If you’re already a Persona fan, Persona 5 Royal offers up even more of what you love, taking an already massive game and upsizing it to epic proportions. This is a must-have for JRPG fans, but it is also one that might be a little too much to swallow for newcomers.

Time for a small confession. Prior to the release of Persona 5, I had never even heard of the series, let alone played one of the earlier entries. So, to say I was unprepared for what lay ahead of me is a significant understatement but based on the rave reviews from friends and colleagues, I jumped in blindly… and was completely and utterly dumbfounded by the glowing recommendations. In short, I hated it.

I could not see how anyone could enjoy the staccato pacing, the laborious and stilted conversations, and cringe-inducing translations. Sure, the combat was very cool, and the menus have probably never been bettered in a modern video game despite its obvious PS3 roots. But the strange amalgam of real-world social simulation and staggered dungeon-crawling didn't work for me, and I gave up. Then a few months later I decided to give it another go off the back of a conversation with a passionate fan, and ploughed through the first 20 hours and found the tipping point where I discovered the wonderful game so many had been talking about for so long. Flash forward another 80+ hours, and I had finally completed what I now consider to be one of the very best JRPGs ever made. It was a quirky, utterly original, and deeply emotional tale that managed to strike an intoxicating balance between the metaphysical and the mundane. It had its shortcomings for sure; the 1080p resolution, dated graphics, translation issues, some repetition, and a number of minor mechanical annoyances, but it was still a wonderful piece of interactive art that could only have come from Japan.

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