With a release date of February 23, 2021, coming up, Persona 5 Strikers is ready to band the Phantom Thieves together once again for a brand new mission. Following the massive success of Persona 5 Royal in 2020, Atlus looks to shake things up a bit by combining it with musou-styled combat.
A crossover between Persona 5 and Koei Tecmo's Dynasty Warriors, Persona 5 Strikers looks to reunite the Phantom Thieves and bring a new style of combat that newcomers to the series will enjoy. The combat system will combine the flashy skills from Persona 5 together with hack-and-slash elements to bring a new adventure for Joker and the gang.
Persona 5's Turn-Based Combat
Both Persona 5 and its enhanced rerelease Persona 5 Royal feature a distinct turn-based RPG combat system. It featured an accessible but surprisingly deep combat system that focused on exploiting weaknesses and the use of Personas for special attacks. For many RPG fans, Persona 5's combat system was a familiar take on turn-based systems and fairly easy to pick up.
On the other hand, a big reason why non-RPG fans didn't get into Persona 5 was because of its turn-based combat. For a story-heavy RPG like Persona 5, players can easily spend over a hundred hours on a single save file. While the story itself is nowhere near that long, the turn-based combat stretches it out quite a bit. Each battle in Persona 5 requires some semblance of strategy whether it's looking for type weaknesses in enemies or managing SP usage.
As players get more accustomed to the mechanics, the battles get shorter as they memorize type matchups and their party members get stronger. However, Persona 5's biggest drawback in its combat system is that there's no way to fast forward through battle animations. A majority of story-heavy turn-based RPGs will feature the option to skip battle animations entirely while giving players the ability to strategize at the same time. While Persona 5 has the option to auto-battle or have other party members act freely, there's no way to skip animations that players will have seen hundreds of times already.
As a result, many non-RPG fans felt that Persona 5 took too much investment to play. Those who were only interested in the story either turned the difficulty down or watched playthroughs by other people. A number of players would lose interest halfway through the game because the combat got far too repetitive. Though Persona 5 remains one of the best RPGs in recent memory, its combat could be a slog at times, especially towards the latter half of the game.
Turning Persona 5 into a Musou Game
Musou games, on the other hand, are the complete opposite of strategic turn-based RPGs. Named after Koei Tecmo's Dynasty Warriors series, musou games have players hack-and-slash their way through hundreds of mindless enemies. The characters have flashy and over-the-top movesets while the enemies pose no discernable threat. While musou games feature light RPG elements, they often exist as simple real-time action games for players looking for mindless fun.
For RPG fans, turning Persona 5 into a musou game might sound strange given that the complex and strategic battle system was their big selling point. However, Persona 5 Strikers retains enough of the Persona flair to attract veterans, and the unique combat system will make it appeal to real-time action fans. Despite being a musou game, fans can expect Persona 5 Strikers to feature a great story and based on the trailer, much of Persona 5's movesets and skills translate well. Like the original game, Persona 5 Strikers incorporates the use of Personas, and their skills remain the same despite being useable in real-time.
Moreover, Persona 5 fans will find that not much has changed aside from the combat. There's still treasures to find, environmental puzzles to solve, and dungeons to stealthily navigate. Even the highly stylistic UI makes a return, and Persona 5 Strikers retains all the charm of Persona 5 while implementing new mechanics. Moreover, this means that fans who never got into the original game because of the combat now have the opportunity to experience Persona 5 as an action game rather than an RPG.
Instead of the repetitive grind of constant turn-based battles, players are now able to hack-and-slash their way through waves of enemies. Persona 5 Strikers has enough strategy to appeal to veterans through resource management and exploiting weaknesses while being fast-paced enough to attract action game fans. It's the perfect way to give Persona 5 a brand new story while appealing to a new demographic of players who weren't interested in the original turn-based RPG mechanics.
Persona 5 Strikers is More Persona Than Dynasty Warriors
The biggest reason why the combat in Persona 5 Strikers succeeds is that it doesn't throw out everything built up in the original game in favor of new mechanics. Despite being a crossover with Dynasty Warriors, Persona 5 Strikers doesn't have constant real-time combat. There are plenty of moments where players will be able to pause the game temporarily in order to strategize and use their Persona skills effectively. Much like Persona 5, players can use this time to heal, use items or exploit the type weaknesses of enemies. Non-RPG fans will also appreciate this downtime that enables more strategy that just button-mashing.
One common criticism that Dynasty Warriors and other musou games get is that their heavy emphasis on combat often leaves a barebones story with minimal character development. Players of musou games rarely play these games for the storylines but that's not the case for Persona fans. The Persona games feature fantastic storytelling elements with character interactions and Persona 5 Strikers will be no different. Persona 5 Strikers will include a new team member, new quests, and plenty of interactions between the Phantom Thieves. The social aspect of Persona 5 is a big reason why so many fans love the game and it makes a return in Persona 5 Strikers.
Persona 5 Strikers also streamlines some features so that it's more accessible to the action fans of the series. The Confidant system is replaced with a bonding system named B.A.N.D. where winning battles and interacting with team members will boost their stat bonuses. Instead of requiring players to make certain dialogue choices that can lead to branching results, B.A.N.D. simplifies the storytelling in Persona 5 Strikers and it requires much less planning to see all the outcomes.
Persona 5 Strikers combines everything fans loved about the original Persona 5 together with a brand new real-time combat system. For non-RPG fans who have dropped Persona 5 or never completed it, Persona 5 Strikers offers a great way to see the story without going through hours of turn-based combat. Persona 5 Strikers serves as a great addition for veterans of the series while giving non-RPG fans a new way to experience Persona 5.
Persona 5 Strikers will launch on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC on February 23, 2021.