The Phantom Thieves are on a roll when it comes to their spin-off games: Persona 5 Dancing in Starlight was a fun rhythm game with catchy remixes of the main game’s OST and Persona 5 Strikers was a great action RPG that successfully incorporated the main game’s elements into a new genre. Persona 5 Tactica succeeds in that as well, as the franchise’s signature battle mechanics are splendidly adapted to a tactical RPG setting.
After stealing Shido’s heart and saving the world from Yaldaboath, the hero is chilling with Ann, Ryuji, Morgana, Yusuke, Makoto, Futaba, and Haru before suddenly being transported to a new world. Here, they meet Erina, a resident in this new world, and Toshiro Kasukabe, a politician from the real world who seems to be at the center of this realm’s conflict.
We won’t get into spoilers, but the story does eventually become engaging. Admittedly, having a more fantasy-like setting does lose some of that fantastical-realism that’s integral to Persona 5’s charm, but the new characters do grow on you. Figuring out how Toshiro is involved in the conflict is a lot of fun and he ends up becoming a decent character, while Erina’s shonen protagonist-like ability to never give up is endearing.
Fans hoping to get to know the Phantom Thieves more in Persona 5 Tactica might be disappointed, as they’re mostly boiled down to their base personality traits. Yusuke likes to paint, Futaba does memes, Morgana doesn’t like being called a cat; it’s what fans have come to expect. Elements like social links have also been scrapped completely, though this shouldn’t really surprise anyone who has played a Persona spin-off.
Presentation-wise, Persona 5 Tactica is a bit of a mixed bag. The Panty and Stocking-like artstyle will take some getting used to, though fans will eventually warm up to the bright colors and unique settings. Cutscenes range from fully-animated videos, character stills talking to each other, and, most bafflingly, singular art pieces with occasional zooms. The sheer quality of the main Persona 5’s presentation isn’t lacking, but it’s more sporadic than you’ll be used to.
Since this is a Persona spin-off, fans can expect another stellar soundtrack to bop their heads to. Lynn continues to belt out bangers, even if these songs aren’t as memorable as Last Surprise or Take Over. With all that being said, the new battle theme still goes hard, and remixes of familiar tunes like Beneath the Mask will make fans feel all fuzzy inside
Voice acting is consistently great, with the main cast returning to reprise their roles, though some of the sound sampling feels off. Characters like Toshiro have really quiet voices, to the point that we had to turn the music down just to hear what these characters were saying. You might want to wear headphones when playing this.
Combat is where fans will get their money’s worth in Tactica, because it’s pretty darn great. Taking cues from Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, players can move their characters up to a certain point and execute specific actions before ending their turn. Like in most tactical RPGs, players can have their party attack, heal, and cast spells, but they can usually do each action once before ending their turn.
Persona 5 Tactica’s battles incorporate the main series’ addictive gimmick of getting one more turn, ala the Baton Pass. This can be done by hitting vulnerable enemies, making your turn longer, and killing off more grunts. Of course, most of the enemies don’t make themselves vulnerable on purpose, so players have to get tactical in making them vulnerable, which is where the fun begins.
You can make enemies vulnerable in a number of ways, whether it’s smacking them to each other Looney Tunes-style, using spells to get them out of hiding, or straight-up shooting them. Sometimes, one character has to sacrifice their turn to let someone have longer turns, which is where tactical thinking comes into play. Executing a perfect plan feels incredibly satisfying, with great sound effects that make each attack feel impactful.
As Persona 5 Tactica opens up, players are introduced to more unique enemies and additional options to kill them. The one that will be used most frequently is the series’ signature All-Out Attack, which requires players to trap their enemy in a triangle. It sounds complicated but is a lot easier in action and is immeasurably satisfying to hit.
Unlike most tactical RPGs, Tactica limits you to a three-man party, which sounds limiting at first but is well done in execution. Each character has the same basic function on the battlefield, but they naturally excel at certain actions. Yusuke and Morgana can move more, Ryuji and Makoto deal great melee damage, Haru’s bazooka is great for group damage, expect to great use out of all the Phantom Thieves. Luckily, the group shares one experience meter, so players won’t have to endlessly worry about their stats.
Relying on basic stats on the battlefield isn’t enough though, which is where Personas become important. In a huge departure from previous games, each character can now equip a Sub-Persona alongside their main one. This means Joker will have Arsen throughout the whole game but can equip Jack Frost if you want ice spells and an increase in SP.
These Sub-Personas will act as the party’s main equipment, as guns are the only weapons that can be changed in the game. Once again, while that sounds limiting on paper, this does make players fuse more Sub-Personas as a result, getting the most out of that mechanic. It’s a rare case of addition via subtraction and Atlus made it work.
Beyond story battles, Persona 5 Tactica also has Quests for players to take part in. These are just extra battles with story fluff, but they will test your brain power. Some of these have unique objectives, like killing all the enemies in one turn, and they reward you with extra Personas and cash, so they’re worth going out of your way for.
Our only major complaint about Persona 5 Tactica is that getting all of the cool options takes time. For better or worse, Tactica has the series’ signature slow pacing, so it actually takes a few hours to complete your party and start fusing Personas. Things do get going once everyone’s been gathered, but that still takes about four to five in-game hours.
