How To Get The True Ending In Persona 5 Royal

Persona 5 Royal brought a strong handful of new elements into the original story of Persona 5, including new characters, innovative battle mechanics, and more. The bread and butter of the addition, however, is the extra dungeon that the Phantom Thieves can take on during the brand-new third semester.

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But the third semester won’t just be handed to you when you begin the game – you’ve got to make a series of choices throughout the course of the main game to access the third semester and see the game’s true ending. This guide will explain how to unlock the third semester in P5R.

While we’ll try to be as spoiler-free as possible, this article may contain spoilers for Persona 5 Royal’s third-semester endgame content.

Befriend Dr. Maruki To Get The Third Semester

In order to unlock the third semester, the most critical thing to do is reach Rank 9 with Dr. Maruki. He’s the counselor who begins working at Shujin Academy on 5/13. After unlocking his Confidant, the Councillor Confidant, Joker can immediately begin meeting with him after school to progress his Confidant ranking.

You have until 11/17 to get Dr. Maruki to Rank 9. He’s how to get the third semester in P5R, so if you fail to progress his Confidant ranking to Rank 9 before this deadline, you’ll be locked out of the third semester. Instead, your game will end the exact same as vanilla Persona 5’sif your relationship is lower than Rank 9 on this date, instead of segueing into the bulk of the content Royal added to the story.

For help with how to progress Dr. Maruki’s Confidant ranking, we’ve got a full guide to doing so as well.

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Befriend Akechi To Get The True Ending

Though your access to the third-semester content is restricted by your relationship with Dr. Maruki, it’s Goro Akechi, the Detective Prince and resident thorn in your side, who gets you the game’s True Ending.

There are a handful of decisions that you’ll need to make in order to progress Akechi’s confidant far enough to guarantee the entirety of the new third-semester content, which leads to the True Ending. Though Akechi leveled automatically with the story in vanilla P5, in Persona 5 Royal, you have to choose to hang out with Akechi to progress his Confidant ranking.

The first step to unlocking the full endgame content is to have Akechi at Rank 8 by 11/17. While you will have to hang out with him by choice this time around, he’s pretty readily available. Akechi can be found in Kichijoji on Saturday nights, as well as either Tuesday or Wednesday nights depending on where you are in the game. Additionally, he is always available when it's raining.

So long as you get Akechi to Rank 8 by 11/17, he will reach Rank 9 and Rank 10 (Max) automatically with the progression of the story from there. If you have not gotten him to Rank 8 before this deadline, however, then his Rank will be locked where it is following the completion of Shido’s Cruiseliner Palace, before you take on the Black Mask fight.

The biggest roadblock to completing Akechi’s Confidant is that you need to reach Level 3 Knowledge and Level 3 Charm before you can progress to Rank 3. Given that you meet Akechi on 6/10, you might not have these skills for a while, so keep your eye on his Confidant ranking throughout the game.

We have guides for boosting your Knowledge and making Joker more Charming, so follow along with those for quick ways to boost your skills!

As you’re befriending Akechi, there are a few dialogue decisions you have to make in order to progress towards the True Ending.

Joker’s Required Dialogue Choices With Akechi

Occasion

Akechi's Dialogue

Joker's Response

Rank 7

“Why not join me instead…? All you’d have to do is abandon the teammates you have now. How about it?”

“You’re my rival.”

Rank 8

“Should the opponent accept the glove, the duel is also accepted.”

“I accept.”

The night you secure the route to Shido’s treasure

N/A

“I want to keep our promise.”

We also have a full guide to befriending Akechi (even if he does make it kind of hard to want to sometimes).

If you reach the 11/17 deadline, then the third semester plays out exactly as intended. However, you’ll still have one more choice you need to make to ensure you get the True Ending.

Joker’s Required Dialogue Choice On 2/2 With Akechi

Akechi's Dialogue

Joker's Response

“I won’t wait a moment longer. Answer me.”

“We’re stopping Maruki.”

If you say you're accepting the deal instead, Akechi will ask if you're serious. This is your final chance to backtrack, but if you stick to the deal, you will not see the True Ending.

As long as all the conditions mentioned above are met, then you’ll see the True Ending of Persona 5 Royal play out to its fullest. It includes Crow’s third Persona awakening, as well as a post-credits scene, though many other aspects of the final section of the story will change without Akechi as well.

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