my favorite genre, and loved Nier, which I finished before this. I've played JRPGs since Phantasy Star on the SEGA    I got about 40 hours into the game before deciding to trade it in. Honestly, it got boring hours earlier. The game is repetitive after the first 10 hours or so. Dungeons are the same, fights are the same, choices are the same... even the music is the same.

    I put RPGs as my favorite genre, and loved Nier, which I finished before this. I've played JRPGs since Phantasy Star on the SEGA Master system. I'm a bit surprised that so many people dumped over 100 hours into this one. After 20, you've basically done 80% of what there is to do.    … Expand
  12. Elias_Schmitz
    Mar 23, 2018
    7
    The game is really good, I mean, you have to agree with it if you finish it, it wouldn’t be impossible to play it for 100+ hours if it wasn't.
    The problem is, in the end you get to really hate the few problems the game has, what in my opinion, it takes the masterpiece tittle away from it, making it not have THAT perfect and unforgettable feeling, and I kind of hate that right now.
    First    The game is really good, I mean, you have to agree with it if you finish it, it wouldn’t be impossible to play it for 100+ hours if it wasn't.
    The problem is, in the end you get to really hate the few problems the game has, what in my opinion, it takes the masterpiece tittle away from it, making it not have THAT perfect and unforgettable feeling, and I kind of hate that right now.
    First of all, the game is way too long, it could totally be done with a little more than a half of it, and they would not take any of the actually game of it. For example, do you really need to spend so much time with your confidants? I’m not talking about the good time, but those you go there and you are not gonna get your relationship any deep, so you just spend a day to get a little close to them. Come one, the game is not already long enough? Furthermore, the messages, OMG, I want to kill myself when I get home after talking for hours with the Phantom Thiefs and when you get home THEY REPEAT EVERTHING USING MESSAGES! Come on guys, didn’t we just talk about that? After awhile you just have to skip those messages and I’m pretty sure o missed some good stuff doing that.
    What about the ending part? After a million palaces, a million Mementos Floor, then you have one more floor, that looks like a palace, and then one more palace, and then one more floor with 4 mini bosses, to then make able to the final fight, It’s like a 20 hours just in the final act. All that after you thought you had beaten the final boss!!!
    Now the mechanics of the game. It was not made for you to max all your confidants in your first play, because it’s impossible to do that unless you either use a guide or you study and think A LOT on how to do that, also, to do that you have to spend only one day in each palace in order to achieve that. The problem is, I don’t think it is fair to rush the palace in one day in order to spend that day with one friend that it is not get any deeper with you in the next time you meet him. It’s just an example of how unbalanced it is.
    In conclusion, the game is really good, but damn, they really pissed me off in the end, and I think it took the masterpiece tittle from it.    … Expand
  13. ShinGlacier
    May 13, 2017
    7
    I've never played a Persona game before, but decided to give this a chance because a friend of mine really insisted. I'm not a fan of turn based RPG, but since there is the weakness/critical twist and baton passes and whatnot I actually enjoyed it. All the menus are absurdly stylish. The story is pretty interesting and deep. The soundtrack is amazing. What really bothered me is : yourI've never played a Persona game before, but decided to give this a chance because a friend of mine really insisted. I'm not a fan of turn based RPG, but since there is the weakness/critical twist and baton passes and whatnot I actually enjoyed it. All the menus are absurdly stylish. The story is pretty interesting and deep. The soundtrack is amazing. What really bothered me is : your number of actions are limited. Usually you can do something after school, and then something else in the evening. But the fact that a LOT of days that stupid Morgana just insists that i'm tired and should sleep, even if nothing major happened, thus wasting my day really pissed me off. Other than that it's a pretty good exclusive j-RPG.… Expand
  14. SOLIDSNAKEN64
    Mar 5, 2018
    7
    After my 120 hrs play through, I found this game to be be very different from anything I've played before. I really enjoyed the art direction, the characters, the story, and the gameplay. Even though all those things were great there are some issues that I had with the game. First of all is the length, normally I wouldn't complain about a game being too long, but they could of seriouslyAfter my 120 hrs play through, I found this game to be be very different from anything I've played before. I really enjoyed the art direction, the characters, the story, and the gameplay. Even though all those things were great there are some issues that I had with the game. First of all is the length, normally I wouldn't complain about a game being too long, but they could of seriously cut the dialogue of this game in half. I love reading books but I don't play video games to read a novel, and unfortunately most of the time spent in P5 is used reading endless dialogue. The art direction of this game is awesome! the anime characters work really well. I didnt think the graphics of the environments were really done very well and this game is definitely a port from PS3. The music is really great until you've heard the same 3 songs over and over for the entire 120 hrs, WTF. I really enjoyed the pokemon type battle system. The boss fights were not only challenging but fun figuring out their weaknesses. I dont know if I would ever play another Persona game, but you will for sure get your monies worth with P5.… Expand
  15. Mac2311
    Jun 20, 2017
    7
    After seeing such high scores on this site I decided that I would give it a try. personally for me I made a mistake and found this game to not be something that was for me.

    the Anima style has never been my favorite and felt that I was on a hype train when I was playing it. I still gave it a decent score since I can see the overall concept and how appealing it can be to a lot of people    After seeing such high scores on this site I decided that I would give it a try. personally for me I made a mistake and found this game to not be something that was for me.

    the Anima style has never been my favorite and felt that I was on a hype train when I was playing it. I still gave it a decent score since I can see the overall concept and how appealing it can be to a lot of people plus combat and graphics were very top notch.

    I would say before you buy this game you just have to ask yourself how into Anima are you. if you answer "I like it but not big into it" that's still enough for you to rock out this game.    … Expand
  16. Jax360
    Apr 29, 2017
    7
    pesona 5 one of the most overrated games of this year it does not desirve the hype or the ratings its getting as if its better or almost like latest games while it does not touch games like zelda, nier nioh of automata.

    Graphics.8.5
    Voice over.9
    Music.9
    CG.9
    Anime.9
    Story.7
    Control.7
    Fun Factor.6
    Overall.7
  17. Bunterboy
    Aug 17, 2018
    6
    This game can be summed up as 100 hours of a cat telling you what to do. You think you're going to get a huge world with a wide variation of what you can do but really you can ONLY do EXACTLY what the game wants you to do. The choices are an illusion.

    Visually it looks great and the combat is for the most part quite enjoyable but the story, Jesus, what a pile of wank and when coupled    This game can be summed up as 100 hours of a cat telling you what to do. You think you're going to get a huge world with a wide variation of what you can do but really you can ONLY do EXACTLY what the game wants you to do. The choices are an illusion.

    Visually it looks great and the combat is for the most part quite enjoyable but the story, Jesus, what a pile of wank and when coupled with some really crappy mechanics (despair I'm looking at you) and some completely unnecessary design choices (Mmm, I'm a mouse now; oh its a crappy airlock maze) they all combine to suck the fun out of the game. I'm at the last stage and can barely keep myself going it's such a slog.

    This game could do with being about half the size and it would be a lot tighter and benefit the whole experience.    … Expand
  18. MrFlankster
    Mar 20, 2019
    6
    HONEST REVIEW: Let me start by saying Persona 4 Golden is my all time favorite RPG. Now that that is out of the way.... I'm about half way through, so unless something seriously changes, I'm sticking to my score. Yes, it has a decent story. It hasn't hooked me like P4G. Gameplay (battles) is still as great as ever.
    Here is my issue. MAJOR HAND HOLDING. If you want to have a cat as your    HONEST REVIEW: Let me start by saying Persona 4 Golden is my all time favorite RPG. Now that that is out of the way.... I'm about half way through, so unless something seriously changes, I'm sticking to my score. Yes, it has a decent story. It hasn't hooked me like P4G. Gameplay (battles) is still as great as ever.
    Here is my issue. MAJOR HAND HOLDING. If you want to have a cat as your mother telling you when you should go to bed, when to go out, when not to do this or that, then this is the game for you. There is absolutely NO freedom in this game. It's extremely linear. In this day and age, this is simply "not okay," especially for an RPG. For example, I finish fighting in a palace, get home, turn around to go out for the evening to up some stats and the CAT tells me it's time for bed??!!
    This happens throughout. They make everything you do seem like it has to go through the cat first. This has ruined the overall experience. In my mind, it's a step back compared to P4G.    … Expand
  19. pieguard
    May 11, 2017
    5
    The interface and music is very hip and cool, but for me (especially the music) this got old after many hours. This is a fairly long game, and hearing the same melodies and songs repeated over and over for 100 hours is too much. I love some of the boss themes, but I wish they did a better job incorporating more casual- all the time music. The turn based system is kind of dated but worksThe interface and music is very hip and cool, but for me (especially the music) this got old after many hours. This is a fairly long game, and hearing the same melodies and songs repeated over and over for 100 hours is too much. I love some of the boss themes, but I wish they did a better job incorporating more casual- all the time music. The turn based system is kind of dated but works well, overall eh. The finale of the game was underwhelming and kind of anti-climactic. Overall it seems to be exactly what most people would expect from another installation to the Persona franchise ... nothing really innovative or earth shattering. I think the best parts of this game were the character interactions.… Expand
  20. pongkrit03
    Jun 6, 2017
    7
    7/10 is enough for the game that depends heavily on story telling. This game has some merits but clearly not for everyone. I have spent 60 hrs to this game and decided to stop because I started to feel tired of reading ton of text. Basically, if you are into the story, then this game is superb. However, for me, I did not enjoy much of a story. It is not that bad but it is split into many7/10 is enough for the game that depends heavily on story telling. This game has some merits but clearly not for everyone. I have spent 60 hrs to this game and decided to stop because I started to feel tired of reading ton of text. Basically, if you are into the story, then this game is superb. However, for me, I did not enjoy much of a story. It is not that bad but it is split into many stories and combine together. Main stories (palaces) are not equally good. Character stories are mostly boring mediocre to me. Nothing really stands out here, as I have been watching a lot of anime, Persona 5 story does not really excel in this area. The pace overall is too slow.

    Combat system is also a general old school. Actually, it is even worse than some JRPG game (for example FFX). Most of the times, you just find weakness of enemies, then spam that skill to everyone of them, then use all out attack. You can't customize skills of your teammate either. The Persona Fusion system also relies heavily on randomness. (I hate it) The names of skill are written in Japanese so you have to memorize them by yourself.

    So Story and Gameplay are mediocre thus far but the reasons I generously give it 7/10 are

    1.Musics are epic. I love a lot of persona 5 osts. I listened them a lot even when I was at workplace. The songs with singer are so great and catchy.

    2.Art Design is top-notch. Everywhere in the game looks cool and stylish.

    3.Game length is Enormous. You need 80-120 hrs for your first play through.

    That is it for Persona 5. I had a high hope but it did not live up to my expectation. It is still ok so be warned. Only those who love reading text and old battle system will like the game. Hardcore gamers who like to play more than read, better skip this one.    … Expand
  21. ZacFry
    Nov 21, 2017
    7
    Persona 5 is a solid game. It's solid. It has a funky soundtrack with fun characters and "catch 'em all" Pokemon aspects. But it takes the qualities of JRPG's, and turns it up to 11, revealing the deep flaws in the genre. As much fun as dungeon crawling and collecting personas is, these moments are too spread out as the game DRAGS you through a mediocre plot and suffocates you withPersona 5 is a solid game. It's solid. It has a funky soundtrack with fun characters and "catch 'em all" Pokemon aspects. But it takes the qualities of JRPG's, and turns it up to 11, revealing the deep flaws in the genre. As much fun as dungeon crawling and collecting personas is, these moments are too spread out as the game DRAGS you through a mediocre plot and suffocates you with dialogue boxes. The game gives you the illusion of choice (like many games these days), but does it pretty transparently. While I can choose how I spend my time most days, in the end it just feels incredibly formulaic- you do an activity, or hang out with an NPC, and a stat increases. No skill is involved whatsoever. This also applies to the strategy around the battle mechanics. Barring the occasional enemy who is a snowman, all tactics are a guessing game. You just throw attacks against enemies and hope that they work. The core mechanics that make Persona so unique is there, I just wish Atlus would have made more improvements. Maybe the JRPG genre is no longer for this gamer, but Persona 5 is "check-list gaming" personified.… Expand
  22. CitanZero
    May 10, 2017
    5
    I wanted to like this game. The main problem for me is the storyline. I'm 3 hours in, and this whole castle business with the gym teacher and then the cat, I just can't get into it. I've played a ton of RPGs, and I think maybe if I was a teenager still, I might have been able to get into it. I tried Persona 4 and liked it more, as far as I can remember, more than this one as far asI wanted to like this game. The main problem for me is the storyline. I'm 3 hours in, and this whole castle business with the gym teacher and then the cat, I just can't get into it. I've played a ton of RPGs, and I think maybe if I was a teenager still, I might have been able to get into it. I tried Persona 4 and liked it more, as far as I can remember, more than this one as far as storyline goes. The main issue is that I was hoping for a more adult theme. The game is very childish in its plot and characters. I wanted something like Death Note as far as a storyline. I find myself hitting X over and over to get through the very obvious dialogue now and will probably put the game down. It started off with a lot of potential, but now, at the point where the girl Ann is coming to the castle, I find myself just not interested. As far as the graphics and the gameplay, that's all top-notch. But that doesn't do anything for me if I can't get into the story. The characters seem paper-thin and somewhat annoying at this point, especially Skull. Again,this game might be good for younger gamers. I was a teenager when I played FF7, Chrono Cross, FF8, etc.… Expand
  23. Olander
    Apr 10, 2017
    7
    Are you looking for a game that can put you to sleep, look no further than Persona 5!

    Persona 5 is a very niche game, it is a turn based combat system and a social/dating sim. If you don't like either of those, you will dislike this game a lot. Not to say the game is bad, it is a very good game, it just has to many flaws (you can easily tell the limitations the game has because it    Are you looking for a game that can put you to sleep, look no further than Persona 5!

    Persona 5 is a very niche game, it is a turn based combat system and a social/dating sim. If you don't like either of those, you will dislike this game a lot. Not to say the game is bad, it is a very good game, it just has to many flaws (you can easily tell the limitations the game has because it released on the PS3, instead of being a full fledged PS4 game using its hardware to the max) to be given a higher score than what I rated it.

    The story is like a roller coaster, it has its ups and downs. The game's story is at its best when you are doing the palaces, and the story that revolves around them. But when you finish them, there is such a long low part of the game where it is just dialogue for several hours doing all the mundane stuff, waiting for your next target. Which bored me so much, I was just skipping some dialogue that didn't have voice overs that weren't pertaining to the main story. Another thing I did not like, is that every party character had to go through their Persona identity crisis. It just felt like every party character you met just repeated itself.

    As for the game play, the turn base combat is fun and interrogating the monsters is a interesting concept to capture them to use their powers. It feels very much like Pokemon. The stealth part in the palaces can be somewhat wonky at times because of the issues with the camera, but overall is a solid edition to the game. The best part of the combat system is finding the weakness in each enemy, and then knocking them all down to do a flashy move that most of the time kills all the monsters in a single strike. The bad thing about the weakness system, it goes both ways. Monsters can strike you multiple times if they have the weakness of the person they are attacking. Which can easily lead to a single wipe on harder difficulty settings.

    The music and the art style of the game is amazingly done and are easily the best part of the game. The rock/jazz/electronic music fits very well with the theme. And the style makes up for the limitations that Altus had to hold back by still having the game release on PS3 in 2016/2017.

    In the end, if you are looking for a JRPG to play, look no further than Persona 5. It is the ideal JRPG and a great starting point in the Persona series. It is just not for everyone.    … Expand
  24. tobiaschan
    Nov 19, 2017
    5
    This game is fun, but it is not the level of getting a GOTY. If this is a year like 2010, this game deserves the GOTY. Sadly this year there are a lot of games that are creative and with really good graphic. I think the reason why everyone love this game is because they love to watch Japanese animation and they think it's cool to control animated character. I am not a fan of JapaneseThis game is fun, but it is not the level of getting a GOTY. If this is a year like 2010, this game deserves the GOTY. Sadly this year there are a lot of games that are creative and with really good graphic. I think the reason why everyone love this game is because they love to watch Japanese animation and they think it's cool to control animated character. I am not a fan of Japanese animation and this is my opinion. Generally this game is cool but I don't see what make it stands out more among other games.… Expand
  25. jmartin77777
    May 31, 2017
    7
    I'm a big fan of almost every game in the SMT series, and very much a fan of the previous 2 Persona installments. But the lack of player agency really bothered me in this installment. I enjoy 'silent protagonists' in general. One of my favorite games of all times (Suikoden 2) is the poster child of silent protagonists games. But they just did it wrong in this game. Most scenes inI'm a big fan of almost every game in the SMT series, and very much a fan of the previous 2 Persona installments. But the lack of player agency really bothered me in this installment. I enjoy 'silent protagonists' in general. One of my favorite games of all times (Suikoden 2) is the poster child of silent protagonists games. But they just did it wrong in this game. Most scenes in the game would have been unaffected had the protagonist not even been present. There are tons of instances where the scenario designers could have done such minor things to make the player feel important to the group. Cases where another party member has a moment of weakness that the protagonist could have been the one to put a kind hand on their shoulder, or where the conversation could have included a nod to the main character in meaningful exchanges. But in almost every case the game chooses to have the conversation take place between other party members. Even for most of the finale of the game left me feeling that Morgana was the real protagonist, and the shaggy headed dude was just a scene extra.

    The confidant interactions were all fine, they portrayed the relationship I WANTED to experience in the game, with the silent hero being a pillar of strength for his friends, even while suffering his own problems. But the central story dialogues almost went out of their way to NOT include the protagonist. There are just so many TINY changes that could have been made to let the player feel like he was the strength of the group as opposed to just some guy listening in (like he does with so many other whispered conversations while walking around). Maybe that was how he was meant to be, but it just didn't sit right with me since the confidant scenes implied he was important to everyone, but the story scenes did not (except in a few obvious cases that I won't spoil).

    I am glad I played this game, its by no means bad. The overall story is good for what its meant to be. And mechanically the game is fantastic! But the protagonist's place in the story really left me cold.    … Expand
  26. chad_pattan
    Apr 7, 2017
    7
    Here we go again, with me going "against the grain" of popular opinion. But I'm certainly not negative, I'm just realistic.

    Because you see, I loved Persona 3 even more than Persona 4. Persona 3 was much darker and in my opinion told a better overall story, despite Persona 4 having better gameplay and an easier transition into the battles. That's telling. It means I enjoy a well told    Here we go again, with me going "against the grain" of popular opinion. But I'm certainly not negative, I'm just realistic.

    Because you see, I loved Persona 3 even more than Persona 4. Persona 3 was much darker and in my opinion told a better overall story, despite Persona 4 having better gameplay and an easier transition into the battles. That's telling. It means I enjoy a well told story more than a well played game.

    But the hallmark of a good story is character development.

    With that, let me quantify my 7 real quick.

    Animation: 4 points. Things are smooth and subtle things added to the experience that you wouldn't have expected them to take the time on, like some gal crossing her legs or someone getting up from a desk and running out of the room. It feels fluid and natural. Wonderfully done.

    Battle Mechanics: 2 points. I do enjoy the hide mechanic because it doesn't require a lot of effort or thought, simple button layouts, etc. I'm not a fan of the general battle engine, but it's not a dealbreaker, more annoying compared to the older games.

    Controls: 1 point. They're simple, they don't overuse buttons like Breath of the Wild or Dynasty Warriors Next, there's no "gimmicks" that I can see. Just a basic use of the button X most of the time.

    And that's it.

    First off you're looking at a 5-hour sprint before you can really PLAY the game. To be fair, 3 and 4 had lengthy intros too, but with those, they focused very heavily on character development so you could learn who people were before teaming you up. Here, you're just doing minutiae tasks like flipping signs from outside a door. I can easily see today's millennials getting bored and frustrated 3 hours in and returning the game.

    Second, there are parts where you'll watch a cutscene, walk 7 seven steps to a load screen, then another cutscene. Or you'll fight one battle, walk 10 steps, see another cutscene. It's jarring. I like cutscenes but they need to do better with the transitions from battle to non-battle segments.

    Third, the graphics are just too much, too "loud". They look like what you'd get if you allowed Amy Schumer to design the game. Fonts are blown out and difficult to read, colors are all over the palette with no real logic. I was the first to criticize NIER Automata for being too bland; this is too far in the wrong direction. I actually avoid the menu because I can't stand the way it looks - and fortunately, there's very little requiring you to actually go there.

    Fourth, the cell phone mechanic is terrible. I'm sorry. I get what they were trying to do, but it wasn't done well. Why are you having to manually advance text messages?

    Fifth, the music. It's not bad music, but it's a pale shadow of what Persona 3 was doing. "When the Moon Reaches Out to the Stars" just won't get out of my head 11 years after the fact. Most, if not all, of the songs in 5 are forgettable and too short.

    This isn't a bad game. It's not. But having played the older ones I feel this was a step back. If you'd never played a Persona, you probably wouldn't be as harsh. I'll gladly say though, even if you don't agree with my review specifically, that there's simply no way it's a 10. Not in any universe I can think of.    … Expand
  27. pmasterfunk
    Oct 2, 2018
    7
    I'll try to make this short. I've been a MegaTen fan for a while now, and I was super hyped about P5. However, I feel it falls short of its predecessors (P3 and P4) and in many ways:

    - It probably has the worst battle system of the lot. The new elements, Psy and Nuke, make the gameplay even more main-character dependant. All-out attacks are overpowered and make all other tactics    I'll try to make this short. I've been a MegaTen fan for a while now, and I was super hyped about P5. However, I feel it falls short of its predecessors (P3 and P4) and in many ways:

    - It probably has the worst battle system of the lot. The new elements, Psy and Nuke, make the gameplay even more main-character dependant. All-out attacks are overpowered and make all other tactics pointless, and enemies who are hard to knock down are way tougher than anything else. Ambushes are broken, as enemies often get two turns attacking after one.

    - The supporting cast is the weakest of the three games; Ryuji is dumb and always mad, Ann is the ditzy blond who doesn't want to be sexualized but wears a catsuit, Morgana is a less interesting Teddy, Futaba is annoying, and Akechi is super tropey. Big bad is not interesting and only involved through some Deus Ex Machina garbage.

    - Story is also probably the weakest, the last chapters lazily throw in references to earlier events to make is sound like it was all part of an elaborate plan, even though adding connections between these events has no impact on the story.

    - There's too much dialog, I don't need to be told that unlocking a door is going to help me through this maze every single time, or what to do with this key that I've found in a room with a locked door. P3 and P4 already had quite a bit of dialog, but P5 pushes it way beyond that.

    - The new dungeons are quite good, but they become inacessible once finished. It's also hard to avoid enemies by running past them, and waiting to ambush enemies can make things long and monotonous. The camera gets testy when sneaking around, which may cause you to lose sight of that enemy you were trying to ambush. Mementos sucks.

    Not everything about P5 is bad, obviously. The game is super polished, even the menu screens are flashy and stylish. Voice acting is pretty solid, and some of the soundtrack moves towards Nocturne and DDS style metal tunes. There are tons of locations to visit, and the different activities/mini-games are numerous and fun. The input method for battles makes things go faster, which is nice. Saving anywhere (except for dungeons) is pretty nice, too. But these things don't compensate for the poor design choices for the battle system, thin characters, and weak story.    … Expand
  28. macunix
    Apr 22, 2017
    7
    I like the story a lot. However, the battle system is very boring to me. I wish to skip all the useless battles. It should have another mode for story only mode.
  29. AllNewSuperfake
    Dec 3, 2020
    5
    Great style and music, well fleshed out mechanics and gameplay +10
    Children's book level writing -1
    90 % of the game is pressing X to continue the neverending blabbering -1 Morgana -8 (Morgana is just the most obvious example for a great sandboxy game getting repeatedly stabbed in it's best parts by being streamlined to let the story shine, and while the story isn't terrible, the    Great style and music, well fleshed out mechanics and gameplay +10
    Children's book level writing -1
    90 % of the game is pressing X to continue the neverending blabbering -1

    Morgana -8

    (Morgana is just the most obvious example for a great sandboxy game getting repeatedly stabbed in it's best parts by being streamlined to let the story shine, and while the story isn't terrible, the way it's shoved in your face made me hate it and everything about it)
    readjusted the score because it's really not a 0, but I now understand the glorious vision that was the cat silencer in "postal 2" +5    … Expand
  30. RVD1OFAKIND
    May 12, 2017
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Contains spoilers of Personas: 3 4 5. Full review in Gamefaqs later.

    The Good:

    Music - Shoji Meguro does it again. 6th game I've played with him doing music. The lack of Lotus Juice is sad and the battle theme is pretty bad though.

    Style - Eye orgasm. The after battle transitions, the all out attacks, the menus...

    Yusuke - great character. Great social link. Best playable character by a mile. No questions asked.

    Futaba - another great character. Great social link with just 1 weakness - the friend from school thing but it was still handled better than other social links (more on this later) .

    Valentines event - If you have multiple romantic relationships (maybe you have to have them all, I'm not sure), the scene is glorious.

    Small things: class questions with pictures. Better model animations in cutscenes.

    The bad:
    Bad vocal main cast and their social links:

    Ryuji - I ran on a track team once, I'm dumb and get angry easily. Great stuff. The SL is REALLY bad.

    Ann - I like food, shopping and modeling. Wow. I don't even know what to say here

    Makoto - Miss "I've read the script". Seriously. Every team meeting everyone discusses what happened/what should we do etc. And then she goes "This is how it was/this is what we will do". EVERY. TIME. Her social link is complete garbage and is more about her friend than her.

    Haru - Who? Exacly. Why is she even in this game? If she was not there - nothing of value would be lost.

    Morgana - Teddie rehash without being funny and loveable. Shadow - check. Teaches you stuff - check. Feels useless after a navigator joins - check. "I'm not a cat" pretty much describe his character.

    Other social links: Here are the other social links:
    1. Meet with the person. His/her life seems pretty good.
    2. An evil person walks up and tells some evil stuff
    3. You go beat him/her/them up inside mementos
    4. End of social link.

    Akechi - Great character at the start who gets ruined completely. Disregarding the AWFUL post fight death flip flop scene, the thing I hated the most was how he, for no reason out of the blue, just says "I'm a character you should pity too btw". He shouldn't say that. You should hear that from Shido's shadow. Fixed. Also...

    Rehashing Persona 4 and 3 to a lesser extent - Let's see...
    Mascot that teaches you everything and feels useless when navigator shows up but is actually a shadow.
    The traitor/criminal is the police detective that acts nice and innocent.
    Last boss is a complete copy of the Eye Boss (ameno-sagiri). "Human desires are my desires".
    Mementos is literally Tartarus turned upside down. Even the designs look extremelly similar. Randomly generated dungeon with teleporters "quick move" that have bariers that go away after story progression and there's your last boss at the end.

    Villains - Akechi aside, the villains were really forgetable and boring. They just pop up out of nowhere without any development. All of them was "find out about them. get in trouble. change heart within time limit" Shido didn't feel like the main villain. He just felt like "another dude that needs a change of heart" that they made the mastermind behind everything as an afterthought. Compare this to Takaya who killed your 2 friends and Adachi who killed 2 people and caused Nanako's death (she still died for a bit). Shido was just "another dude". Also his dialogue was very weak.

    Story - oh boy, the big one. So until the betrayal, the story was "ok". It had good and meh moments. Most of the terrible writting happened during and after betrayal.
    The main problems before were:
    1. Haven't done the dungeon? "Dude you should really do the dungeon". "Damn, remember that dungeon?". Done the dungeon? "Oh I hope this works". "What if this doesn't work?".
    2. "Gosh what random guy will we pick next". "Supid adults"
    Afterwards the problems were:
    1. The betrayal itself was really poorly done in my opinion. The party members have shown to be rather incompetant. Then they somehow think of a master plan down to every small detail. It's overexplained. Seemed like writters trying to cover all their bases. And how can they think of such an elaborate plan and then later be shown to not notice they are on a damn ship for 30 seconds. It's mindboglingly jarring. 2. Everything with Akechi afterwards 3. Shido seems like "just another dude" 4. Oh boy a god is behind everything again 5. Fake deaths of Ryuji and Mona that any sane person wouldn't believe for a second. It's downright insulting that they were taken seriuosly by the party. 6. 4-5 scenes of "Here are all the social links you've made" Overall - Persona 5 amounts to be a bog standart JRPG. As a sequal its a complete letdown. Persona 3 and 4 were the pinacles of the genre standing head and shoulders above every other JRPG. They were a 10 when all the other were a 5 at best. That's how wide of a gap I feel there is. And sadly Persona 5 joins the latter...    … Expand
prev
Page:

Awards & Rankings

1
#1 Best PS4 Game of 2017
4
#4 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2017
2
#2 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
93

Universal acclaim - based on 98 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 97 out of 98
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 98
  3. Negative: 0 out of 98
  1. Cubed3
    Jun 4, 2019
    90
    Persona 5 is an absolutely amazing game that convinces with its art style, music and story. It has anything one could ask for such a game and more. The turn-based battle system offers a wide array of opportunities. While it may not be everyone's cup of tea, it is definitely recommended to give it a go.
    Read full review
  2. PLAY! Zine
    Feb 22, 2018
    90
    Persona 5 is a great example of quality jRPG game, with a good story, great battle system and fabulous artistic style, this is a must have for the fans of the series and the genre.
    Read full review
  3. Power Unlimited
    Oct 19, 2017
    93
    Persona 5 beats every other turn-based RPG in terms of production values, combat, story, symbolics, character design, music, pace and variety. 2017 is a great year for gaming and Persona 5 confirms this with a load of unmatched swagger.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »