This system actually feels good for the most part, and does a great job of translating Persona 5’s RPG elements into a real-time framework. These meters fill slowly though, so these special attacks are best saved for stronger enemies like mid and main bosses. Once it’s full, they can launch their own “showtime” attack whenever they want. Finally, each party member has a meter that continuously fills as they land hits and combos on enemies. Upon fully destroying a boss enemy’s defenses, the party can launch a special “showtime” attack, which hits for even more damage than a normal “all-out” attack. This also sometimes has an added effect of stunning the enemies. When one of these pops-up on screen, players can quickly switch to another party member and get some bonus damage in. In order to break the defenses of boss-level enemies, players will not only need to exploit their elemental weaknesses, but they’ll also need to pay careful attention to follow-up attack prompts. The same holds true for mid-bosses and major bosses, but the process is more involved. Once knocked-down, they’re open to “all-out” attacks just like all the normal shadows running around. Each character still has their gun as well, but guns are only useful against enemies with an actual weakness to them.įor strong enemies, players will need to use their personas to exploit weaknesses and knock them down. One can even take out the whole group with an “all-out attack” if one its members gets downed. In other words: mash X and triangle to take them out and look cool doing so. For the weak, cannon-fodder shadows, it’s enough to chain together light and special attacks. Instead of fighting a handful of enemies at a slow pace, players instead often have to confront large groups and deal with them quickly. The turn-based system of the original has been replaced with the real-time system seen in the likes of Hyrule Warriors. Someone is exploiting the Metaverse again somehow and it doesn’t take long for the Phantom Thieves to get pulled back in again.įor those already familiar with Persona 5 or Persona 5 Royal, Persona 5 Strikers’ most notable difference will be its combat. Things aren’t going to be quite so simple, though. With school out for the summer, the gang is set on getting back together again and going on a trip. All the former Phantom Thieves have spent the last several months living their lives like normal and now summer has come once again. The story picks up about six months after the conclusion of Persona 5 and everything seems to be going well for Joker and the gang.
The first thing Persona fans should know about Persona 5 Strikers is that it’s actually a proper sequel to Persona 5 and not just another spin-off like Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight. Persona 5 Strikers is much more Persona 5 than it is Warriors, and it benefits from that on every level. That Warriors veneer is just that, though: a light coating. Persona 5 Strikers is indeed the Warriors-style take on Persona 5 that it’s advertised to be, with plenty of action and enemies flying every which way. This is fortunately, however, not the case. Warriors games are typically anything but that, so it was doubtful that Persona 5’s best qualities would be able to shine through. Persona 5 is relatively slow-paced game in terms of both combat and storytelling. Rather, it’s a clash of pace that made this idea surprising. It wasn’t that such an idea was completely out of left field of course both the Phantom Thieves and the shadow-populated “metaverse” lend themselves well to the idea of stylishly fighting through hordes of enemies. Even though Atlus has had plenty of fun in the past with its Persona spin-offs, it was still surprising to see the developer announce Persona 5 Strikers: a Dynasty Warriors-style action/brawler spin-off of Persona 5.