Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS5, and PS4.
A heady mixture of tarot, demonology, and Jungian psychology underpins the Persona series, which is renowned for its high concept. Each main edition in Atlus’ JRPG series is packed with complicated teenage characters battling psycho-sexual aspects of their changing inner selves. The odd and perhaps uncomfortable games are filled with absurd concepts and opposing philosophies, but that’s part of the appeal.
That same intricacy, though, can occasionally make them unreachable, especially in the case of spin-offs like Tactica. Gaining the most out of this turn-based strategy game doesn’t need playing the original Persona 5 (or 2020’s improved Persona 5 Royal), but it will be very beneficial to be familiar with the characters, ideas, and more obscure details from the base game, such as what a Persona actually is.
That’s especially true considering that Tactica is set concurrently with Persona 5’s events, in contrast to Persona 5 Strikers, 2021’s action-focused successor. That means that when they already know each other well, they will have to join its youthful protagonists, the Phantom Thieves of Heart, who use the power of their personal demons to enter the Metaverse (no, not that one) and fight corrupted desires made manifest. Little thought is given to reintroducing the cast or their circumstances before plunging them into yet another bizarre alternate reality.
A great time that offers a ton of replayability and much flexibility in how you approach each battle.
It’s easy to get sucked into Tactica’s own crazy tale, though, if you already know the background or don’t mind jumping in headfirst and skimming over a ton of references and assumed knowledge. Here, instead of fighting through the otherworldly lairs known as Palaces, the heroes are unintentionally imprisoned in the bigger, wilder worlds known as Kingdoms. When they first meet Lady Marie, a dominatrix with a marching band theme and a neurotic bridezilla who is constantly planning a wedding that will never happen, things don’t go well. She brainwashes the entire crew practically right away.
Early missions focused on freeing allies from Marie’s control are set in motion by the fact that the only people who have managed to escape are Persona 5’s protagonist Joker and cat familiar Morgana. These provide the most background information on the cast, reintroducing each character and their special skills with each rescue. Even yet, Erina, the new heroine, who is the head of a Rebel Corps tasked with rescuing the Kingdoms and appears to be the only human in existence, is given a lot of attention. She’s a wonderful addition to the larger Persona 5 cast, possessing powerful combat abilities and an emotionally compelling storyline.
Although the larger Megami Tensei franchise has experimented with the genre previously, most notably in the Devil Survivor subseries, Tactica is the first Persona game to spin off a tactics spinoff. Nevertheless, its turn-based gameplay makes it easier for gamers who are not familiar with the genre. As you advance, more abilities, strategies, and team-up maneuvers are gradually introduced, with early bouts consisting only of party members scheming their way out of cover and exchanging blows.
Tactica adheres to all of the principles established by the genre’s titans; in fact, if you’ve played Mario + Rabbids or XCOM, you’ll be right at home with the mechanics and visual language employed. Within the bounds of their personal mobility radius, characters are free to roam around each battlefield. Their turn concludes after they have used up all of their attack options, and cover points are distinguished by object height and shield icons. However, Tactica’s “One More” concept and the ways you can use field space to launch Triple Threat strikes are where things become a little more inventive.
When you get the first one down, you can truly take control of each level. When an adversary is attacked when they are exposed, they will be knocked down, regaining movement and the ability to attack. Chaining these One More moments together requires genuine expertise; if you do it well, you can quickly dispatch foes. The cleverly subtle user interface of Tactica makes it easy to plan out your attack by showing you exactly when an attack would take down an enemy. Additionally, One Mores allow you to launch Triple Threat attacks. To accomplish this, arrange all three of your active party members in a triangle around your adversaries. Then, as long as you have one more move remaining, you can launch a very potent group attack that can quickly dispatch most grunts.
Then there are the special impacts of voltage and charge. If a character finishes a round without attacking, they’ll start the following turn charged and with an active bonus skill. For instance, Erina’s lets her take out opponents right away, even if they’re hiding, which is a helpful way to start a series of One More strikes. However, each hero has a unique charge talent, and mastering them all, along with their unique fighting abilities, can result in countless creative combos. Conversely, voltages function more like Limit Breaks from Final Fantasy, building up a charge through damage dealt and received during time and, when fully charged, unleashing an extremely potent move. Battles are usually exciting, even if tactics never introduces anything truly novel that fans of the genre won’t have seen. Instead, tactics steadily but gradually expands the player’s options for fight.
Beyond the art direction, which takes a super-deformed look here and appears to have been further influenced in some areas by Kunihiko Ikuhara’s works, the Personas themselves represent perhaps the greatest difference from Persona 5 itself. Previously essentially demonic Pokémon obtained through fight, these are now more akin to objects, obtained through odd gears that are dropped as prizes. Normally, only Joker is capable of using multiple Personas, but in Tactica, every member of the squad can carry a secondary Persona to increase their stats or change the spells and abilities they can employ in combat. Though the new “gear” approach does make them feel more disposable, Personas can still be combined to create more powerful forms, much like in P5. This is a crucial tool for unlocking more powerful Personas beyond simple level grinding.
Strangely, Tactica’s overwhelming familiarity is the one thing preventing it from becoming truly wonderful. Persona games are known for doing strange or unconventional things, so although this game still features a lot of bizarre concepts and scenarios to process, its core gameplay and mechanics are very similar to those of other turn-based strategy games. It’s still a lot of fun, with lots of options for how to approach each battle and a ton of replay value (you can go back to each stage indefinitely to try out different party configurations or chase extra completion requirements). For devoted fans, it’s a great chance to play with these characters again, but it falls short of the legendary status of its predecessor.