At a fundamental level, everything portrayed in Strikers has in some way, shape, or form already happened in Persona 5. It’s like those “copy your homework but change some words” memes. During the entire playthrough, it felt as if I’d already seen how this all played out before.

However, Strikers feels too similar to its main entry counterpart. Understandably each iteration of Persona is a standalone experience, so it’s possible Atlus wanted to keep the overarching theme intact. The individual may not necessarily endure a mental or psychotic breakdown, but they would still become mindless drones.įighting against corruption and injustice is a message that will always succeed and ring true in any sort of media, especially games, but Atlus missed an opportunity here. The concept of stealing one’s Desire is akin to changing their heart. Throughout each Monarch’s life, there was one singular traumatic experience that fueled their ambition to steal the Desires of the public. The main difference between Monarchs and Palace rulers is their respective life journeys. In addition from a general viewpoint, a few of the Monarchs display motives that go nearly hand-in-hand with a few Palace rulers, such as Ango Natsume to Ichiryusai Madarame and Mariko Hyodo to Masayoshi Shido. Similar to its predecessor, each Jail in Strikers affects someone on the team a bit more heavily. Monarchs and Jails are synonymous with Palace rulers and Palaces from Persona 5. In both games, there’s a nationwide brainwashing epidemic shielded by the false notion of being for the “greater good.” Joker and the Phantom Thieves once again travel to the Metaverse to battle Shadows and change the hearts of the evil Monarch rulers who preside over these Jails.

Throughout the first handful of hours, it’s easy to notice the many narrative similarities between Strikers and Persona 5. Chaos imminent and with fate on the line, can Joker clear his name and save everyone once more? If It Ain’t Broke…Still, Fix It? New reports and incidents similar to last year’s phenomenon begin to occur, which naturally shines suspicion on Joker. Coincidentally, a new change of heart epidemic has plagued the country, but this time targeting people’s Desires. Joker and Morgana return to Yongen-Jaya in Tokyo to visit their old friends for summer vacation. About a year has passed since our ragtag team saved the world from a malevolent god.

The Phantom Thieves are back! In what’s more of a glorified epilogue instead of a full-fledged sequel, Persona 5 Strikers takes us on another wild, heart-changing adventure throughout Japan.

Persona 5 strikers multiplayer