Persona 5 Tactica is a role-playing tactics spinoff of Persona 5 developed by Atlus. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
Persona 5 Tactica Review Overview
Persona 5 Tactica Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Diverse and Engaging Combat Amazing New Characters Superb Music and Voice Acting |
Difficulty Is Questionable Undo Turn Wastes Time Cover Doesn’t Account For Poor Positioning |
Persona 5 Tactica Overall
Persona 5 Tactica is, quite frankly, an unexpected gem in the franchise. It is an amazing overall package with engaging gameplay, great characters, and awesome music wrapped in a completely new story. It has different mechanics like the Cover System, All-Out Attack formation, and the One-More turn that applies the franchise’s most memorable mechanics into the strategy tactics genre in a remarkable fashion.
Persona 5 Tactica Story
The story of the game starts off a bit slow, but ramps up quite quickly. They are quick to introduce the new characters but only give you bits of information that are paced well to keep you wondering as to who they are and what their motivations are. They are likable and one of them in particular is hilarious as the character is an escapist and meant to be the opposite of the Phantom Thieves who face their challenges head on. However, the story is a direct follow up to the original game’s story and not knowing the plot may prove to sour the experience.
Persona 5 Tactica Gameplay
The gameplay stands out from the rest of the crowd in the tactics genre. It’s very simple, yet intuitive in its design as things started to click on my end after the tutorial segment. Utilizing the mechanics like the Cover system and the All-Out Attack makes combat different all the time as you’re adjusting on the fly with how enemies move and how to reposition yourself. It has some misses with the Cover system and progression, but the gameplay works well either way.
Persona 5 Tactica Visuals
The visuals stand out as cartoonish, akin to the Persona Q spinoff chibi designs. It also has smooth animations, great characters, and remarkable Persona designs. The design is definitely not the best as they probably could’ve done the original designs for Persona 5 instead as a more stylized approach, but instead you will be stuck looking at the cartoonish art style for most of the game. If you're not a fan of the art style, this will definitely put you off.
Persona 5 Tactica Audio
The audio design is superb. The franchise has been known to have great music and this spinoff is no different. With new songs at their disposal, the game looks to add more to their catalog of amazing music in the franchise. Sound effects are amazing as well, as the different hit sounds from critical hits and skills are satisfying to hear. The voice acting in Persona games is also great as most of the scenes in the game are fully voiced, which showcases the great voice actors in the game.
Persona 5 Tactica Value for Money
Although it is a superb game, I cannot recommend this game as a starting point for newer players. Chronologically, the story takes place near the end of the original game and will assume that you know the characters as well. It is a $60 game that needs to come with an asterisk asking if you’ve played the original game beforehand to fully appreciate the experience.
Persona 5 Tactica Review:
Wow. I thought I was gonna be tired of playing Persona 5 spin offs but this one is an amazing experience. Let me preface this by saying that I’ve played the original Persona 5, the improved version Persona 5 Royal, and a little bit of Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth as well. Atlus is not one to shy away from making a lot of spin offs or sequels from their IPs and some might say they have more misses than hits when it comes to these, but Persona 5 Tactica is what I’d call an unexpected hit.
If you’ve played Persona 5, you would know that each character has their own specialty and their own unique gun tied to their design. They showcase this by having different ranged attacks per character as well as their own skill trees and unique abilities. All the different playable characters also offer different ways to approach missions since there’s a party limit of three plus one guest character. They also encourage you by interchanging members after every battle as they receive buffs which greatly strengthens their capabilities. This is the type of design that I personally like since it actually incentivizes you to play the other characters.
The game is inspired by XCOM with the Cover system, but to a very simple degree. Full Cover flat out blocks ALL ranged attacks and Half Cover deals less damage to you. The All-Out attack mechanic makes you think on how to position yourself for maximum reward as your one of your party members must trigger One-More and position the party in a triangular formation. The game also has a Charge mechanic where ending your turn without attacking actually gives you a damage buff. This Charge mechanic can be paired with One-More where you knock an opponent down and end your turn in cover to secure safety from ranged attacks and the Charge buff.
The difficulty may be questionable, as even with the higher difficulty the game was not that difficult other than positioning yourself to avoid friendly fire in Hard and Merciless difficulty. The progression however, is a bit slow due to having very little money and expensive items to buy be it equipment or Personas. The side quests do offer money as a reward, but you’re more enticed by the skill points instead to upgrade the characters immediately with the added benefit of being able to freely respec. Also, side quests are more puzzle-like missions since they normally test how you meet the winning conditions in a limited amount of turns.
Without spoiling too much, the game is definitely well paced and keeps you curious most of the time. The new characters, Erina and Toshiro Kusakabe, are well written characters that have their own motivations and stories that could probably rival the mainline story instead as I personally think that Persona 5’s story does fall off quite a bit in comparison to this one where it's quite steady. Music wise, Atlus came in again and said we’re adding more songs to the Persona playlist. The new main battle theme is a certified banger and the additional songs include even more amazing tracks. There were times where I just spaced out and just vibed to the background music as they sound amazing.
All in all, a welcome and great surprise among the sea of spin offs that Persona 5 already has. It’s a shame the series is bogged down by spin offs as this game will come with a lot of prejudices. I will admit I also had my reservations about the game and was looking for faults immediately. I recommend this game to Persona 5 fans as it's a great experience all throughout and definite sleeper pick for the tactics genre.
Pros of Persona 5 Tactica
| Things Persona 5 Tactica Got Right |
|---|
|
Diverse and Engaging Combat Amazing New Characters Superb Music and Voice Acting |
Diverse and Engaging Combat
The combat is a simplified version of XCOM and Mario x Rabbids where it uses the Cover system and plays around it with the different skills and status ailments you can inflict. After which, you will want to secure One-More turns by hitting enemies out in the open or afflicted enemies for an additional turn and critical damage. The real star of the combat is the Triple-Threat mechanic which requires you to reposition your characters in a triangular formation while One-More is in effect to be able to execute an All-Out attack. Any enemies inside the triangle formation will be dealt a significant amount of damage and the range is only limited to how big the stage and how big you can make your triangle. These mechanics in tandem keep combat fresh and engaging despite being simpler than their counterparts.
Amazing New Characters
While avoiding spoilers, Erina and Toshiro are great and well-written characters that are believable to be part of the Phantom Thieves. Erina is a revolutionary fighting the regime of the tyrant Marie in her Kingdom, while Toshiro Kusakabe is a member of the National Diet who has gone missing while having the most non-confrontational demeanor and mannerisms. Their personalities clash and flow well together with the Phantom Thieves resulting in often hilarious and amazing moments as a whole.
Superb Music and Voice Acting
Persona games really are just music albums that come with a free game. The music in the game is amazing, and it made me stop for a lot of moments just to listen to it. Lyn comes back as the main vocalist of the Persona 5 tracks and absolutely kills it yet again with her great performance. This alongside the superb voice acting in the game makes for an amazing experience of appreciating the gameplay, story, and audio as a whole.
Cons of Persona 5 Tactica
| Things That Persona 5 Tactica Can Improve |
|---|
|
Difficulty Is Questionable Undo Turn Wastes Time Cover Doesn’t Account For Angles |
Difficulty Is Questionable
To put it plainly, the game is not that difficult. You could even argue that you should play on Hard or Merciless to add more nuance to positioning as friendly fire is enabled on those difficulty levels. Most maps really are just making a gigantic triangle while abusing the One-More mechanic for maximum value to meet the extra objectives for each stage. Also, your resources are never limited outside of Skill Points (SP) as guns have unlimited ammo and can be used to trigger One-More procs when available. The game does have extra objectives but most of the time these can be met without a lot of brainpower involved. However, I will give kudos to the Quests or side missions in the game as they are puzzle-like missions which require you to use certain mechanics to meet the objectives.
Undo Turn Wastes Time
This is more of a nitpick really than an actual con. Undoing your turn, especially at the start, restarts all cutscenes that played at the start. So if for example you played through the first turn of the mission with the tutorial scenes and decided to go crazy on the same turn and failed, undoing your turn will result in you replaying all the story-related scenes from that turn. The game would’ve benefited more from an “Undo Action” instead so as to streamline fixing the mistakes made.
Cover Doesn’t Account For Poor Positioning
I said earlier that the Cover system is very simple. It is probably the most barebones Cover system in a long time. Being in Full Cover blocks ALL ranged attacks. While in Half Cover, ranged attacks are resisted. With this, you would think that attacking an enemy’s behind when it's not blocked by cover results in critical damage, but no it doesn’t. The game will consider you in Half Cover as long as you are in cover regardless of the angle of which you face and position. This makes for an awkward experience at times since it seems like an obvious choice to be able to hit certain angles around the Cover system and get punished for poor positioning.
Is Persona 5 Tactica Worth It?
Absolutely. If you’re a Persona 5 fan.
I fully recommend getting this game if you’ve played through Persona 5 or Persona 5 Royal. It adds more to the experience without devaluing the story of the Phantom Thieves. However, if you’re looking for a Persona game, I would recommend getting Persona 5 Royal instead. The game will be appreciated more by those who know the context and the characters as well as the overall theme of the story. Playing this first may leave you wondering who these characters are and why they are so hellbent on helping Erina and Toshiro.
Persona 5 Tactica Overview & Premise
The Phantom Thieves are transported to a mysterious realm where they meet Erina, a revolutionary figure. Together, they must fight against the armies that have seized control of their world.
Persona 5 Tactica FAQ
Is Persona 5 Tactica on Xbox Game Pass?
Yes. The game is included on the Xbox Game Pass on the day of its release. For more information on the platforms it’s releasing on please refer to the Persona 5 Tactica Release Date and Time | Everything We Know article.
How Long Does It Take To Beat Persona 5 Tactica?
The game is around 20 hours to beat the main story and around 30 hours for completionists and side content like the Repaint Your Heart DLC and the numerous side missions in the game.
Game8 Reviews
Persona 5 Tactica Product Information
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| Title | PERSONA 5 TACTICA |
|---|---|
| Release Date | November 17, 2023 |
| Developer | ALTUS |
| Supported Platforms | Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5, PC |
| Genre | RPG, Simulation, Strategy |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | N/A |
| Official Website | Persona 5 Tactica Website |
