Considering the widespread popularity of the Persona 5 games and the various spin-offs in different genres, the arrival of Persona 5 Tactica was inevitable. While this isn't the first foray of the Shin Megami Tensei series into the tactical RPG genre—both Devil Survivor games on NDS were among my personal favorites—the game brings its own unique mechanics. Despite its enjoyable battles and engaging plot, there's room for improvement in certain aspects, particularly how the iconic Personas are featured in the game.

Taking place in the middle of the story in Persona 5, P5T transports us into a different kind of Metaverse. Instead of Palaces, the storyline unfolds across various Kingdoms, each governed by authoritative figures with twisted views of their enemies. Having played multiple Persona games, I’m still amazed by how P-Studio could skillfully portrays dark themes with humor. Like other works in the series, the story depicted in this game occasionally prompts profound self-reflection and societal contemplation, providing a genuine reflection of the dark realities of society.

The game also introduces a delightful shift in art style, with everyone now sporting a chibi-like look that seems to have drawn inspiration from Morgana's Metaverse form. Funny enough, Morgana himself remains unchanged in appearance. The series' vocalist, Lyn Inaizumi, makes a comeback, lending her voice to the game's captivating theme song, "Revolution in Your Heart," composed by Toshiki Konishi—the same composer behind some of the tracks in Persona 5 and its spin-offs.

In terms of gameplay, P5T adds a distinctive and enjoyable twist to its tactical battles. The primary focus is on taking cover to greatly reduce the damage we receive, at the same time forcing enemies out of cover to unleash powerful blows on them. A crucial combat feature is the Triple Threat attack, much simlar to All-Out Attack from other Persona games. To trigger Triple Threat, we have to form a triangle with all three of our deployed characters, enabling them to launch a powerful attack that could possibly wipe out all enemies caught in between.

Of course, such a devastating attack comes with its own preconditions, as only a character that is on 1-More is able to launch a Triple Threat. For those who don’t know, in the Persona series, 1-More represents an additional turn granted to a character (both allies and enemies) who have struck the weaknesses of their opponent. It can be triggered multiple times as long as different enemies' weaknesses are targeted each time (yes, not just 1-More). In P5T, 1-More still provides an extra turn, but with the concept of "weaknesses" now obsolete, it activates when we strike an out-of-cover enemy instead.

Now that you understand the significance of taking cover in P5T, let's delve into how the game enables us to displace enemies from cover. Skills play a crucial role here, with each elemental skill bringing its own unique crowd control mechanics. For instance, Wind skills can blow enemies a few tiles away, while Force skills pull enemies to the center, much like a gravity spell. Beyond Skills, basic melee attacks also push the target back a few tiles, with the attacking character occupying the tile of its target instead. Although the ranged attacks of each character may seem less impactful compared to Skills and melee attacks, as they don't inflict substantial damage and typically lack extra effects, they still prove useful as a means to initiate a takedown for the 1-More turn.

These battle features reveal an intriguing gameplay design where the positioning of each character and the manipulation of enemies' positions are important—way more important than the damage of each individual attack. In P5T, it’s more about going for 1-Mores to line our squad up for the powerful Triple Threat attack, aiming to take all enemies out at once. Additionally, the game's moderately-sized maps compared to other tactical RPGs, plus the Triple Threat feature capable of unleashing a powerful attack over a large area, contribute to battles that usually wouldn’t last more than 10 minutes, which is notably faster than many mainstream tactical RPGs. To balance game length, the game introduces numerous battles, presenting a variety of scenarios that make each encounter enjoyable, engaging, and distinct.

Departing from its traditional JRPG format, P5T adopts visual novel-style narratives and preparation screens before battles, akin to the gameplay of numerous other tactical RPGs. While I appreciate the inclusion of voiced dialogues for the main plot, particularly enjoying the voice of my favorite voice actress, Rie Takahashi, who voices Erina, one of the new characters, there are moments when the dialogues feel a bit lengthy. Some dialogues also feel like fillers that tend to drag the game out more than necessary.

This becomes particularly evident during Talks, a gameplay feature centered on interactions between characters related to upcoming missions or casual moments. While some are genuinely intriguing, such as being able to imagine being married to a chosen character, others are easily skippable as they don't impact the main plot's progression. Although reading these dialogues does grant invaluable skill points, the absence of voiced lines often leads me to reflexively skip them by button-smashing.

In contrast, my preferred feature in the Prep menu is Quest that offers various side-battles that require us to achieve objectives with specific restrictions, like "defeat all enemies within 1 turn" or "reach the objective within 3 turns". I very much enjoy the strategic aspect of planning my moves carefully to accomplish these objectives, as a single misstep can jeopardize the entire mission. These challenges truly capture the essence of the game's battle mechanics, putting our knowledge to the test to earn substantial rewards in the form of skill points.

When it comes to character customization, only ranged weapons are swappable. Each weapon provides varying damage and range options to suit individual preferences. Melee damage, on the other hand, increases with the Phantom Thieves' squad level that is shared across all characters. Each Phantom Thief, aligned with their main Persona, possesses a skill of a unique element, such as Ann's Fire and Ryuji's Elec, which can be enhanced by expending skill points in the Skill Tree section. It's worth noting that previously allocated Skill Points can be reverted and reallocated to other skills each time we’re given access to the Skill Tree. This flexibility allows us to adapt our loadout for each upcoming encounter.

A Persona game wouldn't be complete without the fusion and collection of Personas, right? In P5T, apart from the usual fusion mechanics, there's a rare twist where every character, not just the protagonist, can equip a sub-Persona, providing additional combat stats and skills. Each Persona has one default skill and an extra skill inherited from its fusion materials, enabling each character to bring two additional skills into the battlefield.

Unfortunately, with gameplay drifting away from the series’ staple offensive and defensive weakness mechanisms, the role that Personas play in combat are now less significant. Beside the stat bonuses, the extra Skills are indeed “extra” as they only offer extra additional crowd control or support options, which all characters already have at least one of their own. The diminished roles of Personas in this game is also especially noticeable when I had to decide which Personas to bring to the battlefield. No longer have to worry about defensive weaknesses, I felt like it won’t much affect my game even if my characters equip a random Persona, as long as there’s the bonus stats and skills that are not already possessed.

Adding to the disappointment is the fact that sub-Personas have zero animation during battles, as the game will show the main Persona’s animation even when using the skills of sub-Personas. Consequently, regardless of how impressive our Personas may seem, it’s sad that wecan only appreciate them in the Prep screen. While exploring different character and Persona combinations can be enjoyable, it's somewhat disheartening to observe Personas playing more of a background role in this game.

Furthermore, despite the pivotal role the Cover mechanism plays in gameplay, there is still room for improvement, particularly in terms of balancing. Firstly, most enemy minions lack the inherent ability to dislodge us from cover. With units resistant to all attacks behind covers and the enemies lacking surprises, the game becomes easier than intended, even on harder difficulty settings, as long as we position ourselves safely enough. Moreover, it's perplexing that we can even resist attacks from our back as long as we stay behind covers. While the game's battles are enjoyable, the overpowered Cover mechanism, coupled with the underutilized Personas, detracts some fun from the equation.

As a fan of both the Persona series and tactical RPGs, it’s genuinely exciting to witness P-Studio's attempt to blend these two elements in Persona 5 Tactica. However, the current gameplay might disappoint Persona fans who relish the collection and fusion of their ideal and strongest Personas. I believe the game could take a more ambitious approach with the Persona feature, perhaps allowing them to entirely alter a character's skills rather than just providing added bonuses. It’s not to say the I haven’t enjoy the game though—the humorous yet thought-provoking story and the fast-paced, satisfying battles contribute to an enjoyable experience. The game's straightforward battle systems and streamlined customizations also make it an excellent entry-level tactical RPG. In my opinion, while it might not cater to all Persona fans, those who appreciate tactical RPGs should definitely give it a try.

And that concludes Lluvia’s review of Persona 5 Tactica on PC (Steam).

The game is now available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch, and PC, as well as via Xbox Game Pass.