The new characters steer this story well and despite some minor issues, Tactica delivers a fine follow-up.

UnlikePersona 5or Strikers, Tactica lacks explorable locations between missions and limits you to each Kingdom’s hideout.

There’s also no traditional equipment system here beyond purchasable guns.

A bright and lively cut-scene image from Persona 5 Tactica. We see a feminine character in the middle of the shot planting a dazzlingly, glowing red flag. The four presumed enemies around the edges of the scene cower from its brightness.

It keeps gameplay streamlined, though limiting this to menu navigation is rather dull.

Missions advance the story and you’ll control three party members across battlefields with tile-based movement.

Good enemy variety keeps fights interesting between standard ground units and sumo wrestler-styled Legionnaires that love throwing things.

Cover image for YouTube video

The core mechanics are basic, though.

There are no accuracy percentages when attacking, unlike XCOM or Fire Emblem.

Strong level design ensures ample opportunities to find cover and punishes recklessness, rewarding thoughtful use of environments.

A battle shot from Persona 5 Tactica. The long-coated character Erin in the foreground prepares to shoot a chonky downed enemy farther away. The level before us is gridded in classic strategy fashion.

Surrounding downed foes lets you activate Tactica’s version of an All-Out Attack, the Triple Threat.

Skill knowledge, meanwhile, gets tested through optional quests that offer enjoyably creative tasks.

However, secondary Personas are the more helpful addition.

An isometric-angled battle view in Persona 5 Tactica, which gives us a much clearer view of where characters are positioned in a rather narrow battlefield filled with large wooden boxes. Someone has just scored a critical hit, and there’s a lot of comic book energy being given to it - exclamation marks and overlayed flicked lines and splashes of colour.

Joker can’t swap between multiple Personas like before.

Thankfully, creative level design compensates for that.

Victory requires careful assessment of your environment with hazards ranging from explosive barrels to surveillance cameras.

A conversation moment in Persona 5 Tactica. We see the series' familiar comic panel presentation as we zoom into a characters' face and dialogue options spoke out from the side of them in jaunty-angled rectangular boxes.

One stage was basically a puzzle as I activated moving platforms to avoid traps.

That keeps missions interesting, though a few stages feel repetitive.

EXP also applies to the whole team and conveniently means you don’t need to keep swapping out characters.

Another conversation moment in Persona 5 Tactica. A cat character and a feminine character in a cafe of some sort, talk to a grey-haired feminine character - Erin - whose face is spotlighted in a jaggedy edged comic panel box.

The colourful aesthetic adds considerable character to these locations too.

Subtitles, captions, controller vibration, and camera shake can be enabled.

Tutorials and dialogue history are viewable at any time.

An isometric-angled view of a small, gridded battlefield area, confined by wooden walls, in which multiple enemies surround one character in the middle. Looks like a tricky situation to me.

Five difficulty prefs that are switchable mid-playthrough.

Your last turn can be reset during missions.

Dialogue can automatically advance in cutscenes.

A battle shot in Persona 5 Tactica, in which the main character casts some kind of triangular wall fo fire that has caught three enemies in it. There’s a button prompt for “Triple Threat” visible. Maybe that’s the ability that’s been used.

Adjustable control sensitivity, camera turning speed, and screen brightness.

That doesn’t mean the story is terrible, though.