Persona 5 Tactica (Nintendo Switch) Review

Persona 5 is definitely one of the coolest games out there - in more ways than one. The laid-back protagonist and his friends fighting for what's right in style, it all comes together beautifully. Persona 5 Tactica sees the main cast from the original title in a mysterious side story, and the intrigue starts right away. Being transported into a mysterious world, the crew doesn't really understand where they are or what's going on, but act on instinct when deciding to fight their way through the first battle they encounter. The style for this game is vastly different to the Persona-ish turn-based battle system Persona veterans are used to. Instead, as the title suggests, the focus is on tactical gameplay, slightly reminiscent of the Fire Emblem series but definitely with its own twists. Each character has melee attacks and ranged attacks through different types of weapons, and magic attacks through their Persona.

The maximum number of active members in a team is 3 (plus 1 on occasion), and despite being very tactical, battles feel surprisingly engaging and active. There are different ways to use the environment as an advantage, and the learning curve to pick up on these skills and tricks isn't too steep, making for an enjoyable gameplay overall. Through great animation work of characters and enemies alike, battles always feel alive and dynamic, which is surprisingly important for a tactical title.

The Persona system is a little different to the original, where Joker is no longer able to use a number of personas. Rather, every character (except the guest character) is able to equip one caught or fused Persona other than their own, granting each character one more extra skill. In other words, it is important to carefully choose with which characters to commence battle to allow for the best strategy.

Where the game lacks a bit is the exploration angle, which is non-existent. Between the battles, the crew only hangs out in a saferoom. There are the occasional cutscenes, all in the new chibi-style the game is set it, but other than that there are a lot of long conversations to read through. The majority is voice-acted, and well done, however there is still a lot of 'sitting still' - not ideal for action lovers.

On the other hand, the story is incredibly intriguing, and the different use of Personas does make for an interesting twist. The characters are compelling, including the newcomers, and the music is as cool as expected. There are some very diverse tactical side missions that require very specific criteria to be fulfilled during battle, and these can be true brain teasers! Generally, some of the battles can be a bit tricky, but luckily there is a difficulty setting readily available, and the harder battles make for some good puzzles. Persona 5 Tactica runs reasonably well on Nintendo Switch, albeit with long loading times and the occasional lag during transition. It is a very good title to play in handheld-mode though.