Persona 5 Tactica is a 2023 tactical role-playing game created and released by Atlus. It is part of the Persona series, which belongs to the larger Megami Tensei franchise. The game takes place at the same time as the events of Persona 5 (2016). In this story, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts are sent to a different world filled with war and oppression. They join forces with a group of freedom fighters called the Rebel Corps to fight against enemy forces known as the Legionnaires. At the same time, they work to discover the true origins of this mysterious world. The game includes typical features of strategy role-playing games, such as movement on a grid, a system that matches weapons to characters, and turn-based battles. It also uses familiar elements from the Persona series, like summoning and combining Personas and using different types of elemental powers.
Atlus decided to make Persona 5 Tactica because they wanted to create a strategy role-playing game within the Persona series. They used their experience from making similar games before and connected the game’s style to the world of Persona 5.
Persona 5 Tactica was released on November 17, 2023, for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. A new story chapter called "Repaint Your Heart" was also released as downloadable content on the same day.
Gameplay
Persona 5 Tactica is a game where players use strategy to control a group of up to three characters on a map divided into squares or sections. Enemy units appear on this map, and players face them in turn-based battles. The characters players can take into battle include members of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts and Erina, the leader of the Rebel Corps. During battles, characters can hide behind objects to reduce or avoid damage. At any time while moving on the grid, characters can take actions or end their turn early to gain a helpful effect in the next turn. Characters can perform close-range physical attacks to push enemies across the grid. Gun attacks allow characters to strike enemies from a distance, and some characters can attack multiple enemies with one shot. The Phantom Thieves can summon their Personas during battles to use special abilities called Skills, which require Skill Points (SP). Like in Persona 5, Skills have different elemental types, but in Tactica, these elements can cause enemies to move in unique ways. If a character attacks an enemy not hiding, the enemy falls down, and the character gets an extra turn to choose a command. If at least one enemy is knocked down and surrounded by allies in a triangular shape on the grid, the player can use a special attack called "Triple Threat," which deals heavy damage to all enemies inside the triangle. Players can collect more Personas and assign them to characters as Sub-Personas to add new abilities. These Personas can be earned through battles or by combining multiple Personas together.
Plot
After defeating Yaldabaoth in Persona 5 (2016), the Phantom Thieves lose their Metaverse powers and meet at Cafe LeBlanc to prepare for their graduation from Shujin Academy. A news report on TV reveals that Toshiro Kasukabe, a famous politician and member of Japan’s National Diet, has disappeared, and his location remains unknown.
Suddenly, the group is transported to a Medieval European-style world called the Kingdom, ruled by a tyrant named Marie. Marie brainwashes most of the Phantom Thieves, forcing them to serve her. Joker and Morgana are nearly captured, but they are saved by Erina, the leader of a group called the Rebel Corps. Erina helps the group fight Marie and rescue Toshiro, who has lost his memories. They learn that Marie is actually Marie Anto, Toshiro’s controlling fiancé, who uses Toshiro to advance in society. Toshiro gains the courage to challenge Marie, leading to her defeat.
The group tries to return home but instead arrive in an Edo period-style Kingdom ruled by Lord Yoshiki, who appears calm but is actually Toshiro’s abusive father, Yoshiki Kasukabe, a corrupt politician. With the help of Yuki, the group defeats Yoshiki. They discover that Yuki is Toshiro’s deceased mother, who sacrifices herself to save Toshiro and defeat Yoshiki.
Next, the group enters a Kingdom modeled after Toshiro’s high school. They search for keys to return home and learn about Toshiro’s past with Eri Natsuhara, a fellow student council member. Eri and Toshiro exposed the crimes of their school’s vice-principal, Ichiro Nakabachi, but Nakabachi’s retaliation led to Eri being pushed onto train tracks. Eri survives but becomes emotionally broken. The group realizes that the Kingdom’s ruler is not Nakabachi but Shadow Toshiro, a version of Toshiro consumed by guilt over Eri’s suffering. Shadow Toshiro plans to destroy Erina, who resembles Eri. Toshiro remembers Eri’s words of encouragement and gains strength. Erina transforms into Ernesto, a Persona, and helps defeat Shadow Toshiro.
Shadow Toshiro’s defeat draws the attention of Salmael, a god-like tyrant who seeks to suppress Toshiro’s rebellion. Salmael offers the group a way home in exchange for their memories and Personas, but they refuse and defeat him. The group returns to the real world, where Toshiro has ended his political campaign and exposed his father’s and fiancé’s crimes in a press conference. He thanks the Phantom Thieves for their help and vows to rebuild society.
In a post-credits scene, Toshiro visits a hospital and reunites with Eri, who has recovered and is now using a cane.
Meanwhile, street artist Guernica paints protest art on government buildings. Joker, Goro Akechi, and Kasumi Yoshizawa investigate a mural of Joker’s Persona and are transported to an alternate urban world called The Streets. There, they meet Luca, who explains that Guernica, an activist, became violent after her artwork was destroyed. Guernica, controlled by her parrot Jerri, attacks the group but is weakened when she sees a piece of her artwork. Luca, who is actually Guernica’s long-deceased older sister, reminds Guernica of her original purpose: to fight for people. Guernica regains her strength, defeats Jerri, and returns to creating protest art. The trio loses their memories of the event, and Jerri disappears after speaking to her superior.
Development
Persona 5 Tactica was announced during the Xbox Games Showcase in June 2023. At the same time, Weekly Famitsu released a series of interviews with staff members working on the game. The first interview included the game's director, Naoya Maeda, producer Kazuhisa Wada, and business producer Atsushi Nomura. They discussed the reason for creating a Persona-themed strategy game. Wada mentioned that Tactica could "expand the possibilities of the series" and wanted to tell a new story using Persona 5 characters. Maeda explained that the game was designed to be easy for players who are not familiar with strategy role-playing games. He noted that battle grids help players see the strengths and weaknesses of allies and enemies clearly. Lyn Inaizumi, the vocalist for Persona 5, contributed new songs to the game's soundtrack. The music was composed by Toshiki Konishi, a member of the Atlus Sound Team. Konishi used similar lyrics and musical phrases throughout the soundtrack to make the songs feel connected. The battle music was created to be calm, so it would not distract players.
Wada explained that the idea to make Tactica came from the lack of a tactics-based game in the Persona series, even though Atlus had experience making similar games, such as Devil Survivor (2009) and Devil Survivor 2 (2011). Nomura agreed, saying that traits like stealth and observing enemies from high positions, which are part of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, fit well with strategy gameplay. He gave an example of a map with height differences between enemy and ally units. He said, "By moving characters directly, players can find spots that are hard to attack or easy to work with others. This helps players develop strategies naturally." Before finalizing character designs, the team used models from Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth (2019) for early testing. However, despite similarities to the Persona Q games, character designer Hanako Oribe said the decision to keep characters' original body proportions while emphasizing exaggerated hands and feet made the style look more like comic books. Director Naoya Maeda explained that the game's camera angle made standard proportions look like stick figures, which led to the character redesigns.
Release
Persona 5 Tactica was released on November 17, 2023, for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The game is also available on Xbox Game Pass. A standard edition and a Digital Deluxe Edition are offered. The Digital Deluxe Edition includes the base game, in-game extras, and immediate access to the day-one downloadable content (DLC) chapter titled "Repaint Your Heart." On November 8, 2023, the game was briefly released on the Steam marketplace but was removed about 20 minutes later. During this time, players who downloaded it could play the game fully.
The game launched with additional DLC. First print copies of Persona 5 Tactica included two extra Personas for Joker to use in battle: Izanagi Picaro and Orpheus Picaro. A new story chapter titled "Repaint Your Heart" was available from day one. This chapter can be purchased separately or included with the Digital Deluxe Edition. It features returning characters Goro Akechi and Kasumi Yoshizawa from Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal, as well as new battle features.
Reception
Persona 5 Tactica received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to the review aggregator website Metacritic.
Reviewers mostly praised the game's themes of fighting against unfair control. However, Polygon and RPGFan noted that the way the game was made felt like "choosing not to take big risks" and "feeling empty or not meaningful," respectively.
Between November 13 and November 19, 2023, the game sold at least about 49,928 copies in physical form in Japan.