One of the earliest gameplay concepts for Persona 5 eschewed the usual JRPG turn-based combat for a more action-based battle system. While the full release of Persona 5 still retained the staple turn-based combat from past entries, Persona 5 Strikers makes good on the first game's original gameplay concept. Melding Musou-style real-time action combat with the elemental strategy typically found in Persona games, Strikers borrows far more from its source material than Dynasty Warriors. For as much as players will be chaining together attacks like any other Musou game, Strikers is still a surprisingly strategic action-RPG, more than a Musou-style game.
Even if it's not a turn-based JRPG like the original, this direct sequel to the original Persona 5 has a promising start as the Phantom Thieves reconnect for summer vacation. While the full adventure in Persona 5 Strikers encompasses a road trip across Japan, the game's opening act takes place entirely in the iconic Shibuya that fans know and love. Facing an emboldened enemy in a whole new Metaverse, the Phantom Thieves have to take on an army of Shadows vying to steal people's desires. Players will find a surprisingly challenging and rewarding action-RPG, wrapped in the same fantastic style and flair fans should expect from a Persona 5 spin-off/sequel.
A Compelling Setup for Another Phantom Thief Journey
Taking place a few months after the conclusion of Persona 5, not Persona 5 Royal, Joker returns to Tokyo as the retired Phantom Thieves prepare for their big summer vacation trip. Obviously, things don't last long before the gang discovers a wholly new dimension of the Metaverse, and have to don the masks once more. The Phantom Thieves discover a new pop star, Alice Hiiragi, has begun capturing the desires of her fans and forcing them to ruin their lives over their obsession of her brand.
Taking down Alice's monarchy in the Metaverse ends up being an interesting setup for the rest of Persona 5 Strikers' story. Without diving into specific story spoilers, this beginning chapter (or "Jail," as the game's dungeons are referred to as) of Strikers contextualizes the upcoming road trip across Japan in a compelling manner. There are plenty of questions being presented; Why has the Metaverse returned? Who is the mysterious Tokyo investigator looking into the Phantom Thieves? Why is a smartphone assistant app named "EMMA" the only link to this new Metaverse? It's an admittedly absurd concept, but a relatively interesting setup nonetheless.
Additionally, the game's opening chapter introduces players to a new Phantom Thief: Sophia, "humanity's companion." Sophia is a mysterious AI that players meet in Alice's jail, whose exact origins are unknown. She's a charming character who falls into the stereotypical "robot attempting to learn the nature of the human heart" archetype, but she's nothing like Persona 3's Aigis. She's more of a quirky, heartwarming character who will presumably blossom in personality as the story progresses.
Warriors-Style Gameplay, With Plenty of RPG Nuance and Complexity
For a game built upon the often-trodden Musou foundation, Persona 5 Strikers only resembles a Warriors game at first glance. The truth is that Strikers has enough strategy elements based on the Persona series that it resembles more of an action-RPG, compared to other Warriors spin-offs like Hyrule Warriors. Combat encounters are largely isolated to small-scale arenas in the game's world, instead of hordes of enemies in portions of an open world map. Players do get to explore environments nearly twice the size and scope of the original Persona 5, but combat encounters and environments are better compared to the hybrid system found in Final Fantasy 7 Remake.
Players will find a surprisingly challenging action-RPG experience in Persona 5 Strikers that's genuinely rewarding once the gears start turning. Familiar gameplay mechanics from Persona 5, like Once More, All-Out Attacks, elemental weaknesses, and Showtime Attacks, these all factor into fighting Shadows. Players are able to quick-swap between four members of the Phantom Thieves at any point in battle, a la Final Fantasy 7 Remake's combat dynamic. Each Thief has its own distinctive fighting style based on its character design and Personas in Persona 5. Alongside tweaked progression resembling Persona 5, Strikers finds an interesting gameplay balance.
At first, Strikers inundates players with a slew of different combat tutorials and techniques right away. Once players begin to understand how its RPG systems intertwine with the action combat, employing various methods of exploiting Shadows' weaknesses is an absolute blast. Strikers definitely has a short but steep learning curve at first, especially for anyone who's used to the simpler Hyrule Warriors style of Musou gameplay. However, once it clicks, Persona 5 Strikers' combat is surprisingly complex.
A Distinctive Iteration On the Original Persona 5 Experience
Lastly, Persona 5 Strikers is a great looking iteration of the Persona 5 aesthetic. Exploring through Alice's neon-pink, circus-like distortion of Shibuya is disturbingly pleasant. All of the visual flair in combat, the Persona 5 style cinematic cut-ins, the explosive Showtime Attacks, Strikers' visual style feels familiar to Persona 5 without sacrificing its own semblance of stylistic identity. Even though the game doesn't quite equate to the now-iconic Persona 5 aesthetic, it certainly gets real close. Also, specific to the PC version of the game, being able to play Strikers at a flawless 60 FPS with all of the enemies and effects on screen is an absolute joy.
As a follow-up to the original game, Persona 5 Strikers is gearing up to be a fantastic spin-off/sequel to the original game. The action-RPG style combat is a proper celebration of the original game, but the Warriors influences don't compromise any of the RPG-like complexity. Even if it is a bit challenging to understand all at once, there's a lot to love once players understand the flow of Strikers' combat. Paired with a unique but familiar aesthetic and a relatively interesting narrative setup, getting the gang back together in Persona 5 Strikers is shaping up to be a glorious return of the Phantom Thieves.
Persona 5 Strikers releases on February 23, 2021, for PC, PS4, and Nintendo Switch. Game Rant was provided a PC (Steam) code for the purposes of this preview.