Persona 5, released in 2017, turned out to be a really great success. The game received fantastic reviews in the industry media and sold itself very decently. No wonder that the creators decided to take advantage of this good streak and expanded the universe with new titles. One of them is Persona 5 Strikers, a production that also hit us a year after its premiere in Japan. Is it worth your time?
Strikers is a quite specific title, because at the same time it is a spin-off and a direct continuation of the "main" Persona 5. The story begins a few months after the events of the predecessor: The Joker again joins forces with friends to solve another mystery of mysterious events that occur in Japan and in which a new, wildly popular mobile application called Emma is probably involved. It quickly turns out that the plot is really complicated and dangerous, so the Phantom Thieves team has no choice but to travel outside Tokyo and save people's hearts once again.
Persona 5 attracted attention with its unique aesthetics, and I am delighted that Strikers has kept this style. The game may not be a technological miracle, but the developers managed to create a setting that really pleases the eye and gives the impression of communing with an interactive anime. Everything, from character models, through the color palette, and ending with interface elements, is extremely consistent here. The soundtrack is also delightful - the soundtrack, although it is hard to believe, is even better than in the predecessor, and the English voice actors perfectly fulfill the roles entrusted to them, which, unfortunately, is not a standard in Japanese productions.
Persona 5 Strikers is a quite successful experiment and a very solid spin-off, although it will be appreciated mainly by people who love the Phantom Thieves team. Novices may be deterred by the intricate plot. After all, we are talking about a game in which teenagers "steal the hearts" of villains, and one of the playable characters is a talking (un) cat named Morgana ...
- varied heroes;
- extensive gameplay, especially by the standards of the genre;
- audiovisual setting;
- interesting new characters - Sophie and Zenkichi.
- no "social" elements;
- simple, puzzle-free dungeons;
- repetitive, boring side quests.