How Persona 5 Tactica Adapts the Original Game’s Mechanics for a New Genre

Persona 5 has definitely become a phenomenon since its release in 2016, from having upgraded ports to PC and modern consoles, to spin-offs into the rhythm and hack-and-slash genres, fans have a lot to enjoy with Atlus’ seminal JRPG.

The latest spin-off, Persona 5 Tactica, presents a radical shift in art style and gameplay, with a more cartoony character design and a tactical gameplay style ala Fire Emblem. Fans shouldn’t be worried though as signature Persona 5 mechanics are making their way into this entry.

This includes returning key characters like Yusuke Kitagawa, Makoto Nijima, Futaba Sakura, and Haru Okumura as party members. Persona 5’s signature mechanics definitely make a more natural fit into the tactical RPG genre, compared to previous spin-offs like Persona 5 Strikers.

So while players are presented with a new grid-based battlefield for the Phantom Thieves to battle in, they can still swap out characters on the fly, perform attacks from higher ground, and customised their gameplay preferences with an always-changeable difficulty level.

Just like the original Persona 5, Tactica offers the Baton Pass mechanic where players can switch between characters at any time with the press of a button. This is an important factor in the new tactical battle system, allowing players to truly strategise their next move.

Another major change to Persona 5 Tactica’s combat is that Baton Pass not only allows players to swap an ally with a character that is in reserve but also allows the player to swap out fallen units as well to keep the battle going.

This is especially important in setting up the spectacular Triple Threat, a new version of Persona 5’s powerful All-Out Attack. By continually alternating between members of their party, players can set up a larger attack area and hit more enemies.

With the new battlefield comes different elevations that players can take advantage of, allowing players to perform Follow-Up attacks, as they did in Persona 5. Hitting elevated enemies to the ground or sniping them from above can give players an edge depending on the situation.

It isn’t a true Persona game without the Velvet Room, with Persona 5 Tactica allowing players to fuse familiar Personas from across the series. Players can use the Personas they obtain through combat and grow even stronger, or if battles get too tough, they can always switch between five different difficulty levels.

Persona 5 Tactica is scheduled to release on November 17, on Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Steam.