Game Over: Persona 5 Strikers

While I'm not a fan of musou "Dynasty Warriors-style" games, I had a blast with Persona 5 when I played it, and was interested in the direct sequel Persona 5 Strikers.

- Andrew Duncan

I wanted to see what was next for the characters I knew, and how they were going back into the metaverse which was implied to be no more at the end of the original roleplaying game. Honestly, the way that Omega Force translated turn-based combat into hack-and-slash works perfectly, as well as the enemy "Shadows".

The story of Persona 5 Strikers sees the gang going on a road trip across Japan to find out how people are having their hearts changed by celebrities, and how the ersatz Alexa "EMMA" fits into it. More curious is the new addition to the team Sophie, a digital being who has a body in the metaverse, but lives in main character Joker's phone in the real world. Where did she come from, and what's her relation to the Metaverse "Jails" that they keep finding?

In the original game the Phantom Thieves had to put a stop to Metaverse Palaces which were ruled by ne'er-do-wells in Tokyo. They were mostly ruled by people in positions of power whose corrupted desires distorted their inner "Shadow" selves, creating the Palace to store them. Once the Phantom Thieves stole a desire, in the form of a treasure, the ruler's personality would change and they would seek forgiveness and accept responsibility for their crimes. A change of heart, courtesy of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.

Jails in Persona 5 Strikers, on the other hand, are used by their rulers to change the hearts of others. Whereas Palaces could only be visited thanks to a mysterious phone app called Metaverse Navigator, Jails are found through the EMMA app which is used by many people across Japan.