What about Royal and Strikers?
Persona 5 Tactica is the most recent non-JRPG spinoff in Atlus’ acclaimed JRPG series. Tactica is a tactics game set in the same world as Persona 5 and features the Phantom Thieves, the original game’s core group of heroes. It’s natural to wonder, as a spinoff, if you need to play Persona 5 before Persona 5 Tactica.
It’s a good question, given the Persona series’ emphasis on storytelling. We hope to answer that question in this Persona 5 Tactica guide, and will explain whether or not you need to play Person 5 — as well as Persona 5 Royal and Persona 5 Strikers — before playing Persona 5 Tactica.
When in the Persona Timeline does Persona 5 Tactica take place?
Persona 5 Tactica takes place after the formation of the Phantom Thieves, the crew assembled by Joker (the main character) in the main game to change the hearts of baddies all over Japan.
Tactica takes place before the third-year students (Makoto and Haru) graduate, which is before the main storyline of Persona 5 concludes, according to the dialogue at the start of the game. Consider Tactica to be a large side quest that occurs before the end of Persona 5.
Is a Persona 5 Playthrough required before you can play Persona 5 Tactica?
Yes, you should play (or have played) Persona 5 for at least a few hours before playing Tactica.
If you haven’t played any Persona 5 games, you’ll be very confused because Tactica is set in the timeline. The game assumes you know who these characters are, what the “Metaverse” is, and why the cat (who isn’t actually a cat) is talking.
However, by skipping Persona 5 and jumping right into Tactica, you’ll be missing out on the context of the world and characters. While the plot of Persona 5 Tactica involves the same characters and takes place in the same world as Persona 5, it tells its own, self-contained story, and you don’t need to understand the plot of Persona 5 to follow along.
If you enjoy tactics games and are eager to play Persona 5 Tactica, you’ll be fine as long as you accept that you’ll probably be a little confused at first. However, if you’re not usually a fan of turn-based JRPGs, this could be a great opportunity to go back and spend 100 hours in Persona 5, which is one of the best games of the last decade.
Is a Persona 5 Royal Playthrough required before you can play Persona 5 Tactica?
No, you do not need to have played any of Persona 5’s Royal content to understand Tactica.
Kasumi Yoshizawa, the new addition to Royal’s Phantom Thieves, is not a member of your crew in Persona 5 Tactica. So, even if you skip the original game’s expansion, you’ll have all the context you need to enjoy Tactica’s story.
Is a Persona 5 Strikers Playthrough required before you can play Persona 5 Tactica?
No, you do not need to have played Strikers in order to understand Tactica.
Persona 5 Strikers is yet another Persona 5 spin-off that replaces traditional turn-based combat with fast-paced Musou game combat akin to the Dynasty Warriors franchise.
While Strikers tells a great Persona story — seriously, it’s just a mini Persona game with slick action combat — the new characters and plot don’t carry over to Tactica at all. If you like Persona and Tactics but dislike action games, you can play Tactica without touching Strikers.
