Persona 5 Royal: Difficulty Settings - What Does the Difficulty Level Change?

Right near the start of the game, you'll be asked to select Persona 5 Royal's difficulty level. There are five difficulty options to choose from: Safety, Easy, Normal, Hard, and Merciless. Keep in mind that if you choose anything other than Safety, you'll be free to change the difficulty at any time outside of combat and cutscenes — so if you're finding the game overly challenging, for example, you can always jump into the options menu and switch to an easier difficulty level.

What Do the Difficulty Settings in Persona 5 Royal Change?

Here's how each difficulty setting changes gameplay in Persona 5 Royal:

Safety Difficulty

Safety Difficulty is the easiest difficulty setting. If you select Safety, keep in mind that you will not be able to change the difficulty setting at all. You'll be stuck with Safety for the entirety of your playthrough once you select it — even if you switch to it at some point during the game.

Here's what Safety Difficulty changes in Persona 5:

• Defeat in battle does not result in a game over. Even if you die, you will be given the option of retrying
• You deal more damage in combat
• Enemies deal much less damage in combat
• Enemies take longer to spot you outside of combat
• The alert meter increases at a much reduced rate if you're spotted by enemies outside of battle
• Experience points gained from battle increase dramatically
• Money gained from battle increases dramatically

Safety Difficulty is recommended for players who are completely new to role-playing games, or for players who simply want to enjoy the story of Persona 5 Royal without having to worry about combat. No grinding for experience points is required.

Easy Difficulty

Here's what Easy Difficulty changes in Persona 5 Royal:

• You deal normal damage in combat
• Enemies deal much less damage in combat
• Enemies take slightly longer to spot you outside of combat
• The alert meter increases at a reduced rate if you're spotted by enemies outside of battle
• Gain more experience points from battle
• Gain more money from battle

Easy Difficulty is recommended for players who may be unfamiliar with role-playing games or the Persona series. Bosses and tougher enemies may still pose a threat, but as long as you understand the combat system, you should be able to overcome them. Grinding for experience points is very rarely required.

Normal Difficulty

Normal Difficulty in Persona 5 Royal doesn't change anything as it provides the baseline experience.

Normal Difficulty is recommended for players who are confident in their abilities. You won't get any bonus experience points or money, and tougher enemies are capable of dealing big damage if you're not careful. You'll need to be prepared before going up against bosses, and you'll need to have a firm grasp of the game's combat system to succeed. Some grinding for experience points may be required.

Hard Difficulty

Here's what Hard Difficulty changes in Persona 5 Royal:

• You deal less damage in combat
• Enemies deal much more damage in combat
• Enemies will spot you quicker outside of combat
• The alert meter increases at a higher rate if you're spotted by enemies outside of battle
• You gain normal experience points from battle
• You gain normal money from battle

Hard Difficulty is recommended for players who seek a real challenge. Combat can be deadly if you're caught unprepared, and you'll be forced to use every tool at your disposal in order to defeat tougher enemies or bosses. Expert use of the game's combat system is required to succeed. Grinding for experience points may be required at times.

Merciless Difficulty

Here's what Merciless Difficulty changes in Persona 5 Royal:

• Attacks that hit a weakness do far more damage — this applies to both enemies and party members
• You deal much less damage in combat (not counting weaknesses)
• Enemies deal much more damage in combat (not counting weaknesses)
• The alert meter increases at a higher rate if you're spotted by enemies outside of battle
• You gain more experience points from battle
• You gain more money from battle

Merciless Difficulty is something of an alternative to Hard. It rewards you for hitting enemy weaknesses, and actually gives bonuses to experience and money gains. In some cases — mainly against tough opponents or bosses that don't have weaknesses — Merciless is more difficult than Hard. In other cases — mainly against typical enemies — Merciless can be a lot easier than hard because of the much increased weakness damage.

In any case, expert use of the game's combat system is a requirement here, and grinding for experience points may be required at times.

Do difficulty levels stop you from getting Trophies in Persona 5 Royal?

No, there are no difficulty-related Trophies in Persona 5 Royal. Every Trophy can be obtained while playing on any difficulty level.

This article is part of our Persona 5 Royal Guide, which contains All Differences Between Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal along with Crossword Answers, Exam Answers, Romance Options, How To Get The Best Ending, New Game + details for Persona 5 Royal, and How To Unlock Persona 5 Royal's New Semester Endgame.

What Persona 5 Royal difficulty setting do you play on? Pick an option that suits you in the comments section below.