I love Persona. I have played nearly every entry in the franchise, spin-offs included, and I consider Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5 Royal to be two of the best games I have ever played. So be assured I don’t say this lightly: I think Persona 5 Tactica might be my favorite Persona game of all time.
I certainly went into Tactica expecting to have a good time. Having followed its run-up to launch, I knew what I was in for: a tactical reimagining of the Persona games, mixing Persona 5’s flair with the mechanics of Tactics Ogre and XCOM. What I didn’t expect was for Persona 5 Tactica to be my favorite game of the past year.
Though it’s technically a spin-off—taking the characters from the hugely popular JRPG and transporting them into a new genre and art style— plays out. Though it pares back or outright removes most of the slice-of-life elements of the series—attending classes, training your social stats, hanging out with your friends to raise your ‘confidant’ level, etc—that results in more space for focused, nuanced storytelling.
