Its themes revolve around attaining freedom from the limitations of modern society: the story was strongly inspired by picaresque fiction, and the party's Personas were based on literary outlaws and rebels.

[11] If all enemies are knocked down, a "Hold Up" is triggered, during which the party can launch a devastating "All-Out Attack", demand money or items, or convince a selected Shadow to become one of Joker's Personas.

As the game progresses, the group recruits more members, including art prodigy Yusuke Kitagawa, student council president Makoto Niijima, hikikomori computer hacker Futaba Sakura, and cultured corporate heiress Haru Okumura.

[2][21][24] Also interacting with Joker are high school detective Goro Akechi, public prosecutor and Makoto's older sister Sae Niijima, and Igor and his two assistants Caroline and Justine, who are residents of the Velvet Room.

After his arrival, he is drawn into the Velvet Room, where Igor, alongside his assistants, Caroline and Justine, warns him that he must be rehabilitated to avoid future ruin and grants him access to a supernatural mobile app.

Morgana informs the protagonist of the ability to change wicked people's hearts by stealing their "Treasure," the emotional root of their behavior and desires, from the Palaces ruled by their Shadow selves.

They are joined along the way by Yusuke Kitagawa, an art student whom they help to reform his corrupt teacher, Ichiryusai Madarame; Sae's sister Makoto, the president of the school's student council who is assigned to spy on them but joins after being blackmailed by a criminal, Junya Kaneshiro, who they also reform; Sojiro's adopted daughter Futaba Sakura, who became depressed after the conspiracy murdered her mother and blamed her using a forged suicide note; and Haru Okumura, a corporate heiress who rebels against her rich father, Kunikazu Okumura, and his attempts to control her life and mistreatment of his employees.

In Persona 5 Royal, two new characters interact with the Phantom Thieves: Kasumi Yoshizawa, an accomplished gymnast who transferred to Shujin Academy the same time as Joker, and Takuto Maruki, a counsellor hired by the school after Kamoshida is exposed.

At the beginning of the following year, Joker finds reality distorted; Akechi was released without reason, and each Phantom Thief has had their deepest wish granted, including some deceased people being brought back to life.

Joker, Akechi, and Kasumi investigate the Palace in Odaiba and learn that its owner is Maruki, who is revealed to be a Persona-user that can alter reality by forcefully changing people's cognitions.

Joker reminds the Phantom Thieves and Sumire of the strength and growth they gained from their real lives, and they agree to change Maruki's heart before the altered reality becomes permanent.

With Akechi gone, Joker finds himself back in prison as he was meant to be before reality was altered, but as with the original game's story, he is cleared and released thanks to his friends and allies.

On the day he is due to return home, Joker escapes tailing government agents with help from both the Phantom Thieves and a reformed Maruki, who is now a taxi driver.

The ending shows the other Phantom Thieves, including Akechi and Sumire, who is now "Kasumi" permanently, who are seemingly unaware of the true nature of reality, while Joker appears uncomfortable and unsure of his actions.

[35] Originally using the concept of a backpacking trip around the world as a framing device for the story, Hashino decided to refocus on Japan in the wake of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

[43] He wanted to make the game more "thematically approachable" for newcomers to the series, and to be an emotional experience that left its audience with a strong sense of catharsis and the inspiration to take on problems in their lives.

[22] The development team has cited three main stories as inspiration, the Chinese novel Water Margin, the Japanese crime movie Hakuchuu no Shikaku, and the Spanish novel Lazarillo de Tormes.

[24] The cast was originally going to be larger with character Hifumi Togo becoming a Phantom Thief, but as the story was already very large, she was relegated to an optional role as part of the Confidant system.

[48] Technological advances such as smartphones and the use of social media were integrated into both the story and gameplay due to their growing prevalence in modern society and how the public responds to real-world scandals.

[37][42] The characters' initial Personas (Arsène, Captain Kidd, Carmen, Zorro, Goemon, Johanna, Necronomicon, Milady, Robin Hood, and Cendrillon) were themed after outlaws and picaresque heroes to reflect the function and dominant suppressed passions forming the Palace, and also represent aspects of their owners' personalities.

[48] The cast's ultimate Personas (Satanael, Seiten Taisei, Hecate, Mercurius, Kamu Susano-o, Anat, Prometheus, Astarte, Loki and Vanadis) were based on mythical beings who act as tricksters or rebels.

[32] In addition, the way a vocal minority online could draw attention to and shift public opinion on events and scandals in the news was cited as an inspiration for the ambiguous nature of the Phantom Thieves' actions.

[43] Due to being high school students, Soejima found it difficult to make each main character's uniform design distinctive, so he expressed their individuality through their thief costumes.

As the main theme and narrative of Persona 5 revolved around crime and vigilantes triggered by Joker voluntarily choosing that path, Soejima needed to convey this while allowing the character to suit whatever dialogue choices the player decided upon.

As the "phantom thief" premise was a common stereotype in fiction, Soejima initially drew Joker and the main cast in a style similar to shōnen manga, but these designs were scrapped as they clashed with the Persona series' realistic aesthetics.

[52] Rather than the use of sub-colors like earlier entries, the UI uses only the primary red, black and white colors aside from health and magic point meters, with the menus using a special moving 3D model of Joker which changes position depending on the selected menu.

[60] The concept behind the characters figure skating around the environment was done as a visual symbolization of the overall theme of breaking free of an oppressive force, and was similar to her work in Yuri on Ice.

[61] Further contributions, among other general sound design, was handled by Toshiki Konishi, Kenichi Tsuchiya, Atsushi Kitajoh, and Ryota Kozuka; all of them having previously worked on the series as well.

[67] In addition to the soundtrack, a 19-track disc featuring a selection of the game's main themes, Persona 5: Sounds of the Rebellion, was released as part of the North American and European collector's edition bundle.

[164] Shepard and Polygon writer Laura Dale both opined that Royal's localization changes were at least a minor improvement, but the game was still broadly uninclusive to LGBT identities.