Persona 5 Strikers - Preview, the Phantom Thieves are ready to return

There was a time when the division between Japanese and American video games was clear: on the one hand we were not yet at today's globalization level, such as to allow each game to have an almost global communication, on the other hand the user was well defined, the genres well delineated and it was difficult to find hybrid alternatives on the market. Obviously times change, and this was one of the reasons, along with the crazy care that P-Studio e Atlus they put into detail, to make it become 5 person a global success. A couple of years pass, and here the game expands: it arrives Person 5 Royal, many new features are added to the product, and the Phantom Thieves are ready to make a comeback. Obviously a bit of delay remains, and here is that while this new version was released here in March, in Japan for a month already they had been playing Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers, an Action RPG ready to tell a new adventure of Joker and his companions. After almost a year exactly, the title is ready to land in the rest of the world under the name of Persona 5 Strikers, coming to PlayStation 4, PC and Nintendo Switch. We had the opportunity to try it in preview for a few hours, just enough to temporarily sum up.

A different formula capable of not upsetting

One of the most intriguing aspects of this brand can be summarized in Atlus' ability to produce a series of spin-offs and alternative chapters of Persona without falling into the banal: we loved the classic and the Royal, but at the same time we have fun to the beat of the music with Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight and now we've got our hands on this Action RPG variation of the game. Although then the title rides a genre more dynamic and less static, drawing inspiration on the one hand from the classics musou (thanks also to the collaboration with Koei Tecmo's Omega Force studio) and on the other to the genre hack 'n' slash, manages to keep among its pillars some of the dynamics that had made the mother chapter characteristic. In this case the story focuses as always on Phantom Thieves of Hearts, who, taking advantage of the summer holidays, see each other again and decide to go on a holiday-trip. However, unfortunately not all goes to plan, and this is where the actual game begins.

We will not go into details further, but it is enough to know that, at least in the first part, the construction of the plot remains faithful to the previous games, showing as always a system that will push the player to go back and forth between the metaverse and the real world. What appears particularly interesting, on the other hand, is summed up in a story which, unlike Royal who just expanded the original idea, identifies itself as a real sequel of the events of our beloved thieves. Speaking of the real world, following the idea of ​​making the game more dynamic, some mechanics have been removed while others have been lightened: there are no confidants, for example, replaced by a bond system much easier to use (where by advancing in the general bond level you can unlock different skills), while the investigations, even if they have also been lightened, and finally exploration of the city (at least in the initial phase). However, this does not give the player too much room to maneuver, avoiding to let you spend hours between dialogues and exploration, as if the goal were to offer a smoother gaming experience.

In the metaverse, on the other hand, the title proposes its major change: no turns, just hordes of enemies to defeat with various types of attacks. Combos are vital, although dodging isn't really that essential, given its nature as a hybrid between musou and hack 'n' slash. You can then alternate between light and heavy attacks (which are those made with your Person), the use of the setting (being able to climb on some holds to make special attacks) and of course the skills of the character. In addition to this, the player will be able to choose which thief to use by changing it with the arrows of the d-pad (the team is prepared before leaving for the mission) finally arriving to make the most of the diversity of the various characters. Persona 5 Strikers will also offer you some instant character changes to be made during some combos, useful to make the most of what you have in the team. The fantastic scenes during the assaults and special attacks, always spectacularly superb, have not been lost.

When you are not fighting, in the game you may find yourself exploring the various environments to look for various objects, or overcome some small platform phases which, just to stay on the subject, will use a dedicated camera by moving the game to 2,5D. Persona 5 Strikers is also fast in the start: knowing all the various Phantom Thieves it is not difficult to find yourself in the center of the action in a short time (you can use them all with the exception of Futaba, who instead will have a support role). Regardless, although knowing the plot of the previous game can help considerably in contextualizing the events, the title it is playable even without having ever played the mother game (albeit not recommended, in our opinion). However, in case you find yourself in need of discovering past events, there is the anime version that in 26 episodes (+2 extra) will allow you to catch up.

I Am Thou, Thou Art I

We have seen the big differences, but Persona 5 Strikers is also a fantastic adaptation exercise: Joker will be able to continue in the Velvet Room to upgrade his Personas, merge them, recreate them and then choose which ones to use. This time, however, the difference in use will be there when, by choosing the skills, with the backbones you can select which of these Person to use. Even the comings and goings between the Metaverse and the Real World is perfectly replicated: to avoid making the game too divided between the two phases, the events will lead the user on duty to having to necessarily do some actions in reality before moving forward in the other dimension, to then go back to the real world and do something else, and so on.

As already mentioned, we only tried the first hours of the game, and to talk clearly and in detail about the complete title we will have to see each other again in the review. What is certain is that Persona 5 Strikers now perfectly combines a genre that is partly unknown to him with the dogmas of the brand, and like two Personas who are merged in the Velvet Room to give rise to a new and more powerful creature, so the new title of Atlus wisely blends Action and RPG, giving shape to a game that seems to be able to please both fans of the brand and all those who have never approached the original production (perhaps precisely because they are not accustomed to fighting a shifts).