“Persona 5 Strikers” has big shoes to fill as a sequel to 2016’s “Persona 5.” While it comes up short in comparison, it’s still a fun game that tries something new.
Koei Tecmo, known for making musou games, a genre characterized by button-mashing your way through large-scale battles, takes the reins of development for “Strikers.”
Anyone expecting “Strikers” to be full of armies capturing victory points around the map while annihilating enemies, like Koei Tecmo’s game series “Dynasty Warriors” will be disappointed.
The game blends the tactical strategy of its predecessor “Persona 5” with the hack n’ slash gameplay Koei Tecmo is usually known for.
“Strikers” takes place after the original game, ignoring the events in the “Person 5 Royal” remake.
Months after stopping a great calamity, reforming society and returning home, the player-named protagonist of “Persona 5” returns to Tokyo to enjoy a summer vacation with his friends.
Their plans are quickly foiled when another calamity spurs them back into their role from “Persona 5” as “The Phantom Thieves,” a group of costumed teenagers who enter a shadow world called the Metaverse and change the hearts of corrupt individuals.
Fans of the first game will find this setup familiar but the action quickly escalates out of Shibuya City, the first game’s setting and into the rest of Japan.
The Phantom Thieves now have to travel across Japan changing the hearts of various villains.
Gameplay splits time between dungeon exploration, resource management and combat, with the latter being the biggest departure from the “Persona” series.
Fights now take place in real time instead of characters taking turns acting. Players perform move combinations with the face buttons, cast spells with the right shoulder button and use firearms with the left shoulder button.
Players control characters one-at-a-time, while the three other party members are controlled by the computer. Switching characters on the fly is easy for the most part, with control of each active party member mapped to a button on the Directional Pad (d-pad).
The characters have different strengths, weaknesses and special moves and utilizing them all appropriately is key to victory on the battlefield.
The only problem with switching characters is that what buttons each character is mapped to on the d-pad can change throughout battle, so you may end up having to take your eyes off the fight to pick the right combatant.
The rest of the game is surprisingly similar to “Persona 5”, but “Strikers,” isn’t a retread with a new story.
It adds some interesting changes but they're not always better.
The social simulation aspect of previous “Persona” games was truncated in “Strikers”. In “Persona 5,” players can manage their friendships with party members and ancillary characters outside of dungeons.
In addition to tangible benefits that could help in combat and exploration, additional storylines unfold around the characters you choose to befriend.
In “Strikers,” this has been replaced by the Bond system, in which new abilities and other buffs are unlocked through progression in the game, interacting with party members and exploring the cities you visit.
While it fits nicely with the ‘summer road trip’ feel, the Bond system ultimately feels shallow in comparison to the social sim aspects of previous games.
Not all of the new features are bad however.
The dungeons seem to have undergone a graphical overhaul to accommodate the larger-scale battles and while they don’t have the bespoke charm of previous games, “Strikers” adds an element of verticality that spices up exploration and combat.
“Strikers” has a steep learning curve for a musou game, a genre known for button-mashing fun, mindlessly pressing buttons in this game can lead to a swift demise.
The story is also unfriendly to anyone who hasn’t played “Persona 5” or “Persona 5 Royal,” requiring players to already know the characters and lore to fully understand what’s going on.
However for fans of “Persona 5” who don’t mind cutting their teeth on its battle system, “Persona 5 Strikers” feels like catching up with old friends, swapping stories and generally having a good time.
