When Does Persona 5 Tactica Take Place in the Timeline?

Whenever a new spin-off Persona spin-off comes around, you always want to make sure you have the proper context for the story. So, when does Persona 5 Tactica take place in the overall Persona 5 timeline?

What is the Persona 5 Tactica timeline?

While it’s not specifically said in game, Atlus does offer several clues. First, the game starts with the Phantom Thieves cooped up in LeBlanc because of the snowy weather. They also mention the upcoming graduation for the third-year students in the group. Additionally, it’s clear they have already finished the last palace of vanilla Persona 5. Joker is also still around and the school year is still going.

This means Persona 5 Tactica takes place sometime during the third semester of Persona 5. During the original game, this would have been during the time-skip before the ending. However, in Royal this third semester is playable.

This means that Persona 5 Tactica has to take place right at the beginning of the third semester, since there are no Royal characters in the base game. However, the upcoming DLC throws a wrench in all of that and suggests this could happen right before the events of Royal start.

Timeline for Persona 5

With multiple spin-offs for Persona 5 at this point, including Persona 5 Tactica, it can be confusing to determine when everything occurs in the timeline. While most of the spin-offs have been vague about placement, there’s a somewhat clear picture.

The timeline of Persona 5 and it’s spin-offs are as follows

• Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal begin
• Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth (takes place around the Casino Palace arc of Persona 5)
• Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight (takes place sometime during the events of Persona 5)
• End of second semester in Persona 5 (Ending of vanilla P5, but before final scene and timeskip)
• Persona 5 Tactica
• Events of Persona 5 Royal‘s new content
• Ending of Persona 5 (the final scene)
• Persona 5 Strikers

Persona 5 Tactica is set to release for the Nintendo Switch, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and PC on November 17, 2023.