Persona 5 Royal True Ending Explained

The release of Persona 5 Royal comes with an entirely new true ending that needs explanation for fans looking to understand what goes down in Joker’s revamped journey across the metaverse and high school relationships. Persona 5 Royal is Atlus’s take on a more elaborate story involving Joker and his crew of Phantom Thieves, adding new characters, a new dungeon, and more story beats that make the game well worth playing a second time around.

In fact, Screen Rant’s review of Persona 5 Royal gave the game a perfect score, suggesting that it was the best version of an already great JRPG. One of the main selling points for Persona 5 Royal is its lengthy, involved story, told across a school year and with the player put in charge of building relationships with a cast of compelling characters while also attempting to save the world from certain destruction.

The Persona 5 Royal true ending explained might help fans make more sense of what happens, though, as it barely resembles the previous iteration’s finale. Here’s a comprehensive look at all of the new, major story elements explored in Persona 5 Royal‘s true ending, including the burning question fans have as the animated scene that plays after the credits roll comes to its shocking end. Be warned: there are MAJOR SPOILERS in this article from here out, so fans who haven’t gotten a chance to play or don’t want to know major story moments ahead of time should stop reading now.

Who Is Kasumi Yoshizawa In Persona 5 Royal?

During the major turning point in Persona 5 Royal‘s new content, it’s revealed that Kasumi Yoshizawa is actually Sumire Yoshizawa – Kasumi’s twin sister. Kasumi died in a traffic accident protecting Sumire, who couldn’t cope with the tragedy and decided to become her sister instead, viewing her as the more successful and promising of the two and wanting to live out her dreams for her. As the game progresses, Sumire comes to grips with who she is as a person and is able to get back to a healthy mental state, choosing to pursue her own dreams while preserving the memory of her sister with her hair tie.

Sumire crosses paths with the protagonist just before he leaves for good, having just come back from gymnastics training. She acknowledges how the protagonist helped her and she demonstrates she’s clearly heading in a better direction, having fully come to grips with who she is while incorporating the elements of her sister she liked into herself as a means of self improvement.

What Happens To Takuto Maruki In Persona 5 Royal’s True Ending?

After Takuto Maruki is defeated by Joker and crew, he’s saved from falling to his death before the crew exits his palace, and then he’s not mentioned again until the Persona 5 Royal true ending begins. There, he suddenly appears as a taxi driver to help shuttle Joker to the train station after he’s being tailed, allowing the other Phantom Thieves to act as decoys and lose their followers in the process.

Maruki appears happy in this ending, even offering Joker a gesture of friendship before he exits the car to leave the city. But how does Maruki go from school counselor and would-be god of a new world to taxi driver? The answer lies in the fact that his treasure does end up being stolen by the end of the battle in his palace, meaning he’s experienced a change of heart. Unlike other bosses, though, Maruki was truly trying to make the world a better place – while he did some terrible things, he’s not an outright criminal like many of the other palace owners.

Essentially, Maruki is closer to Futaba than, say, Shido. When his heart is changed, he isn’t vengeful, and he actually appreciates what his fellow Persona users did for him. In Persona 5 Royal‘s true ending, Takuto Maruki is able to make peace with the events that preceded his slow descent into tyrannical behavior. This is also demonstrated by the final part of his boss fight, where his corrupted Persona returns to its form of Adam Kadmon, the partner of Eve. Even though they’re defeated, it’s an example of how his world view had begun to shift even during the fight.

As for why he ends up a taxi driver? That part seems more a convenient way to have him involved in Persona 5 Royal‘s true ending more than anything else. But taxi drivers do help people begin a journey and reach its conclusion, much like a counselor, and it’s perhaps a more direct way of aiding people that also removes Maruki from the temptation to meddle with their life outlook too much – while still offering advice, the way friendly cab drivers often do.

Is Goro Akechi Still Alive In Persona 5 Royal’s True Ending?

This is, without a doubt, the biggest question fans will need to grapple with in the wake of the Persona 5 Royal true ending being so different from the previously established canon. During the added segments of Persona 5 Royal‘s narrative, Joker is shocked to find Goro Akechi return from what was thought to be certain death. Intending to take the fall for Joker’s crimes, he disappears, only to return as a free man during Maruki’s alternate universe shenanigans. Eventually, it’s revealed that Maruki resurrected Akechi, who had, in fact, died during the infiltration of Shido’s palace, and that dismantling Maruki’s world would mean the demise of Akechi.

Akechi and Joker agree that a world under the control of one man isn’t worth any person’s life, and they still work side by side to defeat him. Akechi, predictably, disappears at the conclusion of the palace raid that reverts the world back to the way it should be. Joker spends time in juvenile prison as intended, his friends manage to free him after a few months, and the Persona 5 Royal true ending plays out, with the player character getting on his train home, exhausted but victorious.

Then, the credits roll, and a scene plays at the end. The train begins to leave, but Joker notices something is off, and he glances out the window to see two men in suits escorting someone who is clearly wearing Akechi’s detective uniform of a suit and gloves. Akechi’s face isn’t seen, however. Then, Joker catches his reflection in the mirror, and it’s of his metaverse outfit – indicating that the metaverse hasn’t disappeared as predicted, and there could be more at work behind the scenes.

So is Goro Akechi still alive? There’s no clear answer, of course, and that’s Atlus’s intent. But signs point toward yes more than no. If the metaverse still exists, there’s a chance that Akechi managed to escape Shido’s palace after all, potentially hiding out in the metaverse to avoid being indicted in the case against Shido. While Maruki’s version of the world “revived” Akechi, it’s also possible that’s just because of his own perception of what happened to him, and that he actually was alive before Maruki restructured the world. Akechi is a trickster, just like Joker, and his Persona is Loki – it wouldn’t be at all surprising to find out he had one last great trick up his sleeve prior to what everyone else thought was his untimely demise.

Persona 5 Royal is available now on PlayStation 4.

About The Author

Cody Gravelle
(1587 Articles Published)

Cody is Screen Rant’s Game Reviews Editor. He joined the team in 2018 and has been reporting on games pretty well every day since – except on weekends, where he’s typically playing them instead. Despite being in a field ostensibly about critiquing and enjoying quality games, his most played game of 2019 was Fate/Grand Order – something unlikely to change in 2020 and beyond.

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