Game News Persona 5 Royal: this cult PS4 game is coming to Nintendo Switch, PS5 and Game Pass, everything you need to know
The wishes of many fans have finally been heard! One of the very best video games of recent years and the previous generation of consoles, Persona 5 Royal, finally arrives on PC, next-gen consoles and (especially) on Nintendo Switch. But what is this long-awaited port really worth, especially on Nintendo’s hybrid console? It’s time to put the Phantom Thieves to the developer…
Atlus had one last surprise for fans of Persona 5 ! This was indeed one of the many events of the “Xbox & Bethesda Showcase” conference last June: the last three games of the Persona saga have been announced on Game Pass! Better still, these three games initially confined to the PlayStation ecosystem were also going to arrive on Nintendo Switch at the same time as on PC, Xbox One et Xbox Series while benefiting from a version PlayStation 5 next-gen which makes those who were waiting for an update of their version cringe a little PlayStation 4. Before finding the two oldest episodes of this “trilogy”, this is the most popular of them, the exceptional Person 5 Royalwhich is back first, and of which we were able to try the PS5, PC and especially Switch versions. The opportunity to see what they have in mind, and if the long-awaited portable experience is worth it or not.
Summary
- This cult game that stole the hearts of gamers
- A new miracle port on Nintendo Switch?
- On PS5, Xbox and PC, a real “next-gen” version
This cult game that stole the hearts of gamers
Originally released on PS4 and even PlayStation 3 in September 2016 in Japan and then in April 2017 in the West, the latest addition to the Persona series has enjoyed such popularity outside the archipelago, but also on the American continent, that its publisher ended up localizing the game for the European continent in its definitive version, Persona 5 Royal, by adding French, German, Spanish and Italian texts. A blessing for a whole bunch of players having to settle for English texts (and dubbing) in a franchise that seemed to historically ignore the claims of Europeans. On its French release, we had awarded an 18/20 to the gameconsidered even better than its original version, and not just because finally available in French.
In 2020, Persona 5 Royal brought a lot of new content, and made Persona 5 even better.
Indeed, by refining its gameplay, and adding a lot of content of never questionable relevance, Persona 5 Royal had become a must for PS4 players (for whom it was therefore exclusive for almost three years!), making it somewhat frustrating “this very strict PlayStation exclusivity which sticks to its skin despite calls from PC players and especially Nintendo Switch, who will continue to dream of it” (sic). To find out more regarding all the reasons that led us to consider it an exceptional title, we invite you to read our test of Persona 5 Royal who will explain to you in depth and breadth all the reasons why this improved version, and above all much more complete, is more than worth joining your toy library, especially if you are a fan of J-RPG. Persona 5 Royal is indeed considerable as the modern benchmark of Japanese role-playing, crossed with visual novel and of dating sim so as not to spoil anything.
A new miracle port on Nintendo Switch?
Persona 5 on Switch: we dreamed of it, Atlus has (finally) done it! And no, we’re not on the YouTube app.
Absolutely not intended for any medium other than the PS4 at the time, Persona 5 Royal never ceased to catch the eye of Nintendo gamers, convinced (rightly!) that Atlus’ game might most certainly run on the Japanese manufacturer’s hybrid console. And for good reason: the original version of Persona 5 was still running on PS3, a machine decidedly even more from another age, and which only suffered in terms of terribly long loading times, a real problem. for an already endless game (easily count a hundred hours to complete it). Certainly, Persona 5 Royal was PS4 exclusive and added a lot of content, but generally ran with the same technical specifications, making it completely “Switch compatible” on paper. At the start of 2020, the publisher encouraged players to request a port while the release of the spin-off Persona 5 Strikers (more oriented musō) loomed.
On Nintendo Switch, Persona 5 Royal is a little blurry, but not very different from the original version.
It will take two and a half years for the long-awaited news to become official, and from there, only three months to finally take Persona 5 Royal everywhere with us. The good news is twofold: the Switch version of the famous J-RPG so adored by fans more than largely holds up, and the expected experience is perfectly appreciable. Understand by this that, if as usual, some graphic concessions have been made to ensure a perfectly stable framerate of 30fps (exactly like on PS4, which we had almost forgotten!), the rendering of the rather poor textures of the original game is therefore not much more shocking on the hybrid console of Nintendo, and above all, the finesse of Persona 5’s legendary user interface is perfectly preserved. The loading times are very short, comparable to the PS4 version, and we therefore have the relatively pleasant surprise of playing a version very close to the original in docked mode, as evidenced by this gameplay clip captured on Nintendo Switch:
A stroll through Shujin High School, the shopping areas of Shibuya and the Yongen-Jaya district on Switch, anyone?
However, you will agree, the main advantage of porting Persona 5 Royal to Switch was the “portable” aspect of a very time-consuming game. Completing Persona 5, whether in its original or “augmented” version, will take regarding a hundred hours, many of which were spent on dialogue and daily life management sequences that require neither great focus on gameplay nor dazzling technical performance. Many players dreamed of it, and Atlus did it: Persona 5 Royal is very pleasant to play on the go, even if the rendering of the characters and the backgrounds is a little fuzzier… while the famous user interface remains, fortunately, always very clean, despite obvious aliasing along the (many) diagonal lines that make it up. Moreover, as you might expect, moreover, the red, black and white hues of the UI are particularly pretty on Switch OLED, making this “portable Persona 5” even a little tastier. The framerate at 30fps is identical to the docked version, and the “nomadic” experience of Persona 5 is therefore very decent, not to say optimal, if not stunning. That’s more what we would expect from the Steam Deck, for example…
In nomadic version, Persona 5 Royal is a little fuzzier than in docked mode, but remains more than adequate (and just as fluid).
On PS5, Xbox and PC, a real “next-gen” version
On PC (here, the Game Pass version), it is possible to increase the framerate up to 120 frames per second.
Another highly anticipated version of Persona 5 Royal, for very different reasons, was of course the one running at 60fps on PC and next-gen consoles. Indeed, and the stability of the period framerate had almost made us forget it, but Persona 5 Royal only ran at 30fps (extremely stable), which didn’t even affect the dynamism of its interface, and finally stuck quite well with the frame rate per second of the dozens of cutscenes in the format anime that the game contained to complement its fascinating storyline. On PS5, Xbox Series X and PC, the so-called “next-gen” version of Persona 5 Royal offers a 60fps making the whole thing downright nervous and very pleasant, that we already regret when returning to the Switch version. Note that we were unable to test the game on the Xbox One range of consoles. The PC version even offers to increase the framerate up to 120fps, a feature unfortunately absent from next-gen console versions, yet able to run games at this frequency. To note that if you play on PC and Xbox via the Game Pass, the cross-save is guaranteed, a significant bonus, especially if you plan to play it on a fairly powerful laptop…
We are at the end of 2022 and the PSVita is still alive! Well, in the Tokyo subway of Persona 5, of course…
As you will understand, the ultimate Persona 5 experience from a purely technical point of view now resides on PC, Xbox Series and PlayStation 5… if you don’t care regarding the portability issue. On this subject, if we might not try the version Steam of the game (and therefore test it on Steam Deck), it seems however that this last one holds the 60fps including on the portable console of Valveheavier and less comfortable for mobile use than a Switch, however, and without a range with OLED screen for the moment. It’s up to you to see which compromise suits you best to experience “P5” wherever you want! So remember that if you want to play Persona 5 Royal on a portable console (and no, not the PSVita which now lives only in the hearts of players… as well as in the hands of some users of the game’s metro), the Nintendo Switch version is more than enough, especially on an OLED model, as we recommend it to you more and more often. Unless you are tempted by a Steam Deck experience that brings another type of experience.
That’s it, Persona 5 Royal is finally available everywhere, or at least, wherever it makes sense. Finally freed from the shackles of an exclusive that has frustrated more than one gamer (especially PC or Switch), Atlus’ fan-favorite masterpiece now delivers on all current media, and offers nearly a compromise between a “performance” mode on next-gen consoles and (even more) on PC, and a devilishly practical well-optimized nomad mode on a Switch which finally hosts one of the games it most deserved. Whichever version you opt for, it can act as the promised land for Persona 5 Royal depending on your player profile. This time, with a definitive edition embedding all its content, playable in French, and above all available on absolutely all contemporary platforms, you have almost no excuse to miss out on one of the greatest video games of the past decade.
Persona 5 Royal: our complete walkthrough