System: Swap
Launch date: November 17, 2023
Developer: Atlus / P-Studio
Writer: SEGA
From dancing and dungeon-crawling to road-trip adventuring, the Phantom Thieves have been awfully busy because the occasions of 2017’s Persona 5. After all, with that sport being one of the vital acclaimed RPGs of the previous decade, there’s been loads of fan demand for spin-offs and sequels, a few of which have been actually glorious. That stated, whilst a fan of Joker and firm I used to be having a tough time getting enthusiastic about Persona 5 Tactica – 2021’s Persona 5 Strikers put such a pleasant bow on the characters’ tales that I didn’t count on a shift to grid-based technique to shake issues up sufficient. The excellent news is that it’s a strong ways sport that introduces some enjoyable concepts to the collection, even when its story beats don’t fairly hit the mark.
Persona 5 Tactica wastes no time getting its teenage solid again into bother. A mysterious door that seems in Café Leblanc whisks the gang away to an unexplored portion of the Metaverse known as a Kingdom; this in of itself is unusual to the Phantom Thieves, as beforehand they solely might entry the cognitive world by diving into Mementos or visiting an grownup’s Palace. What they discover past the door vaguely resembles a Renaissance European city, besides it’s dominated by a sadistic being named Marie who has enslaved the populace to assist her put together for her marriage ceremony. Shortly after arriving, the Thieves encounter two new characters – a rebel chief named Erina (who’s a brand new playable social gathering member in fight) and an amnesiac politician named Toshiro, who they promptly rescue and group up with. What follows is a simple story of the Phantom Thieves making an attempt to uncover the origins and objective of this mysterious realm, in addition to the backgrounds of their new accomplices.
I used to be shocked to seek out that Persona 5 Tactica is simply as a lot of a visible novel as it’s a ways sport. Gamers will spend a whole lot of time watching character cutouts discuss to one another as they prep for the following battle or poke enjoyable at one another, so I used to be glad that their character portraits have been no less than considerably animated and voice acted (no less than for main scenes). I additionally respect that there are some accessibility options included like fast-forwarding and auto-playing textual content that prevented me from needing to mash by means of dialogue I didn’t care about or had already seen. I used to be a bit dissatisfied with the standard of the writing, which I discovered too primary to be attention-grabbing to learn. I do know the Phantom Thieves are a bunch of idealistic youngsters whose interactions are principally lighthearted, however I can solely hear Morgana quip about doing the proper factor so many instances earlier than I begin rolling my eyes. It’s corny stuff, even in foremost story scenes, however it all works a bit higher in side-conversations. These are non-compulsory story moments that normally are easy banter classes between characters, and whereas they’re inconsequential to the occasions of the plot, they include occasional charming moments that can make followers of those characters smile.
Every of the 4 Kingdoms the Phantom Thieves go to in Persona 5 Tactica is dominated by an overbearing authority determine of mysterious origin, every with their very own sub-plot that ties into the principle narrative. I discovered the villains fairly cookie-cutter and toothless – all bark and no chunk exterior of some key story moments I gained’t spoil. General, regardless of how verbally amped up the core solid is about righting the wrongs of those oppressors, the stakes really feel decrease than regular for a Persona sport and there’s no actual thematic shakeup to get enthusiastic about. New solid members get extra character growth than the principle solid, and their arcs are positive however in the end left little impression on me. It’s an honest sufficient story and occasions do ramp up in the direction of the top, however it’s not an important Persona story by any means.
I really feel prefer it’s vital to say that Persona 5 Tactica takes place in the course of the occasions of Persona 5, and tells a non-canon (according to Atlus) story that assumes gamers have data of the occasions of the principle sport. Whereas I’m certain it’s doable to benefit from the uncooked gameplay of Tactica with out diving into Persona 5, I wouldn’t advocate it – Persona 5 Tactica doesn’t spend very a lot time explaining who everyone seems to be or what they’ve been as much as, so gamers who enter blind is perhaps fairly confused. (Be aware that we didn’t evaluation the Paint Your Coronary heart story DLC, which launched alongside the bottom sport as a separate buy).
The opposite half of the Persona 5 Tactica bundle is its fight. Whereas exploring the Kingdoms, the Phantom Thieves can be thrust into battle after battle as they try to, for instance, infiltrate a base or rescue a bunch of rebels. The format can be acquainted to anybody who’s ever performed a grid-based technique sport earlier than – controlling every social gathering member one-at-a-time, gamers have to maneuver social gathering members out and in of canopy to get inside vary of an enemy, at which level they will choose an offensive or defensive motion from a menu. Fairly customary stuff, however Persona 5 Tactica neatly introduces new mechanics that adapt some – however not all – of the fight mechanics from Persona 5 to this completely different format.
Nearly each social gathering member (excluding Erina) can wield not solely their foremost Persona, but in addition a Sub-Persona, granting completely different talents relying on which one is provided. The twist this time round is that fight is much less about hitting enemy weaknesses, and moreso about managing the place of social gathering members and foes to open them up for main harm. If an enemy is in cowl, it will likely be immune to principally any assault, so it’s first essential to power or lure them out. A Persona outfitted with Garu or Garula, for instance, can assist sweep an enemy out of hiding, making assaults more practical. Different Personas may find a way lure an enemy in the direction of a celebration member or create a vortex on the map to drag them in the direction of that spot. Should you’re significantly intelligent, are you able to even push an enemy off a excessive platform and use a celebration member situated on the bottom to assault it in midair. Whereas different varieties of Personas nonetheless may be helpful as fight instruments, your hearth and ice assaults alone gained’t be sufficient to make an impression should you can’t hit your enemies after they’re most weak.
Handle to make an enemy weak and the participant can dish out a crucial assault, which not solely offers further harm but in addition lets the participant take one other flip. This can be a spin on the “One Extra” mechanic from Persona 5 and is immensely highly effective. It’s completely doable to stack One Extra assaults and maintain a flip occurring and on, sprinting across the map and obliterating enemies. It’s actually satisfying to drag off, and any time I noticed the textual content immediate indicating I had opened up a foe for a crucial hit, I knew I used to be setting myself up for a very good run.
The opposite advantage of touchdown a One Extra is that it creates the potential of executing an All-Out Assault. If the participant can handle to rearrange their three social gathering members right into a triangle formation, any baddies caught within the center will take vital harm, normally sufficient to KO them fully. It comes alongside the trademark extremely fashionable black-and-red cutscene depicting social gathering members speeding right into a frenzy, and it at all times felt superior to drag off. All of it evolves into a extremely satisfying rhythm of pushing enemies out of hiding, downing them, after which making an attempt to clear as a lot of them from the map as doable in a single fell swoop.
As enjoyable because the core mechanics are, fight did begin to fatigue me surprisingly rapidly, for a couple of causes. My first main gripe is that a whole lot of maps really feel similar to one another; not solely are there only some completely different environments that battles happen in, however many layouts really feel similar to one another to the purpose the place I had to ensure I wasn’t replaying a stage I had already crushed. The maps additionally aren’t very dynamic – generally there are little issues like explosive barrels scattered about, or doorways that open and shut, however it’s by no means significantly compelling. It actually made me additional respect simply how a lot effort went into making the turn-based maps in 2022’s Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope really feel persistently contemporary; I don’t suppose the general high quality bar is sort of as excessive in Persona 5 Tactica. There’s additionally an actual lack in enemy selection – even after 20 hours, I used to be nonetheless principally encountering the identical 4 or 5 enemy varieties, and so there was no need to vary up my technique.
The boss battles – rare as they’re – do assist make up for this repetition. With out moving into spoiler territory, I appreciated the truth that they try to change up a number of the moment-to-moment mechanics in their very own methods, necessitating a higher give attention to adaptability for the participant. Sure, bosses may be harm sponges and thus drag on for longer than in any other case essential, however they remained highlights for me. Facet quests may also be accepted between foremost missions, and these impose particular challenges on the participant like, for instance, clearing all enemies in a single flip utilizing a locked-down social gathering. These have been actually enjoyable to tackle after I was hungry for a harder expertise.
The Persona collection is understood for the top quality of its music, and whereas the soundtrack in Persona 5 Tactica is nice, neither the number of tracks nor the tracks themselves are as sturdy as different video games. You’ll hear the identical handful of battle tracks on loop advert nauseum, and can solely get a change of tempo if you advance to a different Kingdom. I discovered myself turning down the quantity after some time simply so I wouldn’t be listening to the identical factor time and again. That stated, should you just like the music in Persona 5 you’ll virtually definitely the returning devices and new melodies in Tactica.
In between fight encounters, gamers will spend their free time at Café Leblanc – this typically acts as the house base for Phantom Thieves exterior of battle. Whereas it’s principally a glorified menu, I obtained a chuckle out of watching the Phantom Thieves kill time by enjoying playing cards, consuming curry and hanging out. Visually, Leblanc appears a bit completely different this time round due to the chibi-esque artwork fashion of the 3D character fashions. I’m not the largest fan of it, however it’s a very good illustration of the lighter tone of the spin-off in comparison with Persona 5.
Leblanc can also be the place gamers will prep and improve the Phantom Thieves between battles, and naturally there are many choices. Maybe a very powerful facets of social gathering customization are locked in participant talent bushes the place GP may be invested to unlock upgrades to well being, assaults and extra. The choices are pretty customary for one of these sport however there’s an honest quantity of room for participant expression. I, for instance, typically opted to not improve my Persona abilities to make them individually stronger, which might drain my restricted pool of SP sooner than I’d like, as a substitute opting on a celebration construct that was extra balanced round passive stat boosts. I cherished that I might respec at any time with no penalty, too, providing extra possibilities to experiment.
The Velvet Room is the place Persona Fusion occurs, and it’s a extra simple tackle on the way it features in Persona 5. When fusing, Personas can solely inherit one talent from their ancestors so there are extra limits in place, however typically talking there a ton of various Personas to create, and good incentive to take action as they will additionally have an effect on the bottom stats of no matter social gathering member is provided. Later within the sport, you’ll be able to fuse Personas into new weapons too, avoiding the necessity to spend your restricted funds on the in-game Weapon Store should you’d favor to not. Personas are handed out after virtually each battle, so that you’ll at all times have some spares in your inventory to fiddle with. Additionally, Lavenza has some actually humorous dialogue an animations in Persona 5 Tactica, so I at all times loved visiting her to carry out some Fusions – though the loading display screen to get there grew to become annoying finally.
The Verdict: Really helpful
Persona 5 Tactica isn’t an important expertise – even for Persona 5 followers – however its (principally) mild and fanservice-rich story is a enjoyable excuse for compelling turn-based ways. Whereas missing a number of the depth of style friends, the sport manages to adapt the general rhythm of the mainline Persona 5 sport into one thing well-suited for grid-based technique, and the tempo of battles is snappy and satisfying to the top. Whereas extra selection would have helped maintain the sport feeling contemporary longer, loads of room for optimizing each method and social gathering builds and can assist maintain gamers on their toes.
Persona 5 Tactica copy supplied by the writer for the needs of this evaluation.