Persona 5 Royal

Persona 5 is a 2016  role-playing video game  developed by  Atlus . It takes place in modern-day  Tokyo  and follows a high school student known by the  pseudonym   Joker  who transfers to a new school after being falsely accused of assault and put on probation. Over the course of a school year, he and other students awaken to a special power, becoming a group of secret  vigilantes  known as the  Phantom Thieves of Hearts . They explore the Metaverse, a supernatural realm born from humanity's subconscious desires, to steal malevolent intent from the hearts of adults. As with previous games in the series, the party battles enemies known as Shadows using physical manifestations of their psyche known as their  Personas . The game incorporates role-playing and  dungeon crawling  elements alongside  social simulation  scenarios. Persona 5  is the sixth installment in the  Persona  series, which is part of the larger  Megami Tensei  franchise. It was released for the  PlayStation 3  and  PlayStation 4  in Japan in September 2016 and worldwide in April 2017, and was published by Atlus in Japan and North America and by  Deep Silver  in Europe and Australia. An enhanced version featuring new content,  Persona 5 Royal , was released for the PlayStation 4 in Japan in October 2019 and worldwide in March 2020, published by Atlus in Japan and by franchise owner  Sega  worldwide.  Royal  was later released for the  Nintendo Switch ,  PlayStation 5 ,  Windows ,  Xbox One , and  Xbox Series X/S  in October 2022. Persona 5  was developed by P-Studio, an internal development studio within Atlus led by game director and producer  Katsura Hashino . Along with Hashino, returning staff from earlier  Persona  games included character designer  Shigenori Soejima  and music composer  Shoji Meguro . Preparatory work began during the development of  Persona 4 , with full development beginning after the release of  Catherine  in 2011. First announced in 2013,  Persona 5  was delayed from its original late 2014 release date due to the game not being fully finished. Its themes revolve around attaining freedom from the limitations of modern society, while the story was strongly inspired by  picaresque fiction ; the party's Personas were based on outlaws and rebels from literature. Persona 5  won several awards and has been cited as one of the greatest role-playing video games of all time, with praise given to its visual presentation, gameplay, story, and music. Including  Royal , it has sold over 6.5 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling entry in the  Megami Tensei  franchise. Several other related media have also been released, including two spin-off games,  Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight  and  Persona 5 Strikers , as well as manga and  anime adaptations . The game's cast has also made appearances in other games, such as Joker appearing as a playable character in the 2018 crossover fighting game  Super Smash Bros. Ultimate .