Review: Persona 5 Tactica Is a Surprisingly Adept Strategy Game

I don’t know why I get apprehensive about Persona series spin-offs anymore. Games like Persona Q and Persona 4 Dancing All Night shows these experiments can work, and Persona 5 Tactica is the latest bit of mad science showing yes, even a strategy game tie-in will be a success.

Persona 5 Tactica is a case of trouble finding the Phantom Thieves, as it so often does in the series. The group is at LeBlanc after the end of the base Persona 5 storyline, with the news in the background mentioning that Japan National Diet member Toshiro Kasukabe is missing. Not long after, something happens. The world shifts, they can’t hear the normal sounds of the city outside, and the door to LeBlanc changes. When the crew steps outside, they find themselves in the Marie Kingdom, inspired by France, which is run by the villainous Marie and her Legionnaires. After meeting the Rebel Corps leader Erina, and later the missing Toshiro, Joker and his friends commit to doing what they do best, which is righting wrongs, investigating what’s going on, and saving the day.

If you’ve played any of the Mario + Rabbids strategy games on the Switch, then honestly Persona 5 Tactica will feel pretty familiar. You get a limited number of units on each stage, with players allowed three characters in a party for every one. It’s a cover-based, turn-based tactical title, with being behind a half-size barrier (indicated by a yellow shield) or full-size one (noted by a red shield) to mitigate or block damage. The goal might be to defeat all or certain enemies, destroy flags, protect someone, or reach certain places. This is done via gun damage, using melee to knock an enemy back and deal damage, and Persona attacks. Sometimes, there’s the idea of getting there in a certain number of turns or complete additional objectives for additional bonuses. You get points to unlock additional abilities or passive perks on a skill tree for each character by taking on main missions, side ones, or listening to conversations in the LeBlanc hub. Via each person’s unique Persona and Sub-Personas, you can get additional abilities to make them more capable in-battle. 

While I get that a strategy game might be new to fans of the series, I did feel like the tutorial for Persona 5 Tactica dragged on a bit. However, throughout the entire first area (and beyond), Atlus keeps introducing new gameplay elements. It’s frustrating, as some of the mechanics involved things I could have used earlier or might have already come up before that point. Part of this could be because of my familiarity with the genre, but even on the harder difficulty levels this first section seemed to drag out implementation of ideas a bit.

Which is weird as the pacing is otherwise pretty good. The story flows well, and the challenge builds up in a satisfying manner. The side missions you can take often are more difficult than the mainline ones and require you to think creatively to solve specific objectives, such as getting a character to a point on the other side of the map in a single turn. Maps typically don’t take too long, with many feeling like they could easily be cleared in around five to seven turns, though in many cases it’s entirely possible to get through them in a shorter period of time.

However, what I did notice is that I generally found myself relying on certain characters quite often depending on the situation, even if they hadn’t “rested” and weren’t at their “best” when selecting them. If I needed to reach a specific point on the map, I’d pick the 7-movement characters like Yusuke and Morgana, as well as someone with 6-movement range. If it was about clearing out all enemies, I found Joker, Haru, Ryuji, Makoto, Morgana, and Yusuke worked best. The innate perks for certain characters, like higher gun-based damage if Joker is in the party, outweighed the benefits of using other people.

Especially since a Persona’s skill type influence status effects or side effects. So while Ann would be weak to Ice in Persona 5 and Royal, because Carmen would be, here there’s no such weakness. This means I found Haru, Makoto, and Morgana universally useful, because Milady’s Psi skills, Makoto’s Frei abilities, and Zorro’s Garu ones could cause enemies’ positions to move due to the Hypno, Vortex, and Sweep effects. Likewise, Yusuke’s Goemon Bufu abilities or Ryuji’s Captain Kidd Zio skills would Freeze or Shock enemies for a turn due to their ice or electric typing, which could be good for some challenges. Yes, it means that you can use anyone in every fight, which I really appreciated. It meant I could use whoever I liked. However, I was a bit disappointed to see a signature part of the series taken out, especially since it removed a possible strategic element. 

At least other Persona game features are present in Persona 5 Tactica and used in a way where it enhances the a player’s strategy. Having a Sub-Persona for everyone is nice, since it can provide an additional type of status effect. Though to be honest, I found loading them up with passive abilities via the Sub-Persona was often even more useful. The “1-More” attack for landing a critical hit on, say, an enemy outside of cover is fantastic for covering more of the map or hitting optional objectives. It is also super satisfying to knock an enemy down via a critical, allowing you to arrange the three units in a triangle for the Triple Threat All-Out Attack that deals fantastic AOE damage to any foe in its range. If you can manage to get the high ground and set up a Follow-Up Attack by knocking an opponent down, that feels so good too! I felt like it made up for moments when you realize you limited your own progression due to allied characters not being able to “pass through” other members of your party. Baton Pass is also around, though you can only shift a standby ally in if an active party member’s HP drops to 0.

I had a lot of fun with Persona 5 Tactica, especially after I took the risk to crank the difficulty up on the strategy game so friendly fire would be enabled. The characters, Personas, and concept all adapted well to the genre shift. Atlus also executed it in a way that makes it easy for people new to tactical titles can wade into it without encountering too many barriers. I do wish there’d been more elemental elements to it and certain characters didn’t feel a little too perfect for every situation, but it is entertaining and I appreciated the creativity behind the design direction.

Persona 5 Tactica will come to the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC on November 17, 2023. DLC that adds Goro Akechi and Kasumi Yoshizawa will appear at launch.