Persona 5 Scramble has been available in Japan for several months, leaving fans to wonder when it would get released to the rest of the world. The game continues the story of the beloved Phantom Thieves with Joker as their leader. Thanks to a rogue leak initially, the Western release of the game was finally confirmed, however, brandishing the title of Persona 5 Strikers.
It's clear that Atlus wasn't quite ready to announce the upcoming Persona 5 sequel, tweeting out "communications have been intercepted by the Phantom Thieves," which was followed by a short delay before Persona 5 Strikers was officially announced. To clear up confusion, here's what Persona fans need to know about the new Persona 5 spinoff localization.
Persona 5 Scramble and Persona 5 Strikers
Many fans were anticipating the announcement of Persona 5 Scramble coming to international audiences and were surprised to see Persona 5 Strikers instead. They needn't be worried, though, because Strikers and Scramble are the same game. The name of Persona 5 Strikers changed from Scramble due to its localization and is based on Scramble's full name as it's known in Japan: Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers. It was seemingly shortened for international audiences, but rest assured, this is the news that international Persona fans have been waiting for.
Persona 5 Strikers takes place 6 months after the events of Persona, but keep in mind, this doesn't necessarily conclude the events of Royal as canon. Without giving any spoilers revealed from Scramble's Japan release back in February away, some fans believe it can be considered a follow-up to either game, meaning that Kasumi won't appear in Strikers. But fortunately for those who thought of the underclassmen gymnast as best girl, there are multiple other new romance options that appear in Strikers.
Persona 5 Strikers on the Switch
Some trailers of Persona 5 Strikers have been previously uploaded and then promptly deleted, leading to some confusion over which consoles the game will be available on. Persona 5 Strikers is releasing for PC, PS4, and Switch. It looks like Atlus is continuing the trend of bringing its games to the PC following Persona 4 Golden's success on Steam. Additionally, this is the first Persona game to be released for the Switch following fan expectations that Persona 5 or Persona 5 Royal would come to the Switch at some point, though past Persona spinoffs were released for the 3DS.
Now that Strikers is confirmed to get a release for the Nintendo Switch, fans aren't sure if this points to doubt that Persona 5 will ever see a Switch release, or if it means an announcement is yet to come, since Strikers essentially functions as a direct sequel to the game. Earlier this year, Catherine: Full Body was ported to the Switch and the upcoming Shin Megami Tensei 5 and remaster of Shin Megami Tensei 3 will also get released for the Switch in 2021. But it's looking more and more unlikely that P5 will ever come to Switch, despite the addition of Joker to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
What's New With Persona 5 Strikers?
As a direct sequel to Persona 5, Persona 5 Strikers will look and feel largely the same as the original installment while innovating and changing some aspects of the game to feel more modernized, including the art style and cleaner positioning of the in-game HUD, but with the same overall cohesive design inspired by Persona 5. This also includes brand-new anime cutscenes.
Also, the gameplay is pulled from the Dynasty Warrior series, so rather than using the same turn-based combat system, Joker and his allies will have real-time hack and slash combat instead. Elements like Persona skills and All-Out Attacks will still be there, however, and using these menus will simply pause battle to allow time for the player to strategize.
One major difference between Strikers and the original Persona 5 will be the lack of a confidant system. The befriending and increasing relationship levels with other characters is a big part of Persona's social simulator side, but instead, Strikers will implement side-quests called Requests and the BAND system which is increased by interacting with party members, winning battles, and hitting milestones in the game.
Persona 5 Strikers is set to release worldwide on February 23rd, 2021 for the PC, PS4, and Switch.