Persona 5 Royalis a textbook example of how to an expanded edition of a game right. Atlus didn’t go intoPersona 5 Royaltrying to turn the whole game on its head. Rather, it wanted to add new kinds of content still similar to what fans loved about the original game, and it worked. The new social elements and activities around Tokyooffered Joker a whole new worldof options on how to spend his free time. The combat was also sharpened and enhanced in lots of ways. Atlus even found a way to deepen and expand the story thanks to new characters and a whole new Palace for fans to explore.
Royalisn’t just setting the bar in the general case, though. It’s also defining the specific question of whatPersona 6will look like. Fans are optimistic that Atlus will have something to say aboutPersona 6this year, considering it’s the franchise’s anniversary. No matter whatPersona 6is, a continuation of the Phantom Thieves' story or another chapter in the world of Personas,Persona 5 Royalwill probably be the game it’s compared to, not the vanilla version ofPersona 5.Atlus has proven already that it can make a sprawling game with tons of engaging content and unbelievable replay value.Persona 6should be likePersona 5 Royalfrom the start, rather thanPersona 6needing an expanded edition to get so big.
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Why Persona 5 Royal Works
The power ofPersona 5 Royal’s tide of new content is twofold. For one thing, everything that Atlus added was meant to enhance features that were already inPersona 5in one way or another. New activities like darts and billiards at Penguin Sniper cleverly combine the opportunity to work on Joker’s relationships with the Phantom Thieves while also making his party stronger in combat. The partial opening of many new evening slots cleared up time todevelop Social Skills, streamlining Confidant progression. Yoshizawa and Dr. Maruki,Persona 5 Royal’s new Confidants, offered both valuable new abilities and a different way of looking atPersona 5’s original story. The list goes on.
The other reasonRoyal’s many expansions worked is that, on the whole, they’re optional.Persona 5 Royalis definitely longer thanPersona 5thanks to Palace adjustments and new cutscenes,but the vast majority of the expansions or additions are optional.Royalnever pressures fans into focusing on its new content; fans can play the game exactly the same way that they played the original game if they want. Because there’s always room for another playthrough,Royal’s content is also timeless and always new, no matter when fans make the time to engage with it.Royal’s combination of side contentbuilding off of and playing into the core content with the lack of pressure on the player to do all the side content at once is a great blueprint forPersona 6.
Making Persona 6 Huge
There’s a few good reasons thatPersona 6should follow inRoyal’s footsteps, whatever it’s about. For one thing, fans will be expecting a game about the size and caliber ofPersona 5 Royalanyway. It’s the freshest mainline installment in the minds of fans, and so it’s the most logical comparison.Persona 5andPersona 5 Royalalso served asgateways to thePersonafranchisefor a lot of new fans. These fans in particular want something that they can compare to the game that got them into the franchise. If a megalithic 100-hour game with more side content than one playthrough can muster is what fans are looking for, then it’s probably what Atlus should provide.
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Another reason to follow inRoyal’s wake is the litany of storytelling opportunities thatRoyalpresented.Personagenerally likes its central narrative, andPersona 6doesn’t need to deviate from that to have a complicated story. Instead, it can stick to having a clear narrative with a few twists and turns in the same way asRoyal.While players can beatRoyalby defeating Yaldabaoth and wrapping things up as usual, they also have the option to progress to the new Palace and confront a more tragic and relatable antagonist who offers a completely perspective on life in Tokyo and the power of Mementos.Persona 6can tell its story in a similar way, focusing on a traditional central story but offering a couple specific endings that frame the game’s central conflict in a new light.
Persona 6should alsobe close toPersona 5 Royalin one more crucial regard.Royaldid an excellent job of putting power in the hands of the player by making Joker’s schedule flexible, giving him more efficient ways of being social, and adding more tools for fighting tactically.Persona6shouldn’t just give players all these avenues for flexible storytelling and broad options for free time. It should also give players plenty of choice on when and how to play through all the extra content.
The Future of Persona
A lot is riding onthe success ofPersona 6.It’ll be the ultimate test of whether or not Atlus can hang onto all the fans thatPersona 5and its enhanced edition generated. It’d be a shame to seePersonadwindle in the public eye if the newly expanded fanbase doesn’t like the new game as much. That’s part of why it’d be wise for Atlus to take as many of the tools and strategies from the latest games as possible. The more features that Atlus converts into something familiar but new forPersona 6,the more reasons fans have to come back for the next game.
The bar for the amount of things to do inPersona 6has been set. Atlus can’t exactly scalePersonadown from here, or elsePersona 6might feel bare-bones compared to all the growth that the franchise has done up until now. It’s best that Atlus either stabilizes and usesPersona 5 Royalas the new benchmark for the franchise, or that it finds a way to go even further. Stacking activities on top of activities is one good way to make a game long-lived.IfPersona 6is anything likethe game that came before it, then fans will be finding little details and extra features for years and years after the game releases.
