Persona 5 Tactica

The Phantom Thieves exchange covert ops for... tactical warfare?

Played Persona 5 Strikers? Then the beginning of Persona 5 Tactica will feel like déjà vu: the Phantom Thieves come together at Café Leblanc at the end of the school year to spend a last afternoon together. However, for reasons unknown they’re suddenly transported to a different dimension, where a group of brave rebels needs their help.

It’s been six years since the main game’s first iteration, and, counting Persona 5 Royal, we have by now reached the fourth game featuring the Phantom Thieves. Whether it’s because we’re getting impatient for any and all Persona 6 news or because it features radically different activity, Tactica can feel like the odd one out, as nice as it is to see the gang again. This feeling is exacerbated by the setting – this new dimension, a realm ruled over by the tyrannical Marie, isn’t really a palace, nor is it really the metaverse either, and none of it really matters. Marie is a stereotypically evil villain with a ‘Ho ho ho’ laugh to match, and that’s why you fight her.

TACTICAL MAGIC

This time around the fighting takes the shape of turn-based tactical combat, reminiscent of that in games such as Final Fantasy Tactics and XCOM. Each level is made up of a number of structures that you and your opponents can use for cover, as well as some climbable platforms. At the beginning of a round the enemies, all of them soldiers in Marie’s army, are hunkered down behind cover, which makes them resistant to damage. In order to fight them effectively, you have to literally knock them out of their cover, which you can do either by using a Persona attack or by taking a risk and standing right next to them for a melee attack.