As Persona 5 Tactica followed a slew of other Persona 5 spinoffs, it's no surprise that it came with fan apprehension. The fatigue over the Phantom Thieves' many appearances had been growing up to its release, and despite Tactica's new grid-based combat, there were some who felt wary of yet another Persona 5-centered story. Unlike Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight or P5 Strikers, however, Persona 5 Tactica managed to surprise in its sense of the auxiliary. With the Phantom Thieves being less of the main presence and more of a supplement to Toshiro's story, the game's approach makes one wonder if future Persona spinoffs will consider the same.
Spinoffs have been a fixture of the Persona series for quite some time now, at least in the context of its modern releases. The Persona 3, 4, and 5 parties have been introduced to all sorts of contexts outside the series' quintessential turn-based combat, from the combo-driven 2D fighting gameplay of the Arena games to the action-packed musou genre adopted by Persona 5 Strikers. While these spinoffs have been successful in their experimentation with different genres, their approaches to story can be a bit trickier by comparison; utilizing the strengths of their beloved casts is one thing, but leaning too heavily on fanservice can work to the opposite effect.
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How Persona 5 Tactica Focuses Outward Rather Than Inward
The Obstacles of Recurring Casts in Persona Spinoffs
When featuring an already established cast of characters, it can be hard to consider how they might tread different water. Putting them in new plot contexts is, on one level, conducive to this, but making their personalities and party dynamics feel fresh can be another obstacle altogether. This is one of the reasons that the timeline of the Persona spinoffs can get a bit tricky, as their canon nature needs to consider not just the fate of certain characters in their respective mainline stories, but how they might act in that present moment (i.e. In the case of Akechi, whose appearances are a bit of a personality regression), thus not allowing for as much deviation.
Persona Spinoffs Recycle Character Tropes and Party Interactions
Now, this isn't to say that past spinoffs haven't sidestepped this effectively. The Persona Q games work so well because they enable cross-party interactions, while Arena Ultimax is an opportunity to see the Persona 3 crew in adulthood, showing how they've grown after the events of their mainline appearance. But in some moments, these spinoffs feel like a retread of what's already been done, leaning a bit too much on established jokes or character archetypes. Akihiko's obsession with protein or Persona 5's Makoto cracking down on the party for studying can become a bit grating as a result, feeling less like a "remember this" moment and more like a continuation of the same tropes.
Persona 5 Tactica Puts the Spotlight on Someone Else's Story
While P5 Tactica does fall into some similar trappings, it feels refreshing in the sense that, though the Phantom Thieves are the playable cast of the game, they aren't really the focus. Having Toshiro's past be a consistent throughline makes it so that he and Erina are the most integral to the plot, and while the Phantom Thieves are there to offer support, they aren't the ones necessarily driving the story forward. Though there are, of course, some cute dialogue moments between the Thieves, many of their references to the events of Persona 5 are given a second wind through the lens that Toshiro offers. When characters like Yusuke and Futaba relay events from P5, they do so with intention, showing how their past struggles mirror Toshiro's current plight, a testament that they can be overcome.
Fanservice in games isn't necessarily a bad thing, and there's plenty of room for it in Persona's future spinoffs considering how beloved its mainline casts are. Still, it can be argued that the series' spinoffs are particularly effective in moments when they focus outward rather than inward. Already, they do an excellent job of showing how transferable the series' main gameplay tenets are to other genres and contexts, but really leaning into the new characters and stories they present is a way to keep their recurring casts present without stealing the show entirely. Persona's characters are undoubtedly a crucial part of the series' spinoff identity, but sometimes they shine best when they are ancillary, working as a part of someone else's story rather than a repeat of their own.
Persona 5 Tactica
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 77 /100 Critics Rec: 67%
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Tactical
