Turns out Persona 5 and XCOM make a promising match

At this point, XCOM is more of a genre than a game. What started as a reboot of the 1990s and 2012 tactical series XCOM: enemy unknown has spawned imitators in the worlds of Warhammer 40,000, Gears of War, and even Mario (plus Rabbids). The powerful mix of team customization, turn-based skirmishes, and party recruitment at Firaxis Games pretty much works each universe, it seems. Surprisingly, then, it ties in well with the Jungian world of Person 5? Not really. Isn’t it exciting to see it in action? Absolute.

During a recent demo, I played through the tutorial and an early game mission of Persona 5 Tactics, the upcoming Atlus spin-off that replaces the RPG’s static turn-based combat with grid-based tactical combat. Both missions moved quickly as I moved the returning characters Joker, Ryuji, and Morgana from cover to cover to flank enemies. (Enemies mentioned are new to the world of Person 5in the form of ghostly 18th century foot soldiers.) As in Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, movement happens in real time, but the character’s destination isn’t captured until I end my turn or use an action. This free-form positioning allows me to test different lines of sight before launching an attack.

Once each Phantom Thief was in position, I could direct them to fire their gun, launch a melee attack, or use an ability using their Persona companion. Bit by bit, the tutorial and early mission brought new wrinkles to the fold: hitting an enemy at close range will take them out of cover; shooting an enemy who has no cover stuns them; Surrounding a stunned enemy gives the entire team the opportunity to launch a combined “Triple Threat” attack. Similar to the corresponding skills in Person 5, these blasts deal massive damage to all enemies between my characters. If Tactics involves one important consideration Person 5‘s fight, it’s positioning.

Neither encounter was that complicated – the tutorial mission took place in a town square with a fountain in the middle, and the other scenario unfolded with the Phantom Thieves infiltrating a palace through the crate-strewn basement – but both left me wanting to play more. .

Image: Atlus/Sega

Many of my favourites XCOM2 And Gears tactics Moments happen during the planning stages between skirmishes, but Persona 5 Tactics‘s demo didn’t give me the chance to experience that. However, I’m excited at the prospect of equipping my characters with different weapons or flipping through possible Persona upgrades between missions. The demo also didn’t allow me to switch characters between missions to experiment with different team compositions. But based on what I played, I’m optimistic about that Persona 5 Tactics will find a sweet spot between compelling (albeit simple) tactical combat and Person 5 fan service. The opening cutscene takes place in Cafe Leblanc, complete with all members of the Phantom Thieves present. If Atlus can match these strengths with rewarding long-tail progression throughout the game’s running time, I might have a reason to delay my next one War of the Chosen campaign.

Persona 5 Tactics will be released on November 17 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X.