Persona 5 Strikers

This game is currently in the Humble Choice for October 2024, and this is part of my coverage of the bundle. If you are interested in the game and it's before November 5th, 2024, consider picking up the game as part of the current monthly bundle.
It’s Persona Warriors.
This game was made by the Persona team, as well as Omega Force, which is better known as Koei Tecmo’s team that does the Dynasty Warriors titles and pretty much all the Musou games, so what is this one? Well, it’s either a Persona game that has combat very similar to Musou titles with large battlefields and tons of enemies, or a Musou game with a lot of RPG elements and non Musou gameplay.
Truthfully, I think the former is correct. This is a Persona game telling more Persona tier stories. You don’t choose a level, instead there’s an obscenely long opening, like every Persona game, and there’s a lot of time spent outside the dungeon. The dating system isn’t here, but this title is still heavily based on Persona 5.
Which is also potentially a downside. You totally can start here if you want to skip the first game, but there’s a hundred hour game that comes before this that’s a typical JRPG. If you’ve played that and want to see more of those characters, then this exists. But there are, of course, spoilers, even just who is in the cast is likely a spoiler for Persona 5.
Pick this up if you want another Persona 5 story, or you just want every Warrior game. I like Persona, but I have this because it’s Omega Force, and I’m very happy with that. It’s not a Dynasty Warriors game, in the same way Hyrule Warriors wasn’t a Dynasty Warriors game, it’s a merging of the two franchises, and that makes it something unique.
Also, this is like a 40 hour title, so be prepared. This will take a long time, especially if you go through all the dialogue.
If you enjoyed this review or want to know what I think of other games in the bundle, check out the full review on or subscribe to my Youtube channel:

There’s jiggle physics.
They jiggle JUST enough to be impactful without being over the top.
10/10
Love to see that Joker from Smash Bros finally got his own game!
Ryuji said f**k.
We did it boys, We ended censorship!
There's just a certain feel and style that Persona games have that you just don't find anywhere else. Strikers is amazing, my only regret was not playing it earlier.
A road trip with the gang, what’s not to like? For reference, this game is a sequel to both Vanilla and Royal which is why Royal's own ending resets itself to align with the vanilla ending. In regards to Strikers all the core aspects that were in Persona 5 Royal's story (heavy character investment and distinct core themes) are there and accounted for in Strikers. It's got characters you learn to care about, a story that will move your heart and a soundtrack that is absolute sex to the ears.
The characters have definitely matured from P5. The tone of Strikers is much more lighthearted and comedic, since the Phantom Thieves aren't hated anymore, and Joker in particular is no longer burdened by his criminal record. The new characters are lovable--Sophia in particular. She's super precious, with an adorable design and even cuter voice. Zenkichi is also a fu*king dork. There's also a moment where you word-for-word get to call Futaba adorable, so that's a win in my book. Strikers works really well as a 'more time with the Phantom Thieves' experience. The usage of the summer vacation is really well-done for bond building, all characters who lacked screen time in 5/R (Haru especially) get their due justice in this one, and the new game employs its new characters really well. I'll tell you right away though that the third semester characters are not mentioned at all since the game is a direct sequel to 5 Vanilla, so if that influences you, be aware.
In regards to the gameplay though Strikers is very much it's own beast it mixes a hack and slash formula, with Persona 5's core mechanics to make a very thrilling action RPG to create a fast paced and thrilling experience. However, do NOT go into Strikers thinking it is like a musou, because if you charge into enemies willy-nilly you will get shredded by the games mini-bosses... It requires you to be attentive to all details of what's going on in the screen, which, if it isn't your thing, easy mode is always there for you. Strikers is a game that encourages and rewards you for developing skill and finnesse. I had a hard time on my first run, but nowadays Strikers is the game I replay most often because it's the most fun to speed run. However, it's a game that punishes you for not preparing well from the start, especially when it comes to your inventory, being much less forgiving about it and date limits than 5/R were.
Strikers was such a huge stress reliever too. I didn't have to worry about, confidants, deadlines, social stats, bad endings, maxing out a specific characters confidant before a deadline just to unlock some bonus chapter that had nothing to with the original story and no romance. There's only one objective: beat the game, that's it. Also Sophia & Zenkichi are perfect examples of new characters done right. They got their own game, custom made songs, they're friends with all the Thieves and not just Ren, they actually consider themselves Thieves and you get to keep them for new game+.
I was just so happy to spend more time with the characters. I played the whole game with a smile. I prefer the turn based combat, but I eventually got used to the Strikers combat. The new characters are just as likeable as the old ones. And I enjoyed seeing the gang in new settings. I think any fan of Persona would love Strikers. I also loved how they fleshed out the villains more and made them more sympathetic because they’re meant to be victims of circumstance and societal issues rather than scumbags to be taken down and thrown in jail.
The game definitely feels like a spin off and it's a more streamlined experience given that fact. Over all though, it's a great game. I personally don't think it comes close to P5/P5R on pretty much all fronts, but tbh it doesn't have to. It was great just seeing the characters again, and going on another adventure with them. There are some fantastic moments in this game that you don't want to miss out on. Also, the soundtrack is incredible, but that's to be expected from this series. All that is to say... if you love Persona 5 vanilla or Royal... you're going to love Strikers.
10/10

If you loved the Phantom Thieves so much you just need another adventure with them, Strikers will do the job just fine. it's a sequel story with hack&slash gameplay that manages to translate some of the mechanics of the original P5 to action combat in a fun way. However, there are plenty of problems with this title and it really feels like a lower production qualiity product. Which it is, which is fine for a (sequel) spin-off, but it does get in the way of fun sometimes.

First off, there is no time management aspect at all. You're on a set schedule and there is no way to run out of time. If you're facing any difficulty during the game, you can always get back to the car, heal up and get back into the action. If you were looking for the time-limited life-sim gameplay of Persona games, you can turn back now. There are no Social Links, let alone any dating elements. You can do optional Bond scenes which are a far cry from the Confidants.

The introduction to the combat can be overwhelming. The game constantly throws new info at you and gives you almost all the playable characters very early on. I recommend taking a time for yourself to play around with available Phantom Thieves, pick your favorites and learn to use them before rushing into the story. However, once you figure out the basics, the game actually does a decent job of incorporating Persona mechanics. You can chill on the Easy difficulty if you just care about the story or beat the game on Hard and then move onto Merciless if you want to test yourself.

Strikers messes up Persona fusion pretty badly though. The cast of demons is limited, which is understandable, but the actual act of fusing up new demons feels very restricting. Eventually you're going to need to grind up levels of old demons if you want to unlock a new Persona to use. This made engaging with the mechanic a chore, completely unlike the addicting nature of sitting in the Velvet Room and fusing stuff in the original P5.

The story feels like a rehash of most of the story beats of Persona 5. While sometimes Strikers uses this as an opportunity to show how the Thieves have matured, a lot of the time the story will just feel like the same thing all over again. Most of the old characters have their moments, especially Haru, who was poorly treated in the original. The new additions to the cast are surprisingly good and feel right at home with the OGs.

The game was developed by another studio and used a different engine, which worked well for the action gameplay, but exploration in city areas was sometimes very clunky. Joker could not sprint and navigating familiar areas like Leblanc felt like a cheaper experience. The UI, while definitely stylish, did not feel as smooth to click through. You often had to wait for the animations to play out before being able to move to another window, meanwhile in the original game, you could move through the menus pretty quickly if you remembered your way around the UI.

Lastly, grinding the Bond level is a giant chore. You can either farm the same thing on Merciless, replay the story or use repeatable spots which give small Bond boosts. All of which will bore you eventually. It's decent for mindless playing while listening to a podcast or whatever else you prefer.

in summary, if you want more Phantom Thieves, get the game on a discount and just beat the story.

It's like Persona 5 with the vim taken out. It's a fun time, make no mistake. But man, this game just made me realize how much social links carried P5. Taking all those character interactions out of the mix and not really replacing them with anything makes for a game that's pretty cute for 10 hours but starts to get a bit old after that. If you liked Persona 5, you'll probably like this too - The combat is plenty fun and the story isn't awful by any means. Just be prepared for when things slow down in the middle.

Persona 5 Strikers is an action RPG which continues the story of Persona 5 Royal, where the Phantom Thieves reunite to face a new threat involving a suspicious Artificial Intelligence mobile phone app, while taking a summer road trip to several Japanese cities.

I’m still relatively new to the Persona franchise, having only previously played Royal earlier this year, although I plan to play more games developed by Atlus in the future.

Gameplay (medium quality)

• While Royal featured a typical JRPG style turn based combat system, Strikers uses a real time with pause system instead. You’ll choose a party of 4 characters and can take direct control of any character. Each member of the Phantom Thieves can perform magical attacks focused on a different type of elemental damage, and the gang’s leader Joker can switch between multiple personas, giving him access to every type of magic.

• While exploring each dungeon in the metaverse (in Strikers they’re called “jails” instead of “palaces”, but they’re functionally the same), you’ll have to defeat shadows which take the form of various monsters, each having their own elemental strengths and weaknesses. You can run around the battle arenas using melee attacks to take out weaker enemies, but ideally you’ll want to use magic attacks to target stronger enemies’ weaknesses, making them vulnerable to powerful all out attacks. Most magic attacks can hit multiple enemies, and the action will pause while you select a spell and aim at the desired area.

• I wouldn’t say the combat system is bad, but I personally didn’t really enjoy it. Royal’s turn based system was much better and more tactical. In Strikers, most fights feel really chaotic, with large numbers of enemies and lots of magical effects on screen, making it hard to see what is actually happening, so I felt like the only way I could consistently avoid enemy attacks was to frequently mash the dodge button between my own attacks.

• SP management is also a constant problem. Because of the high volume of enemies, you can very easily burn through all of a character’s SP (used to activate magic attacks) in a couple of fights. Meanwhile, bosses have huge health bars, and mini-bosses seem to have infinitely respawning waves of minions. You’ll definitely need to buy as many SP restoring items as possible from shops.

• Strikers has less side activities than Royal. Each city you visit is really just a couple of streets with a few shops, and no significant NPCs or side quests. Strikers’ equivalent of side quests mostly involve returning to previously completed jails to kill certain enemy types or collect junk items, to unlock new weapons and upgrades. On the plus side, at least it won’t take forever to complete this game (I mostly enjoyed Royal, but I eventually felt that it was a bit too long and bloated).

Story (high quality)

• Story is well written, although several of the jails and bosses have similar themes to those found in Royal.

• The Phantom Thieves, including a couple of new allies, are interesting characters.

• English voice acting is good for the whole cast.

• I strongly recommend playing Royal first, because the story assumes the player is already familiar with who the Phantom Thieves are, how the multiverse works, and other events which took place during the previous game.

Technical (high quality)

• It took me 42 hours to complete the story.

• I didn’t have any problems with bugs, crashes or framerate.

• Controls worked well on my Xbox 360 gamepad.

Recommendation

Persona 5 Strikers is a good game, but because of its strong focus on story, I’d only recommend it to fans of Persona 5 Royal who want another adventure with the Phantom Thieves. As this is an older game, you should be able to pick it up for a big discount on a sale.

I doubt anyone who finish this game would regret it, more than just afterstory of p5, but more like p5 part 2, the story is on the same awesome level, just take some time to get used to the gameplay, it's super fun.

Worth it when on Sale. Hard to recommend when full price, but if you just finished Persona 5 and loved the characters and story, this game is a must have.