In Persona 5, palaces are dimensions in the metaverse that represent the manifestations of strong distortions of a corrupt person’s mind and warps the perceptions of people. These palaces will make the player go through a series of fighting personas, exploring, music, and boss fights in order to steal the treasure within the palace. Here are the top 5 palaces ranked from best to worst, based on its gameplay, story, and music.
- Sae Niijima Palace
For number one, I feel like Sae Niijima’s casino would be first. Considering its unique gameplay and aesthetic, along with its turning, yet exciting story and music. The
gameplay consists of a casino-themed palace where the player has to, “cheat,” in order to win a rigged game along with going through multiple floors consisting of fun, yet challenging minigames. The music felt uplifting, which made me feel like we were in an actual casino, and the boss fight went through a different yet more unique approach as you had to spin a roulette that indicates the bosses strengths and weaknesses rather than fighting them in a traditional way.
- Shido’s palace
This palace was the final palace representing a single person’s distorted cognition and this game took it to the next level. The boss fight, music and story is what made the palace so memorable and enjoyable among the players. During the boss fight, Shido went through different phases of objects made out of people, which perfectly represents his wicked perception towards society. The final phase when Shido’s health is low gave the player more challenge through the end as they made sure not to kill Joker during the 1V1. This challenge led to the final palace boss battle along with recognizable boss music emphasizing its importance. The fanatical story throughout the palace kept encouraging me to want to play more as the music playing in the background while securing the treasure matched well with the theme of Shido’s distorted cognition.
- Futaba’s Palace
This palace was quite different in comparison to the others. Instead of the person with malicious nature, Futaba’s palace is fueled by her suicidal thoughts and trumatic memories involving her mother, Wakaba. This palace is themed as a pyramid and the fact that the owner is a teenage girl rather than a person in power makes it more interesting; especially when trying to destroy the palace in order to save a person rather than to punish them. The music stands well with the theme and the puzzles are quite creative and goes along with the theme of being inside of a pyramid full of traps. Instead of the boss being the ruler of the palace, it is Wakaba and the fight was quite annoying to get through, yet easy.
- Mementos Palace
Rather than a palace being owned by one person, it is a palace for everyone. Mementos is the last actual palace and the game did great with the ending. Traveling down the heart of the metaverse was fun, as you get to encounter past palace rulers and interesting puzzles. However, traveling down felt repetitive and it made me attempt rushing to get through the depths of mementos. The storyline was incredibly interesting and exciting which kept intriguing me to continue the story. The bosses were fun, yet nerve racking, and fighting the last boss, Yaldabaoth, was a scary yet fun experience after defeating it. Especially when taking the last blow through a gun which felt incredibly satisfying.
- Kaneshiro’s Palace
Kaneshiro’s palace took place in a bank in the cognitive world which made me feel like we were doing a bank heist as the phantom thieves, which felt exciting. The main reason why this palace went so high was due to the catchy music that matched well with the theme. The music emphasized the feeling of a bank heist, bringing in suspense and I always enjoyed hearing the music. The process of finding the treasure was okay, but not as interesting as other palaces like Sae’s casino. Going through the vault when getting near the treasure was quite boring, which also made me try to rush through that whole part. The storyline however was interesting especially since it introduced Makoto Nijima, and well displayed her potential as a character and personality. The boss was also quite fun to beat and I really enjoyed exploring the humorous personality of the palace ruler.
