Persona 5 Tactica preview: The next evolution of X-Com tactical gameplay is here

During SEGA’s Summer Preview, I also spent time with the upcoming Persona 5 Tactica. Across two separate portions of the game, I learned more about how it plays and a little of the story. I got a good look at the visual fidelity of the game. It’s important to note that this was a preview build, so there were some minor glitches. Unlike P3R, I had a few problems with the graphics and audio, but that’s the nature of early game builds.

Persona 5 Tactica felt amazing, though. It reminded me a great deal of X-Com and Mario + Rabbids. However, they also built upon the success of the other games in the genre. There’s still quite a bit of time until this game comes out, but it’s doing something fresh with the Persona 5 story.

---

Persona 5 Tactica adds new features to classic X-Com gameplay

Persona 5 Tactica takes up where P5 leaves off (Image via SEGA)

Persona 5 Tactica takes place at the end of the original Persona 5 story. Thankfully, they don’t really give away anything in the opening cinematic, as far as I saw. The only spoiler is that you see all the characters that make up the party.

When it comes to the gameplay, though, if you’ve played Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope or X-Com, you’ll be ready to take part in this game. Players take a turn moving and activating their characters’ abilities, and then the enemy gets theirs.

As long as you’re behind some cover, you resist incoming attacks, which was great. It seemed almost too powerful, but I have a feeling you’re going to be overwhelmed in a lot of stages, so I’ll take it in Persona 5 Tactica.

Players can take advantage of plenty of familiar abilities in this game (Image via SEGA)

Like in P5, you also have access to melee strikes, ranged strikes, and your spells. You can even summon your Persona! Each one does something useful and has a pretty decent range of action. I was admittedly concerned about how this was going to work, but it felt smooth and easy to understand.

You can even use Persona’s All-In attacks. The first part of the preview was a tutorial to get used to the game, then we saw a battle a little deeper in. If you can get an enemy knocked down by hitting a weakness, you can then surround that enemy (and more if possible) and strike the whole group. You’ll see a fiery triangle around them, signifying that it’s time.

Stay behind cover as often as possible (Image via SEGA)

While it requires planning and strategy, it’s worth doing this in Persona 5 Tactica. The stages were fairly large but didn’t make me think that each battle was going to be an hour+ affair. That’s a turn-off to many fans that would otherwise love tactical RPGs like Final Fantasy Tactics.

---

Persona 5 Tactica keeps the theme of “Rebellion” alive

Lady Marie is one of the major antagonists of P5T (Image via SEGA)

One of the themes of P5 is rebellion, and that really sticks out strongly in Persona 5 Tactica. The first area we were involved in had a theme of the French Revolution, with a woman known as Lady Marie. While she didn’t look like Marie Antoinette, she had the same presence, paired with the anime Ojou-sama laugh.

As I was talking to the SEGA PR team, I learned that that’s going to stick around throughout the game as the Persona 5 Tactica squad goes through other time periods, such as something in Feudal Japan - perhaps the Sengoku era, or perhaps the Meiji. It’s a really interesting way to take a story built around rebellion and make it more literal.

---

Personal 5 Tactica has a brand-new art style

P5T has a much less serious visual style (Image via SEGA)

I do want to briefly talk about this because I can see it being particularly divisive. I loved the art style. It’s very over-the-top, cartoony, but also has an anime aesthetic. It made me think of those early 30s/40s cartoons but with a brilliant 4k resolution and color palette.

Instead of the grimdark serious story of Persona 5 Royal, it reminds me of comparing Teen Titans to Teen Titans Go!. The story is still serious and enjoyable, but it’s also more comical and visually funny to behold.

---

In Conclusion

Persona 5 Tactica is a fresh way to approach a Persona/SMT spin-off. When I heard that P5 was going to get yet another game, I was admittedly a little worried about that.

However, I love the cast, and I was glad to see that their adventures continued after the school year ended - even if it was done in this over-the-top fashion.

This game will release on November 17, 2023, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PCs.