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. Bulletnot
    Nov 25, 2020
    7
    Pros: great story, role play mechanics where you can work at a job, go to school, socialise with friends, etc. Definitely a must buy if you don’t mind to read a lot of text.
    Cons: combat can get a bit grinding/repetitive when you fight a lot of the same enemies and, as it is turn based, you often just press a button and watch the same animation over and over.
  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. 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.
  4. max1c
    Jul 15, 2018
    7
    It's a good game. Good writing, deep gameplay, good story, nice art, nice mechanics. But poor design shows. The game was made in 2017 but plays like it's from the early 2000s. It has some of the worst controls I have ever seen in any game. Most of the time you find yourself fighting the controls rather than the enemies. A ton of long load screens. Also, this game is extremely linear.
  5. Steyraus
    Jun 23, 2020
    7
    I am not a fan of turn based combat, but Persona has such charm and character that it pull me in. It is still boring after time though.
  6. ignore78
    Dec 8, 2017
    7
    The good: Persona 5 has good story and art. It feels like i am playing a good Anime show. I am 10 hours in and have not scratched the surface. The bad: Ps3 graphics and Disorientated in between where to go next segments. i am enjoying listening as the characters talk and see how the story unfold. BUT then right after that i just want to rush to the next story scene. This would be muchThe good: Persona 5 has good story and art. It feels like i am playing a good Anime show. I am 10 hours in and have not scratched the surface. The bad: Ps3 graphics and Disorientated in between where to go next segments. i am enjoying listening as the characters talk and see how the story unfold. BUT then right after that i just want to rush to the next story scene. This would be much better as a anime.… Expand
  7. 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
  8. death12123
    Jan 28, 2020
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A Solid game but as a SMT game? Didn't really live up to my expectations.

    The soundtrack is good but the DLC like Raidou, Persona 2, Catherine and SMT 4 make it a million times better.
    Story could be better, bad ending, a character written in for no reason and a obvious villian.
    The dungeon crawling is amazing for first time but outside of Mementos if you know the pattern is too easy and the same every single time.
    Characters are good but a step down from 2 and 3 but a huge step up from 4. Nothing terrible and annoying like Chie, Teddie and Nanako. Also no Mr. Perfect thank god.
    The school life is absolutely boring but when you get to the dungeons it's amazing.
    The Social Links in this game are good but suck because they're FORCED unlike before especially with unlocking Ultimates. Who forces something optional to unlock the best? Some social links literally mean nothing. "I'm gonna change for better!" Then 5 minutes later go back to being the same idiot they ever were. Others actually had good impact.
    Difficulty is nothing. Even on Hard. All it just is, is you take more damage and gain less EXP. That's it.

    I wouldn't replay this again and it's only good for one playthrough. Maybe Royal might change that. Overall it's a solid game but more for casual players.

    Hoping this funded SMT V enough and will bring more Mainline and Spin-Off games. The best points being Nocturne, Raidou Kuzunoha, Soul Hackers, Persona 2 EP, SMT 4:A, etc.    … Expand
  9. 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
  10. 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
  11. 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
  12. 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
  13. 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
  14. 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
  15. 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
  16. SZJX
    Sep 26, 2020
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. P5 is supposed to be a "rebel against the mainstream social conventions" story, but the irony is that the characters are so cartoonishly good-vs-evil it ended up being a really lame, safe and mainstream story without much thought-provoking depth or connection with the real world whatsoever. (Not to mention the various other issues such as the one-dimensionality and objectification of Ann and Ryuji, the dubious "hidden relationships" that the protagonist is able to develop with so many characters, etc.) I don't expect it to be a thorough and brutal examination on the subjectivity and reversibility of "justice" and "evil" like some 18+ novel e.g. Soukou Akki Muramasa (which is an absolute masterpiece), but then people should see P5 as what it is: A very shallow and mainstream teenage heroism power fantasy. People imagine themselves railing against the suffocating societal conventions or whatnot, but in reality they are just lapping up another mainstream commercial production and forking out their money for a power trip which has little real-world connotations. (If you actually try to "dish out justice" or "change the system" in real life, it's not such a black-and-white affair as depicted in some shallow super hero "good vs. evil" drama. There will be real sufferings and real deaths, and when you think you're the justice is with you, the other side might well think they're the just ones, instead of acting in a cartoonish villainy way, and there's just simply no "right answer" or "absolute justice" in the world.)

    I can even see various points where the author probably initially envisioned how the story could get dark, e.g. the point where Okumura died felt like it could have been the phantom thieves that did it, whether accidentally or not. Instead they had to push every morally ambiguous or bad action to a fall guy (Goro) and dispense with him in the end as well, just like in every mainstream Japanese story (one who killed will also need to die in the end, while the protagonist is always clean). The "fake death" of Ryuji also felt like the author probably really thought about killing Ryuji instead. However, they decided to play it safe and make it a simple mainstream commercial success. Not to mention the student who committed suicide was miraculously healed at the end of the story… Yeah, sure, that's also one type of game/movie and I have nothing against it. But for it to receive such ridiculous level of praise and ratings is something I don't get. Well I guess this is how the mainstream game industry works nowadays and how its standards are. At least I'm glad that many people do share the same views.

    This is also why nowadays I tend to not play JRPG games and instead read visual novels. The music and the art style of P5 are great, sure, but those don't leave a lasting impact on me and I am not after those things. I can understand that maybe those aspects of the game instead of the story are what many gamers are after though.    … Expand
  17. 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
  18. 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.
  19. 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
  20. 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
  21. 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
  22. marmoset13
    May 17, 2017
    7
    I loved playing this game, but found even the easy and normal settings overwhelming. I didn't want to play it on "safe" out of fear of missing out on trophies and new game plus carry-overs. I couldn't even get past the first dungeon in the thirteen days I was given. I am not a great gamer by any means, but I love the Persona series and feel like I was left behind just to please theI loved playing this game, but found even the easy and normal settings overwhelming. I didn't want to play it on "safe" out of fear of missing out on trophies and new game plus carry-overs. I couldn't even get past the first dungeon in the thirteen days I was given. I am not a great gamer by any means, but I love the Persona series and feel like I was left behind just to please the high-difficulty gaming crowd.… Expand
  23. 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
  24. Keith_Irving
    Sep 7, 2017
    7
    Persona 5 is a great game, it is a very enjoyable ride throughout, at least most of the time.
    This was my first Persona game, and I was very excited to start playing.
    I am not going to spoil the story, but let's just say the overall story is pretty bad, but the individual stories were great. - Positives - 1. Combat is very fun 2. Confidants provide very useful abilities and    Persona 5 is a great game, it is a very enjoyable ride throughout, at least most of the time.
    This was my first Persona game, and I was very excited to start playing.
    I am not going to spoil the story, but let's just say the overall story is pretty bad, but the individual stories were great.

    - Positives -
    1. Combat is very fun

    2. Confidants provide very useful abilities and provides great incentive to hanging out with your friends

    3. If the Protagonist falls in battle, the game is over, I am very happy they decided to stick to tradition

    4. Visual Presentation is great, like seriously this game has style

    - Mixed -
    1. Story is 100 hours long and there are way too many days where you have no control on what you do

    2. Dungeons while no longer randomly generated like past Persona titles, can become very annoying,
    I have never actively avoided playing a game before, because I knew of the upcoming dungeon

    3. I felt like the music was a huge step down from previous Persona titles

    4. Characters are interesting but no where near the level of past Persona titles

    - Negatives -
    1.Combat is way too easy, even on Hard Mode except in the beginning when it's very brutal, almost unfair

    2. You can switch the game difficulty mid-game

    3. Even for serious moments or boss battles, most of the time standard music plays

    4. Lack of overall plot until end game

    5. There is a point of no return in the final dungeon that happens without warning,
    and I am really speaking about how you can't buy any recovery items at all once your past that point.

    This game was amazing, so I immediately bought and beat Persona 4 Golden, and wow...It really opened my eyes on how disappointing Persona 5 was in comparison.
    Don't get me wrong Persona 5 is great, but compared to Persona 4 Golden, I feel like it falls short.
    Persona 4 Golden is a magical experience from beginning to end, and I would recommend getting that game instead.

    It'll only cost around $60 to get a PS-TV and Persona 4 Golden.
    So overall, this is a great game, but falls in comparison to past titles.    … Expand
  25. HighLordWolnir
    Nov 14, 2017
    7
    The animation looks great especially the transitions from gameplay to cutscenes. Music is decent and the menus pop out of the screen with vibrant colours. But unfortunately the gameplay is repetitive and does not offer anything new to the series.
    Overall the game is average and not a full price purchase, unless you are a huge fan of the series or a big JRPG fan - wait for a price drop.
  26. 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
  27. Lulcy
    Jun 27, 2019
    7
    This game 30hs longer than it should be, too much padding to hide how either underdeveloped some of its themes and story beats are. Good thing the game is filled with style to distract most players from that.
  28. peap21
    Apr 20, 2018
    7
    I was new to the Persona series and generally not a fan of turn-based combat RPG.
    I admit Persona 5 has a lot going for it and other reviewers would have listed those valid positive points. Therefore I will share only the 3 main negatives here. To me each of those was worth taking 1 point off the max score.
    - Game takes 15h minimum before you get playing more freely. Before then is only    I was new to the Persona series and generally not a fan of turn-based combat RPG.
    I admit Persona 5 has a lot going for it and other reviewers would have listed those valid positive points. Therefore I will share only the 3 main negatives here. To me each of those was worth taking 1 point off the max score.
    - Game takes 15h minimum before you get playing more freely. Before then is only dialogues and tutorials. That's quite a commitment when you don't know yet if you're going to like the game.
    - The combat part is definitely the most enjoyable (though not revolutionary). Still it is quite repetitive. Once the enemy's weakness is known, it becomes a pretty boring exercise.
    - Sooooooooo much text! Several times throughout the games, you will be just reading dialogues for 1 to 2h. The dialogues are mostly slow, naive and repetitive so it gets really boring.
    In summary, totally understand why some would like this game but I would have preferred 50h of denser gameplay to the proposed 120h lacking intensity.    … Expand
  29. NateLane
    May 25, 2018
    7
    While the story, characters, and VO's are top notch in the english version of the game, I feel like the game hardly has any actual... game.. to it. When confronted with non-dialogue tasks, there are no actual choices to be had, as the game provides you with a single option. These "gameplay" moments are then heavily sandwiched by loading screens, cutscenes, and dialogue events that reallyWhile the story, characters, and VO's are top notch in the english version of the game, I feel like the game hardly has any actual... game.. to it. When confronted with non-dialogue tasks, there are no actual choices to be had, as the game provides you with a single option. These "gameplay" moments are then heavily sandwiched by loading screens, cutscenes, and dialogue events that really leave me wanting for more gameplay.… Expand
  30. 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
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 »