You know when you're fighting the final boss, and you think you have them beat, only for them to summon a new form and put you through an even tougher battle? Whether this feels frustrating or rewarding is often less about how satisfying this boss phase itself is, and more about the context around it. In Persona 5 Tactica, it's not just one more form you have to take on with the final boss. Instead, it's about ten extra levels thrown in like sawdust in the meatloaf, stretching out a game that just won't end. I love Persona 5, and its self-made ecosystem of pseudosequels and spin-offs to fill the silence before Persona 6 arrives, but Tactica may be one game too far for the Phantom Thieves.

Tactica transports the turn-based Persona gameplay onto a battle-grid system, playing like Mario + Rabbids, Fire Emblem, or X-COM. The problem is, it's unsure if it wants to be an introduction to the genre, a middle-of-the-road entry, or an outside of the box experiment. Each level has three stars you can earn: one for beating the level, one for beating it in a set number of turns, and one for something else, like not getting anybody knocked out or using a special attack. Most of the time, I was getting all three on the first try, and it wasn't until the final slew of levels where actual tactics came into play that I found myself straining against the turn limit.

It's a fairly basic version of the genre at heart. Each character has their default Persona, and rather than Joker unlocking more, all of the Thieves can add one other Persona to theirs, swapping out as they level up, to unlock more attacks. A skill tree also allows the likes of Arsene to get stronger. But there's not much in the way of type-advantage, instead the status effects limit movement, or knock opponents out of cover. It means there's a limited difference between each character, and at least up until the midgame, you'll be focusing on guns most of the time anyway. The Phantom Thieves have always been armed, but the focus here makes it feel less like a Persona game than you'd want for what might be a goodbye to the team for real this time.

They’re armed, but not exactly dangerous. Tactica is heavily reliant on the cover mechanic, which means so long as you're next to a barrier, you're considered covered. That means if you run up to an enemy and shoot them in the face, if their back is against the wall they will count as being 'in cover' and your damage is limited. What you're supposed to do is give them a melee attack so they bounce off the wall, leaving them exposed for someone else to shoot. If you shoot an enemy not in cover you get an extra turn, which is why the game makes you work for it, but with mechanics so focused on movement, it can feel unfair that you're restricted for ambushing foes.

I have played Persona 5, Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, Persona 5 Royal, and Persona 5 Strikers. My favourite is Strikers and my least favourite is Dancing in Starlight, and Tactica slides in just ahead of it. The game took 19 hours to beat.

The crown jewel of this movement-based play is the Triple Threat, Tactica's answer to Persona 5's All-Out Attack, which is worth the price of admission. When you knock an enemy down, you can surround it in a triangle to deal huge damage. Early on, it's not that interesting - you have so few enemies on such a small map that all you're doing is killing off the downed enemy already on low health. Later on, however, you can plan ahead and send characters to far corners of the map and use an All-Out Attack to wipe out ten enemies at once. Lining one up successfully feels like you've finally unlocked the game's potential.

The one place Tactica stops and makes you think are in its Quests. There are Missions, which progress the story forward and must be completed to beat the story, then Quests, which are optional side challenges. The first one is mandatory as the game explains how they work, but the rest can be avoided entirely. They're by far the hardest part of the whole experience though, and the one that will most make you feel like you're playing a tactical RPG. Gameplay here is less broad than the simplified Fire Emblem/X-COM trappings of the main Missions, and instead hones in on what makes Tactica unique. The best one sees you use other characters to knock enemies out of cover in strategic patterns, so another new and entirely unique character can use the 'one more turn' to make their way across the map in a single move.

This character is Erina, a new Phantom Thief who arrives in Tactica. Except she's not quite a Phantom Thief, as she can't use a Persona. Toshiro, an adult politician, also shambles along with the cast. Narratively, these two are the stars, which is a strange choice for a game that exists to capitalise on the obvious popularity of Joker and the gang. Erina fits in well enough, and once Toshiro gets over his early few hours of constantly talking about Ann (canon age: 16) and her red latex catsuit, his story works.

As per the embargo, I can’t go into specifics narratively or mechanically beyond the first half of the game, but the maps change in ways that keep the often-repetitive gameplay feeling fresher.

The culmination of their tale (or what should be the culmination, except for that aforementioned second stage which is actually ten more levels) hits you in the emotional solar plexus, but my god does it take an age to get there. In between battles, we’re served a mix of animated cutscenes (great, but rare), voiced discussions (solid), and endless, soundless text-based conversations where characters take forever to make their point, occasionally forcing you to participate by making Joker answer a yes or no question with three options: 'yes', 'sure', and 'okay'.

I know Persona 5 itself is like this, but the key difference there is the writing is good, and the narrative keeps you invested. These conversations feel like playing Kingdom Hearts as a Disney fan watching beloved characters rabbit on about the power of friendship for 25 minutes then achieve nothing. You're not the real Queen Elsa, go away.

Persona 5 Tactica is undone by the fact it's unsure if it's putting the Persona twist on the tactical grid game, or using Persona characters to introduce newcomers to the genre. Maps and missions are repetitive, the more interesting elements that each Persona brings are sanded off, and there's an overreliance on basic gun and melee attacks that don't suit the Phantom Thieves at all. But when it clicks, there is an unmistakable charm about the Phantom Thieves themselves, and drawn-out though they may be, the epic scale of the bosses is a good shake-up for the genre. It's not the perfect goodbye of Strikers, but it is a sign that the sun should set on the Phantom Thieves in peace.

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Persona 5 Tactica

Tactical Systems 3.0/5 OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Avg: 77/100 Critics Rec: 67% Released November 17, 2023 ESRB T For Teen Due To Blood, Language, Partial Nudity, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence Developer(s) P-Studio Publisher(s) Atlus Engine Unity
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WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
PHYSICAL
Franchise Persona Platform(s) PC, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, Switch Expand Collapse Pros & Cons
  • Overall gameplay is solid, if not very Persona-y
  • Huge boss battles
  • Story eventually lands with a heavy blow
  • Even at 20 hours, feels a little too long
  • Repetitive enemy types
  • No room for Phantom Thieves to shine

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