Persona 5 Strikers review: Already memorable characters get even more depth in this rich spinoff

Persona 5 Strikers Explosion Source: Windows Central

Early in Persona 5 Strikers, the Phantom Thieves, a group of teenagers with the ability to alter the hearts of wicked people, befriend a strangely powerful AI. Sophia, who desires only to prove herself worthy of existence humanity's companion, travels with them to larn what information technology is to be human and presently discovers that it's not then easy.

Like the remainder of the Persona series, Persona 5 Strikers is largely a story of the power of love and friendship to bring out the best in people and give them the ability to overcome hardship. Simply Persona 5 Strikers is specifically about trauma, weaving a beautiful and complex story virtually how people can be driven by vengeance, fear, and self-loathing when what they really desire is for someone to believe in them.

A powerful journey

Persona 5 Strikers Header

Persona 5 Strikers

Bottom line: Persona v Strikers delivers the meaningful story, relateable characters, and circuitous mechanics fans wait from mainline games but switches the gameplay upward to focus on action over time management.

Pros

Complex, well-developed characters
Fantastic translation of Persona five's mechanics from plough-based to hack-and-slash
Beautiful anime-mode cutscenes
Extremely detailed world

Cons

Gameplay can go a bit repetitive

What I like about Persona 5 Strikers

Persona 5 Strikers Rain Of Desires Source: Windows Fundamental

Category	GameNameXXX
Championship	Persona 5 Strikers
Developer	P-Studio
Publisher	Atlus and Sega
Genre	Activeness RPG
Platforms	PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch
Players	Single player
Price	$60

Persona 5 Strikers kicks off a few months after the events of Persona 5 with the Phantom Thieves reuniting for summertime vacation. When they detect that people around the country are using a new smartphone app dubbed Emma to control others, the Phantom Thieves infringe an RV and hit the road to set things right.

While you don't demand to have played Persona five or Persona 5 Royal to enjoy Persona five Strikers, you should because Persona five is i of the all-time RPGs on PS4 and will give you lot a ameliorate grounding in the world, characters, and mechanics used in the new title. Merely even if yous don't get all of the callbacks, you're still likely to be charmed by the premise and elegant gameplay.

In Persona 5, the Phantom Thieves fought monsters who horrifically abused people for their own gain. The bad guys in Persona five Strikers are just as dangerous but far more complex, each driven by a defining trauma that the characters must uncover and force them to confront.

"Trauma is like an invisible wound in a person'south heart," the Phantom Thief Haru explains to Sophia. "It comes from living through painful experiences." In Persona 5 Strikers, the combination of those traumas and Emma'south power manifests in Jails, twisted realms ruled by Monarchs who steal the desires of others resulting in those people worshipping the monarch in the real world.

It'southward a deep narrative that tackles topics like toxic fandom, the toll of political power, and bullying while pushing each of the protagonists to examine their lives and choices by looking at a night mirror of themselves. Each Jail is impressively realized with gorgeous visual details and thrilling boss fights such as the model Alice'south Wonderland-themed realm filled with candy and carnival rides or the mayor of Sapporo, a metropolis famous for its annual Snow Festival, who sees her home every bit a desolate but cute frozen palace.

You'll explore these realms stealthily, avoiding unnecessary fights by jumping effectually and hiding until you tin ambush foes, finding subconscious treasure by shimmying over wires, blinding enemies through shooting out spotlights, and using your special ability to discover the unseen to discover invisible platforms. The terrain is besides a powerful tool in combat, where you tin blow up cars, throw swords, drop hanging objects, and find plenty of other artistic means to hurt your foes besides using your standard array of powers.

Persona 5 Strikers Joker Showtime Source: Windows Central

While mainline Persona games use turn-based combat, Persona 5 Strikers employs a hybrid organisation where yous mix hack-and-slash attacks with pauses that let you select items or special powers without pressure. Yous'll need to have a solid grasp of both techniques to make it through the tougher fights or just to endure the waves of enemies that come at you in some timed sequences.

Persona v Strikers employs a hybrid organisation that is surprisingly fun.

The blend is surprisingly fun. You feel satisfied when you tin can smash the timing to hit a powerful philharmonic while paying attention to prompts from the AI controlling the rest of your squad to swap characters to let someone else testify off. All of the Phantom Thieves are playable characters in Persona 5 Strikers and each has their own move ready and special attacks. They make the characters feel distinct and your team volition besides offer shouts of encouragement to whoever is taking the lead that add actress charm to the fights.

While it's easy to lean on Joker, the protagonist of Persona 5, because he has the nigh diverse special attacks, alternating between characters will unlock new moves and allow you to unleash devastating attacks faster. It's likewise a good idea to utilise other characters to conserve Joker's resource in areas where y'all can't quickly return to the existent world. The combination forces you to have the strategy of the plow-based combats without making any one battle experience similar a slog. If you're stressed about having to brand real-time decisions, yous can decline the difficulty to easy while upping the challenge level will requite you a more traditional action RPG feel by forcing you to really care about evading attacks.

Persona five Strikers ditches the time management aspect of Persona 5 in its real world segments, just it replaces that content with incredibly charming explorations of cities throughout Japan. You'll bout local sights and consume your fashion through the country collecting recipes that Joker tin can cook to provide helpful items to the party and improve his relationships with the team, making them more powerful. This sort of game would make me dream of taking a holiday with my buddies at any time, merely during the COVID-19 pandemic, it produces an extremely powerful sense of longing.

What I don't like near Persona 5 Strikers

Persona 5 Strikers Futaba Typical Fetch Quest Source: Windows Central

The ane complaint I take about the game is that it can exist a scrap repetitive. Each dungeon is extended by forcing yous to achieves some ready of objectives before you tin can progress, a trope amusingly lampshaded in the second Jail which is packed with references to manga and video games.

That attribute is even worse in the game's Requests, tasks that take you back to Jails y'all previously cleared to replay boss fights or kill some number of enemies in guild to get a reward. While some of these can just exist ignored, others are pretty necessary to complete in order to unlock new gear and power for your political party.

Luckily in that location'south a silver lining to the requests in that they're occassionaly extremely charming. Your companions volition also ask you to help them in the real globe with things as simple as finding the best dessert in a city which involves eavesdropping on conversations to larn a secret password to secure a legendary parfait.

Should you buy Persona 5 Strikers?

Persona 5 Strikers Morgana And Sophie Freezing Source: Windows Cardinal

If you've played and enjoyed Persona 5, or really any other Persona game, picking up Persona 5 Strikers is a no-brainer. The motility from fully turn-based to a hybrid action system might be a bit jarring, only the mechanics have been well translated to provide thrilling combats that give you lot the feel of making use of the full range of powers and strategies found in the core games.

Even if you lot haven't played a Persona game earlier, the shorter duration and removal of fourth dimension-direction pressures in Persona 5 Strikers makes information technology a potent indicate of entry. Getting to know the charming characters and watching them attempt to help fifty-fifty the people they're fighting will give you an thought of why this is one of the virtually beloved RPG franchises ever. It's as well the closest you're likely to get to a succulent and relaxing route trip around Nihon anytime soon.