Atlus has shared a whole press packet’s worth of new story and gameplay details for turn-based strategy RPG Persona 5 Tactica (P5T), including information on characters, the game world, skill tree abilities, and more. In P5T, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts are sent to a new Metaverse called The Kingdoms, where Marie, the leader of a military group called the Legionnaires, brainwashes all of our heroes except Joker and Morgana. However, once the leader of the Rebel Corps, Erina, rescues the two, they discover that the Rebel Corps hideout looks just like the Leblanc cafe, creating a mystery of what The Kingdoms actually is since it isn’t a Palace. [Updated July 21, 2023 to confirm Persona 5 Tactica will receive a physical Xbox release.]
Persona 5 Tactica (P5T) Full Details on Story, Characters, and Combat Gameplay
Marie (pronounced as one would read it in Japanese, “MAH-ree-ay”) wants to control the population in order to stage the perfect wedding, but to whom isn’t clear yet. (It seems like it might be the guy in this next sentence though.) Meanwhile, Joker and Morgana meet a politician named Toshiro Kasukabe who had gone missing in the real world and doesn’t know how he got here. Toshiro joins up with the rest of the team, but it isn’t clear if he’s actually playable. Erina is playable.
During combat gameplay in Persona 5 Tactica, you can take cover at the end of your turn to reduce damage or completely block attacks. Conversely, if you get hit outside of cover, enemies will receive a “One More” opportunity to attack again. If enemies take cover, you can hit them with a melee attack to break their cover and leave them vulnerable for another party member to strike (and then strike again with a One More).
Status ailments have new effects on combat, as Agi’s Burn effect causes enemies to take damage when they end their turn, and Zio’s Shock effect stops enemies from moving for one turn. As combat progresses, a star-shaped “Voltage” gauge will fill up, and once it’s fully charged, you can unleash a character-specific special skill with various effects. Each character has a skill tree, so you have control over how they develop. You can get Growth Points (GP) to spend on skills by winning battles and having conversations during “Talk” events, which are events where you… talk and deepen the story. Atlus notes that you can reset all your GP to change a character’s build completely if you want, so you don’t ever have to worry about growing a character the “wrong” way.
Persona 5 Tactica will launch on November 17, 2023 on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X | S, PC via Steam and Windows, and Xbox Game Pass, retailing for $59.99 or, for the digital deluxe edition, $79.99. The latter edition includes the DLC episode Repaint Your Heart Challenge Pack, as well as the Picaro Summoning Pack & Raoul Persona and a Weapon Pack. (Each DLC will be available to purchase individually as well.) Originally, press information had indicated that the Xbox release would be digital-only, but that has been confirmed incorrect. The physical release of P5T will be for Switch, PS4, PS5, and Xbox.
Regardless, that is a lot of new details on story, characters, and combat gameplay for Persona 5 Tactica, and after hearing all of this, I’m actually a little more excited for P5T. The cover mechanic sounds fun, and hopefully it won’t induce the type of psychotic rage I felt playing Resonance of Fate back in the day.
