Amidst the slew of new features in Persona 5 Royal, players can also add the gymnast and phantom thief Kasumi Yoshizawa to their party. Unfortunately, she cannot become a full party member until much later in the game, despite meeting her soon after starting. Here’s when Kasumi will join your team in Persona 5 Royal
Spoiler Alert: In order to answer your questions, we will have to delve into some plot spoilers, read to your own peril.
How to Add Kasumi to Your Team
Let’s cut to the chase, here are the basic steps to adding Kasumi to your team in Persona 5 Royal:
- Visit Maruki’s Palace with Kasumi when it appears on October 3rd
- MAX OUT Takuto Maruki’s Confidant level by November 18th
- Revisit Maruki’s Palace when it appears on January 2nd
- Revisit Maruki’s Palace AGAIN a week later
- Explore the palace and learn more about “Kasumi’s” past
- Add Kasumi to your team
Essentially, it is not until your second visit to (Takuto) Maruki’s Palace on January 9th (1/09) that she can join your team. This is a big part of Maruki’s and Kasumi’s stories, so be patient.
First Visit to Maruki’s Palace
You first visit Maruki’s Palace on October 3rd (10/03) once it appears atop the Odaiba construction site. It’s worth noting that while this event naturally happens on October 3rd, this can change. If the calling card for Kunikazu Okumura is sent on the 2nd, the boss fight for Okumura’s Palace will happen on the 3rd instead, shunting Maruki’s Palace’s appearance to the 4th.
Anyhow, Kasumi will request that the protagonist investigate this mysterious apparition with her. As soon as you enter the palace, though, Kasumi disappears. The protagonist and Morgana soon reunite with Kasumi, who awakens her Persona Cendrillon. Although you fight alongside her, she declines to join the party at first and that’s the end of the first visit.
Before Your Second Visit and the Second Visit
In order to visit Maruki’s Palace a second time, you must max out the Confidant level with Takuto Maruki by November 18th (11/18). Once you do so, the events arrange to allow a second exploration of his palace.
Kasumi will detect the Palace on January 2nd (1/02) and once again will ask the protagonist to investigate it with her. As you dive deeper into the palace, you discover that former school councilor Takuto Maruki is the owner and is responsible for a bunch of strange occurrences. Long story short, Maruki reveals that Kasumi is actually dead and that the “Kasumi” the protagonist knows is her sister Sumire.
Maruki then spirits Sumire away and gives the protagonist a week to consider accepting her offer to help impose Maruki’s version of reality on the world. Luckily, this next deadline is impossible to miss. Once you clear your objectives during the week, the player must return to Akechi at Odaiba.
The Final Steps
When you find Maruki again, he will again ask the protagonist to accept his version of reality. To get Sumire (formerly known as “Kasumi”) to join the party, you MUST reject his offer, which will compel Sumire to attack the party.
Upon subduing her, Maruki gives Sumire back. The next time you see her in Maruki’s Palace, her appearance has changed and her code name is “Violet.” As you explore the palace and learn more about Sumire, she will join your party fully not as Kasumi, but as Sumire Yoshizawa.
Hopefully this helped clear up some of your questions about adding Kasumi to your team in Persona 5 Royal.
