Warning! The following contains minor spoilers for Persona 5 Strikers.
Just a few months after getting our first look at the upcoming Persona 5 Strikers, Atlus was nice enough to give CBR a hands-on preview of the forthcoming Musou title. Rather than a sequel, the new title is a follow-up to 2016's Persona 5, a JRPG that topped many game of the year lists at the time and did so again with last year's Persona 5 Royal re-release.
Strikers is a starkly different iteration of the franchise, translating the Phantom Strikers into the Musou format with a surprising degree of success. We were able to play the game's first major missions in Shibuya and were pleasantly surprised with how well the game handles.
Strikers is still a few months off from a release, so we'll discuss it without talking too much about the plot. Several months after the events of Persona 5, Joker returns to Shibuya to visit his friends over summer vacation. The trip is sidetracked by the discovery of EMMA, a social networking app that has a mysterious connection to the Metaverse and a pop star who has stolen the desires of Shibuya's citizens.
Persona works shockingly well as a Musou, balancing the story and combat deftly. Actual combat encounters are short bursts that can be either made more manageable by an ambush or avoided altogether with stealth. In between the combat, though, are Persona's trademark dense story elements. There's a lot of story happening here; fortunately, the game does an excellent job of keeping you up to speed if you skipped Persona 5 while not bogging you down with details if you're familiar.
There's just enough changed from Persona 5's formula to keep you on your toes while still feeling familiar with the world. Palaces are a thing of the past; now, the Phantom Thieves are faced with Jails, and Shibuya's will keep you on your toes. Conquering a Jail requires a full-on, multistep infiltration. First, we had to find three power sources to shut down a series of spotlights to allow us to sneak in, followed by finding our way around a central tower. The final task involved a journey to the real world to find a hidden room, wherein a key to the Jail's ultimate goal -- the physical manifestation of Alice's victims' Desires -- was found in a heartbreaking memory.
We dove into the Nintendo Switch release for our hands-on time with the game, primarily in handheld mode. And honestly, it felt great. Because of how the Jail segments are structured, exploring them in short bursts was ideal, and it always felt like it was easy to escape the Jail without losing progress. However, the handheld mode did prove problematic during some of the most hectic battles; the waves upon waves of dark-colored enemies, swarming in dark alleyways against heroes in dark clothing, made it difficult to keep track of battles at times. This issue was significantly less present when playing docked, though.
Musou seems to be the final step for all great franchises, but Persona 5 seems to mesh with the genre particularly well. The world is as slick and stylish as ever, and it feels like a natural progression. However, the game brings with it a staggering difficulty. You'll be relying heavily on consumable items and Persona skills to survive the various encounters, and even then, you'll be against the ropes.
Perhaps this is best exemplified by the final boss fight of Shibuya. As the Phantom Thieves infiltrate Alice's jail to recapture the stolen Desires, she transforms into a twisted version of herself. The Shadow version of Alice is no pushover, and after a few losses, she sent us scouring Shibuya for healing items to survive the encounter. She was finally felled with some careful planning and thoughtful application of the game's multiple combat systems.
Speaking of the combat, you have so many methods of attacking beyond simple button mashing and combos. Not only do you have a host of spells at hand thanks to your Personas, but some spells will interact with each other and create devastating combo attacks. The game also boasts a Baton Pass system that encourages you to use all four Phantom Thieves in your party as a unit instead of just one. We were tempted initially to stick with Joker and let the AI take control of the other characters, but that was a road to defeat. You have to be aware of what your teammates are doing and choose your party in such a fashion that they complement each other in battle.
Using your party correctly is rewarding, though. Switching between them will help build your Showtime gauge faster, allowing for flashy special moves that can do huge damage or melt an enemy's defenses. Once those defenses are down, the path is open for the series' trademark All-Out Attack, but even these weren't much against Alice. The boss fights require patience above all else. Rushing in and trying to get big damage resulted in a party wipe every time, making Persona 5 Strikers one of the more thoughtful Musou-styled games we've ever played.
Persona 5 Strikers opening hours challenged us, but it felt good to conquer those challenges. It helped that the game held us in with our desire to see the story play out. If you were a fan of the Phantom Thieves, you'll be relieved to find them all here in top form, along with new characters. Atlus is poised to have a hell of a year stateside, thanks to US releases of Strikers, Shin Megami Tensei V and Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne HD Remaster. We'll have plenty more coverage on the title closer to release, but now it's safe to say that whether you're a fan of Persona 5 or just looking for a new story-driven Musou now that you're done with Hyrule Warriors, Persona 5 Strikers deserves a spot in your library.
Developed by Omega Force and P-Studio and published by Atlus, Persona 5 Strikers releases for Nintendo Switch, PS4 and PC February 23, 2021.
CBR was provided with a review copy of the game by the publisher.