Persona 5 was one of the most popular RPGs released in the past 10 years, but developer Atlus wasn’t happy with releasing just one successful game set in the Persona universe. After Persona 5 came Persona 5 Dancing in Starlight, Persona 5 Royal, Persona 5 Strikers, Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, and finally Persona 5 Tactica. With so many stories already set in the Persona universe, something different was needed to maintain the series' popularity, and Persona 5 Tactica is striving to be that something. It both hits and misses the mark though, and fans will undoubtedly be split on how effective it is in carrying on the Persona frenzy.
Though set at the same time as Persona 5, Tactica doesn’t follow the other games' story at all. Instead, it opts to forge a different path in a place both familiar and unfamiliar to fans of the original game. This new direction does breathe a bit of freshness into the game's more familiar tropes, but the new story beats won’t make much sense to new fans who purchase Tactica as their first Persona game. All the familiar Phantom Thieves are present, with a few new ones to shake up the monotony, though they don’t really stand out when viewed against the already eclectic cast of characters.
They all take a backseat to the game's new mystery, and discovering what the truth is about the world feels both fresh and well-trodden at the same time. There will be some confusion, as Tactica asks the same questions as Persona 5, but some users will definitely be intrigued enough to discover the answers.
Most players and fans will have to figure out how or if Persona fatigue is playing into their enjoyment, (or lack thereof) of the game itself. Tactica does a good job of introducing new systems, but not everyone will enjoy the constrictions the changes force upon them. Changing to a small grid map, with differences in height and distances that actually matter, is a good shake-up to the game's normal combat mode. It is still turn-based, allowing the player to move and attack first before enemies get their turn, but with a great emphasis on tactical positioning and melee or ranged attacks. The height differentials are interesting, as they sometimes don’t allow attacking enemies directly below or above the user's character, even if they’re in the adjacent grid square. Unlike games such as XCOM 2, there are stricter line-of-sight rules that come into play in Tactica.
But the game is still set within the Persona 5 universe, and players who have spent countless hours within it may start to feel a bit of weariness with some character's personalities. Some feel dialed up even more than they were during the normal Persona games, but the franchise has always been built around and on the strength of its characters. Luckily, the few new friends the group makes are more mellow in their presentation and antics. The background extras are forgettable though, and don’t make much sense until the game has been dived into more.
With only three characters in the party this time around, the game feels more restrictive than before, but the free movement before ending the player's turn or committing an action still offers some freedom. And with how small some of the maps are, the more freedom Tactica can give the better. It feels like there is a lack of depth in each of the character's skill trees as well. Improvements to basic skills and bonuses to hit-points and spell-points make up the majority of the tree, though getting to pick and choose the order skills are upgraded gives more of a choice in building character skills than in previous games. It’s an odd feeling, like stepping both forward and backward at the same time. There are also changes that feel almost like sidesteps, such as the All-Out group attack changing to a group Triple-Attack that covers an area of the map spread in a triangle between the three characters. It feels weird at first, but it does add another level of complexity to the game's combat that needs to be utilized to its full extent.
The catchy music of Persona 5 is in full effect in Tactica. Though it may be a small step down in quality when compared to P5, the beats and sounds of the Persona universe can still be found rocking throughout the game. The more mellow tunes found in the coffee house stand out and, apart from the constant faster battle music, both are well-placed and toe-tappingly fun to listen to. The voice acting falls into many of the same pros and cons: a small step below Persona 5’s levels but still well done, and it does a good job of keeping the dialogue entertaining. The game carries a surprising number of voice lines too, with the new characters being the most interesting when talking, though this might be simply because of how much players have had to listen to the older characters.
Along with the grid system, combat has changed in other ways as well. The ability to move around enemies feels like Persona 5 Tactica wanted to borrow a little piece from Persona 5 Strikers but still keep its turn-style combat. This does allow players to easily gang up on enemies, but it also leaves characters open to counter-attacks. The flow of combat moves back and forth with large swings in players' or enemies' favor. In higher difficulties, there can sometimes be a sense of unfairness with enemies' ability to land critical hits, and since that leads to an extra chance to attack, it can feel mildly to severely slanted in the enemy's favor. Still, most players playing on easier difficulties will feel pretty strong at first. This feeling does begin to dissipate after a few missions, as the variety of enemies is opened up and larger groups appear on the map. During some missions, players may find themselves attempting to avoid combat entirely in order to complete the level. It seems odd to be successful without fighting, especially in a Persona game.
Enemy designs are interesting for the most part, especially the main antagonist of the game: Lady Marie. She exudes an air of authority while also giving hints at intimidating levels of insanity and wrath. She is discouraging in her expressions and words and is a boss who feels like more of a standard leader and less ethereal than some Persona 5 bosses. Her voice actor does an amazing job of bringing her to life and deserves all the praise for creating such a daunting and memorable enemy. Her English voice actress is especially awesome at creating a brand-new villain to compete with the more… extravagant scoundrels Persona usually offers.
One thing fans of the original Persona 5 may dislike a lot is that personas aren’t captured in the standard way. They are given to the player after missions and quests, and players can still meld them together to create others, but the lack of capturing personas in the usual way feels very odd at first. Even many hours in, some will still dislike Atlus’ choice to make it more random and less focused on catching specific demons. They also add various new skills and passive abilities that sometimes don’t feel like they add much to combat at first, but some can give status effects that can turn the tide of some difficult fights. This, coupled with the difficulty in obtaining new weapons due to how stingy the game is when giving money to players, might be the most frustrating aspect of an otherwise notable system change.
The other big change is the switch in art style from semi-realistic to a much more Chibi-like design, with tiny feet and cute faces. Characters look a lot younger in this style, with Lady Marie the only one designed to look and feel bigger than the others. It will be a toss-up to see if this style of character design plays well with most fans of the games though. It might be too much of a switch-up, but if players can disregard the weirdness of seeing their favorite fictitious character this way, they might find the change cute and affable. Some of the exaggerated facial tics can be a little over the top, and personal taste will ultimately determine if the new forms are enjoyable.
Persona 5 Tactica is a step in a different direction than previous games, and even with the fatigue from multiple Persona games settling in over the last few years, it still manages to tell an intriguing story and it does nail the Alice in Wonderland vibe it sometimes feels like it's going for. A player's enjoyment may ultimately come down to how he or she feels about the character's new look and the game's more confined spaces in both combat, character skills, and personas alike. There is an enjoyable and interesting tale to be told in Persona 5 Tactica for those willing to join the Phantom Thieves once again.
Persona 5 Tactica
Atlus' Persona 5 Tactica drops the Phantom Thieves in a Medieval Europe-style world as they are dragged into an ongoing revolution by a mysterious figure. Rather than a traditional turn-based JRPG, the Persona 5 spin-off falls within the tactics genre.
- New main enemy is excellent
- Music is toe-tappingly great
- Intriguing story
- Nails art design/aesthetic
- Combat can feel unfair at higher difficulties
- Randomization of catching Personas
Persona 5 Tactica will be available November 17 on the PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. Game ZXC was provided a PC code for this review.
