Persona 5/ Persona 5 Royal are some of my favorite games of all time, because they have the perfect blend of a likeable cast of characters, fun combat system and an amazing sense of style. So when I heard that they were getting a semi sequel that swaps the turn based RPG mechanics for fast paced action a la Dynasty Warriors I was excited, yet a bit nervous that it wouldn’t be able to capture the magic of the original games. After playing through P5S I’m glad to say that the world and aesthetic that we fell in love with in Persona 5 is back and Persona 5 Strikers is a worthy addition to the franchise.
One of the most beloved elements of the original game was its story and characters, and P5S does not disappoint in that regard. The game picks up half a year after the original game and has the Phantom Thieves go on a summer vacation where they find themselves in the crosshairs of the police -again- after some civilians receive change of hearts. The plot itself is good, but slightly underwhelming, compared to the previous entries, since its mostly serviceable to have our characters move from point A to B.
Characterization is where the game shines in my opinion, because it doesn’t miss a beat in showcasing every characters personality; every character is likeable and reminds you why you wanted to spend time in this world to begin with. Each characters personality is also shown off during their combat, an example of this would be Ryuji, whose strong headed personality is shown off with a move that lets him be the tank of the group and take less damage when he attacks head on.
Persona 5 Strikers leaves behind the turn based gameplay from the original Persona 5 and instead opts for the fast and frenetic “musou” style of action game, which means that you’ll be facing wave after wave of adversaries at once with moves that are designed to take several out at once. The change is a bit jarring at first, because it tries to implement several mechanics from the slow, turn based gameplay into real time action. Gameplay elements like “All Out Attack” and “Baton Pass” are a few examples of elements that are kept and they are blended effectively into gameplay and are a lot of fun to use.
A disappointing aspect about the the game is the lack of additions from Persona 5 Royal, because P5S was released in February 2020 in Japan and Persona 5 Royal was released in October 2019 they both had overlapping development cycles making it difficult to add aspects from that game into Strikers, but its sad to see that characters like Kasumi missing in Strikers since she was a valued addition to the team in Royal.
As Tom Marks said for IGN.com, “Considering all that’s different, it’s truly remarkable how much Strikers still feels like Persona 5”, and I agree with him. Persona 5 Strikers is a welcome addition to the Persona 5 canon of games. The developer Omega Force did a great job at keeping the characters personality and continuing their story from the previous games. While the gameplay can get a little repetitive at times, its still a lot of fun and a worth while experience for anyone who wants to continue spending time with the Phantom Thieves.
The Gaming Diary 