Persona 5 Strikers Review - Visiting Old Friends

Persona 5 Strikers is just one of those games that I didn’t think was necessary. With Persona 5 leaving on a high note, wrapping up nicely and being considered as one of the best JRPGs to come out in it’s generation, I wondered what I’ll get out of this hack and slash action RPG. After spending nearly 50 hours to reach its conclusion, I found out that aside from the revamped combat, they didn’t drastically change the overall formula, and that’s okay. What we have here is more of what we love from the original, trimmed down to focus on this road trip across different cities in Japan, changing hearts along the way. 

Persona 5 Strikers is set 4 months after the events of the original game and the story was established in a way that you don’t necessarily need to play the original game to fully understand the overall story. Strikers could even entice newcomers to play the original game, in order to get more context about the bond with each character that makes the Phantom Thieves a likeable bunch. 

The Phantom Thieves are back, but also on vacation

Summer vacation has kicked in and Joker, the main protagonist in the series, heads back to Tokyo to reunite with the rest of the Phantom Thieves which eventually led them to plan a vacation trip. As they prepare for the vacation, they find themselves able to enter the metaverse once again with unusual behaviors reported in various cities. This leads the gang to revive the phantom Thieves, and so their road trip has become not only a vacation to relax before going back to real life responsibilities, but to also change the hearts of those that manipulate people through their desires. 

It’s silly really, it felt like I was watching an anime with a series of story arcs, with an overall plot that slowly unravels as you progress through the game. But it’s an entertaining one as the characters that compose of the Phantom Thieves continue to entertain in various story elements, either during a serious moment in a case to how each one interacts with one another - teasing, laughing, really showing how they’ve grown to be good friends. Since I played Persona 5, experiencing these moments were a treat and fans would get a kick out of these interactions. 

Persona 5 Strikers has a similar formula to Persona 5 for each main story arc but is more direct as this time we don’t have to worry about Joker’s grades in school, or get a job to earn some extra cash. The distractions are less and it focuses more on it’s main story, it’s characters, and most importantly the combat, which is now in real-time as opposed to the turn-based system found in the original game. The overall game is still a dialogue-heavy game but it has a better balance between story and dungeon crawling compared to the original. 

The combat system that works best

The moment I had full control of Joker in combat, it was giving me that Dynasty Warriors vibe as it’s an action RPG with your group going against waves of enemies in a limited space. It’s a chaotic hack and slash that slowly grew on me as I found myself easily switching between characters with ease to best abuse each enemy weak point and interact with certain environments to further get an upper hand in battle. It was satisfying to a point that I found myself just running into enemies even when it’s not necessary.

The concept of how Personas work here is exactly like the original game. Each playable character has a customizable persona that has a strong affinity to a specific element, with Joker becoming the jack of all trades as he’s able to wield multiple personas simultaneously. This is the Pokémon part of the game as I’m able to mix certain personas to make new and stronger ones, level them up, and customize what skills they can use. It won’t take long for newcomers to fully understand the system and it was fun to swap different personas and characters to cater to who I'm up against. 

The constant issue during combat though was the painful camera angles, as it feels like you are fighting the enemies and fighting to position the perfect angle to get the best view of the situation. Fighting narrow corridors can be a pain and prompting a character to use a spell triggers the camera to quickly relocate where the character is facing the moment you press the button. It took a while to get used to but every now and then I’ll find myself questioning where exactly am I. 

A treat for the eyes and the ears 

The combat and character progression menu is accompanied by a slick UI, constantly reminding you that this is a Persona 5 game with it’s signature dominant color of black and red. Showtime animations are fantastic and really pop when they happen, and notifications are laid out clearly through the chaotic combat to inform the player of interactable environments and opportunities to deal additional damage. 

Atlus properly feeds the right amount of information during combat because there’s so much going on that proper audio and visual cues are placed to let players properly identify, for example, where a spell is being cast or where you should not be to avoid an attack.

The game’s menu, where you organize your items and customize your party, have a neat animated transition between different menus that were great at the start but were simply in the way once you’ve gone through the menu multiple times. To quickly equip new gear will require me to go through the same transition over and over to organize your items and party, something I wished would take just a few seconds to go back into the action quicly. 

And finally, you can’t talk about a Persona 5 game without mentioning the game’s soundtrack . The one element that not only expresses the Persona 5 series’ personality and tone but is pleasing to the ears that you wouldn’t mind to listen to it on repeat. Persona 5 Strikers doesn’t disappoint as it has a good mix of jazz and hard rock tracks that just hits the spot and makes you want to jam when playing. The combat music, you strolling through Kyoto streets, every track composed for Strikers were fantastic. I highly recommend playing it with headphones as each location and scene were carefully thought out by Persona 5 composer Atsushi Kitajoh and the rest of the music team at Atlus. 

Persona 5 Strikers is easier to swallow compared to the long-winded original. The hack and slash, Dynasty Warriors-like combat felt more fitting for Persona 5 as a whole, and the Phantom Thieves are a cool bunch that it wouldn’t be so bad if Atlus stretches out more adventures in the future. They’ve clearly shown that they are capable of delivering a new and entertaining experience without ruining what made Persona 5 beloved by many since it launched back in 2016. 

---

9/10

---

Highlights

(+) Phantom Thieves are a likeable bunch of characters 

(+) Action RPG combat fits the Persona 5 formula perfectly

(+) Soundtrack and UI design that’s just as good as the ones found in original game

(-) Camera angles can be frustrating during combat

(+/-) Menu transitions were cool at the start but slowly was in the way of organizing your party

What I’ve Played

• It took me 48 hours to finish Persona 5 Strikers

• Did a good amount of requests (side quests)

• Reached bond level 43

• Tried out new requests that popped up after completing the game

[This review is based on a PS4 review code provided by Epicsoft.]

---