Persona 5 Royal didn’t just raise the bar for turn-based combat – it fed it protein shakes, taught it to dress better, and made it look cooler than anything that had ever come before.
By 2025, you can feel its fingerprints all over newer RPG projects. And yes, that includes Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the artsy new kid trying to convince you that turn-based battles can still break your brain and your heart at the same time.
If you somehow missed the phenomenon that rewrote turn-based RPGs for the modern world, you might want to grab a Persona 5 Royal Steam key at a steal. Because it’s basically required reading for anyone wondering why RPGs suddenly started wearing better outfits.
Combat That Actually Demanded Respect
Before Persona 5 Royal, turn-based combat was at serious risk of becoming a sleepy relic. Press attack. Watch numbers pop up. Maybe cast fire. Repeat until the boss gets bored and lets you win.
Then P5R showed up dripping in red, black, and existential swagger – and it flipped the script:
- Snappy animations.
- Tactical team-ups.
- Instant follow-ups and combos.
- Style baked directly into mechanics.
Every input felt meaningful. Every turn had momentum. Even selecting a menu option felt like you were throwing a punch. You didn’t just win battles – you performed them.
Clair Obscur seems to be drinking directly from that fountain: flashy skills, combo-centric actions, and turn-based combat that looks too cool to call “traditional.”
Style Isn’t Cosmetic – It’s a Weapon
One thing Persona 5 Royal taught the industry? Stylish games sell emotion better. It’s not enough for battles to be tactical – they have to feel good. They have to look so slick, you can’t help but hit “screenshot” mid-combo.
Clair Obscur picked up on this like a student sitting in the front row:
- Oversized animations.
- Hyper-stylized attacks.
- Cinematic flair without sacrificing mechanical depth.
You don’t just fight enemies – you absolutely wreck their entire aesthetic while looking like a tragic hero who moonlights as a fashion model.
Sound familiar? It should.
Mechanics That Trust the Player
Persona 5 Royal also trusted players with depth. No hand-holding. No “Press X to Win” tutorials disguised as gameplay. You were expected to learn enemy weaknesses, manipulate turns, and set up devastating chain attacks – or suffer.
Modern RPGs – including Clair Obscur – are finally starting to do the same. Big flashy moves, yes, but underneath? Actual tactical layers. Risk/reward decisions. Incentives for smart play.
The spirit of Persona 5 Royal isn’t just in the visual flair – it’s in the expectation that players think, not just mash buttons.
It’s Not Copying – It’s Evolution
Let’s be real: Clair Obscur isn’t trying to clone Persona 5 Royal combat. It’s trying to build on what P5R proved was possible: that turn-based combat can be stylish, brutal, and emotionally resonant all at once.
The devs aren’t even pretending otherwise. François Meurisse, the producer at Sandfall Interactive, straight up said they were inspired by Persona 5:
“From Persona, we took this inspiration that every click is essential to the action, but no redundant gameplay manipulation to get to what you want to do. Every button you click triggers some camera movement.”
Meanwhile, creative director Guillaume Broche made it even clearer, admitting:
“We are definitely not hiding that there are influences from the big Japanese genre.”
That’s not imitation. That’s inspiration – the good kind. The kind that takes a groundbreaking formula and mutates it into something even stranger, sadder, and cooler.
Check Out the Blueprint
If you’re obsessed with Clair Obscur and want to see where half its DNA came from (or need something as cool after you finish it), pick up a Persona 5 Royal Steam key and see the blueprint firsthand.
And if you’re looking for a deal, grab it through digital marketplaces like Eneba, offering top prices on all things gaming.
Persona 5 Royal didn’t just refresh turn-based combat – it reloaded it, restyled it, and left a calling card behind. Games like Clair Obscur are the natural descendants of that flex.