Persona 5 Royal puts more of an emphasis on romance options than any other Persona games, but who’s actually available in the game and which confidants are the best to pursue?
Romance is a big part of many RPGs, and Persona is no different. While the cast deals with world-ending threats, they still find the time to go on a few dates. Or more than a few, in some cases.
Players will have a lot of different relationships and obligations to juggle. As such, it’s worth doing some prep and research when it comes to Persona 5 Royal’s many romance options.
How to romance characters in Persona 5 Royal
Players can romance certain characters in Persona 5 Royal by raising their confidant rank and making certain dialogue choices.
Romance in Persona 3, Persona 4, and Persona 5 works the same way. When the player hits rank nine with a confidant, they have the choice of initiating a romantic relationship. This works the same way as any other dialog choice, but an alert will appear to confirm whether players want to make the move.
Once an NPC is romanced, they cannot be dumped. However, there aren’t any consequences for leading on multiple women.
Can you romance multiple confidants in Persona 5 Royal?
Players can effectively romance as many characters as they want with no serious consequences. In fact, players are missing out on content by not pursuing the “harem route.”
Similar to Persona 3 Reload’s romance system, players can romance as many or as few characters as they want. The game splits from its predecessors in one unfortunate way. If players choose not to romance a confidant in Persona 5 Royal, it prematurely ends their questline. Players still all rewards, including unlocking new Personas. However, the confidant advances directly to max rank and no rank-10 hangout ever happens.
This is an odd choice as Persona 3 and Persona 4 both have two different rank 10 events for romanceable social links; one as friends and another as romantic partners. Persona 5 Royal instead just denies players some of the game’s content if they choose to be monogamous or aromantic.
There are benefits to this from a gameplay perspective, as it allows players to get the rewards without having to spend an extra block of time with the character. Still, this is an odd step back relative to previous Persona games.
All romance options in Persona 5 Royal
Persona 5 Royal has a total of 10 romance options that are available in the game. This encompasses almost all the female confidants, including all female party members.
Here’s the full list of romance options:
- Makoto
- Haru
- Ann
- Futaba
- Chihaya
- Takemi
- Kawakami
- Ohya
- Hifumi
- Kasumi
Unlike Persona 3 Reload, there aren’t any secret romantic partners. All romance options in Persona 5 Royal have the same progression system, and the relationships come together in the same way.
Relative to the original Persona 5, Persona 5 Royal adds extra romantic scenes. Alongside Valentine’s Day, there are special scenes for Christmas Eve and White Day. Similar to the existing Valentine’s Day event, players have to choose just one romantic partner to spend the day with.
Who is the best confidant to romance in Persona 5 Royal?
Kawakami and Chihaya are the best confidants to pursue a relationship with in Persona 5 Royal.
From a story perspective, it’s open to debate which character is the best or canonically proper romance option in Persona 5. There are also some ethical concerns regarding multiple adult women potentially becoming entangled with a teenage boy.
But from a pure gameplay perspective, Kawakami and Chihaya offer the best rank-up rewards among any of the romance option confidants in Persona 5 Royal.
Kawakami gives players more time to work with. After unlocking her as a confidant, she has a chance of giving players an extra block of free time during school. This is increased further after raising her to rank six. At maximum rank, she can be called upon to give players a massage that lets them go out at night after visiting the metaverse.
Similarly, ranking up Chihaya offers faster progression on multiple fronts. Upon being unlocked, her Luck Reading ability lets her boost players’ social stat gains for activities like visiting the bathhouse or studying. At rank seven, the Affinity Reading ability lets players improve relationships with other confidants without advancing time.
Kawakami and Chihaya both offer time-saving options to players, which makes them extremely valuable. Though these rewards are available even if players don’t choose to romance them, this still makes them the best romance options to rank up in Persona 5 Royal.
