Persona 5 Tactica Hands-On Preview (PS5) – Sleek and Stylist Strategies
Persona 5 Tactica Hands-On Preview (PS5) – Persona as a franchise has graduated from a niche to a mainstay RPG franchise in the wider gaming industry, and Persona 5 Tactica marks yet another outing for the Phantom Thieves into a new genre of RPG, being strategy.
Taking the trademark style and attitude of the original game, Persona 5 Tactica offers a new take on these familiar faces as they break into new territory for both themselves and players who have been with the Phantom Thieves for years.
This new adventure (at least in the early hours) manages to take the very best from the original story and characters and place them into new scenarios that have left me wanting to dive into battle after battle to see how this new tale will unfold.
Persona 5 Tactica Hands-On Preview (PS5) – Sleek and Stylish Strategies
Familiar Faces
Persona 5 Tactica wastes no time in thrusting familiar players back into the exploits of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts and very quickly tears them from their familiar lives in Tokyo.
Very quickly they’re thrown into a new conflict with new mysterious allies and enemies.
These mysteries form the core of the narrative in Persona 5 Tactica and are compelling in their own right.
Seeing how characters react to these new scenarios has been a joy of every Persona 5 spin-off thus far and Tactica is absolutely no different in this regard.
Strategic Style
Persona 5 Tactica forgoes the time management systems of the original game and instead puts all the spotlight on the new strategy gameplay that lies at the core of this new entry.
By taking familiar elements such as Persona abilities and All-Out Attacks, ATLUS has created a system that feels approachable to players who may not have encountered robust strategy RPGs before.
Each member of the Phantom Thieves has a unique skillset that suits them to specific situations and it falls to the player to decide where would be best to use them.
This extends to elemental skills that can shift enemies around or inflict status ailments.
Each battle demands a different approach and while early battles have smaller scopes, and I look forward to seeing how these elements evolve.
A Chibi Uprising
The visual style of Persona 5 Tactica is bound to be a talking point amongst those who choose to play it, and I can safely say that I enjoy it as a change of flavour from the original game.
ATLUS has chosen an art style that channels their handheld efforts, in their dungeon-crawling Persona Q series of games. This style holds the important character details from their original experiences while bringing a new interpretation that allows for some fantastic expression.
Animations throughout both animated and in-engine cutscenes are fantastic and are entertaining to see unfold. Character portraits are also expressive. I wonder if emotional moments down the line might be dampened by these lighter appearances but I’ve yet to be let down.
Layers Upon Layers
Persona 5 Tactica also returns the series staple Velvet Room to the table and the option to create new abilities for your party members. This system on top of brand new skill trees to work through greatly expand the freedom of player expression.
I look forward to seeing where these Persona fusions and skill trees lead me into later parts of the game, but each promises to introduce layers of much-needed complexity to an easily understood and usable system, that will be well appreciated by genre veterans.
This feeling of ease with depth permeates the opening hours of Persona 5 Tactica; ATLUS has created a strategy RPG that appeals to both genre experts as well as those who may be diving into their first strategy RPG.
While I have yet to see the combat truly spread its wings and soar to great heights, there are solid foundations here to see this happen.
Persona 5 Tactica is available on PS5 and PS4 on November 17, 2023.
Preview opportunity kindly provided by the publisher.
