Persona 5 Strikers is considered by many to be one of the greatest spin-off titles of all time, using the established world of Persona 5 along with its brilliant cast to deliver an excellent action-RPG experience that genuinely took most people by surprise. The idea of a musou-style game with Persona 5's gameplay was an idea that most people were quite iffy about, but there's no denying the fact that the end product is actually quite excellent in its own right.
That being said, one must be aware of the fact that Persona 5 Strikers is quite different from the original title in several ways — some more obvious than others. Keeping this in mind, here are ten of the biggest differences between this brilliant spin-off and both Persona 5 & Persona 5 Royal.
10 It's Certainly A Sequel, Even Though It's Delegated As A Spin-Off
The spin-off tag might confuse most people when it comes to the legitimacy of Persona 5 Strikers' story in the grand scheme of things... but one doesn't need to harbor any doubts in this regard.
After all, Persona 5 Strikers is quite certainly a sequel to the events of the original game. In fact...
9 It Takes Place Six Months After The Events Of The Original Game
The story of The Phantom Thieves and the new threats that they need to take care of kickstart six months after the events of the first game.
Finding themselves in the thick of things once again as the Phantom Thieves learn about the existence of Jails in the Metaverse and the atrocities that are being committed in these areas, the group ends up reforming in order to free the city of Tokyo from these Jails.
8 The Events Of Persona 5 Royal Are Seemingly Ignored By This Spin-Off
However, if people were looking forward to the story beats of Persona 5 Royal to be carried forward in the sequel as well... then they should prepare themselves to be disappointed.
After all, Persona 5 Strikers is a direct sequel to the base Persona 5, and ignores all the extra story content that was included in Royal.
This means that...
7 Kasumi Is Not A Playable Character In The Game
Kasumi Yoshizawa was a much-welcome addition to the Phantom Thieves in Persona 5 Royal, and it's a shame that she's absent from the events of Persona 5 Strikers.
Controlling Cendrillon in a real-time combat situation would've been an absolute blast... but unfortunately, this idea will have to remain a pipe dream for the longest time.
6 The Combat Is Real-Time Now
A rather obvious yet massive change that needs to be mentioned while comparing Persona 5 Strikers to its predecessors is the fact that the combat system is completely different in every way, shape, and form.
Most battles take place in real-time, with combat slowing down when the player is choosing powerful magical or physical abilities to use in battle. It's a massive change from the turn-based combat of Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal... but a welcome change regardless.
5 Recruiting Personas Is A Completely Different Ball Game Now
In the original games, players needed to exploit an enemy's weak spot before cornering them and forcing them into negotiations. While the negotiation aspect of things still exists in Persona 5 Strikers, the manner in which one forces a shadow to do so is radically different.
Now, players don't need to be tactical in their approach to recruiting a shadow — instead, all they need to do is knock an enemy out to force them into negotiations, following which they can join Joker's army of powerful Personas that can be used in battle.
4 There Are New Playable Characters Added To The Mix
Persona 5 Strikers also introduces two major characters that end up playing a major role in this story. The first character is Sophia, an AI Program that ends up helping out the Phantom Thieves when they get stuck in a Jail for the first time.
The second playable character is Zenkichi Hasegawa, a police investigator who becomes a part of the group while investigating the latest string of Metaverse-related incidents. Both these characters are brilliantly fleshed out and end up being an absolute joy to control in battle, as well.
3 There's No Confidant System In Persona 5 Strikers
However, for players who wanted to bond with the new and existing characters present in Persona 5 Strikers, it can be somewhat disappointing to know that the Confidant system has been discarded completely.
In fact, the concept of time passing with the player's actions is now completely done away with — now, time will pass as per the story's convenience, which can be quite a bummer for some people who wanted to enjoy the life sim mechanic of the Persona games once again.
2 There's A Bond System Present Now
However, while the Confidant system might not exist, there's still a way to increase one's bonds with the Phantom Thieves... although it might not be as robust or interesting as leveling up one's Confidants.
These Bond levels can be increased by either teaming up in battle frequently or talking to the characters and choosing the appropriate responses. It might be a simple mechanic, but it's still fun — especially for fans of the original game.
1 A New Difficulty Mode Is Unlocked After Finishing The Game Once
Fans of Persona 5 might notice that Merciless difficulty is missing from its spin-off... except that's not the case — rather, it's a mode that's locked away at the start of the game.
Players who wish to play Persona 5 Strikers on Merciless difficulty need to unlock this mode after finishing the game once. This difficulty mode imposes several gameplay changes and cannot be changed after being selected, adding enough new aspects to the game to make it replayable once again.