Persona 5 Strikers, alternatively known as P5S, and known as Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers in Japan, is an action-based sequel of Persona 5. It is part of the Koei Tecmo and Omega Force created "Musou" or "Warriors" series of games, which involves defeating a large horde of enemies at once. It is the first action RPG in the Persona series.
Persona 5 Strikers was released in Japan on February 20, 2020 on the PlayStation 4 and the Nintendo Switch. It released in the West on February 23rd, 2021. Additionally, it was also ported to Microsoft Windows via Steam store on the same day worldwide.
Due to the game containing major spoilers for Persona 5, it is advised that the original game is played first (or the first 9 months of Persona 5 Royal) before playing Strikers.
Plot[]
| Spoiler warning! This article contains plot details about an upcoming episode. |
Shibuya Jail[]
Months after the events of Persona 5, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts plan to go on summer vacation as the protagonist and Morgana reunite with them upon their return to Tokyo. Despite their celebration, during that night, Lavenza appears as the Velvet Room's sole resident and warns the protagonist of a "potential calamity" that may "consume the world whose heart he strove so greatly to change."
The next day, the protagonist, Morgana and Ryuji travel to Shibuya's 705 Building in order to buy camping tools in preparation for their travels. They do it under the advice of "EMMA",a popular digital assistant notable for its incredibly accurate predictions and answers to everyday life. On the way, they pass by a public event hosted by an idol known as Alice Hiiragi, who appears to be very popular. They attend the event and Alice gives the protagonist a card to her "Wonderland." This card instructs the reader to input the keyword "Wonderland" in the EMMA app. After doing so, the three find themselves trapped in an unknown location in the Metaverse in their Phantom Thieves attire, along with three other men, who get attacked by Shadows and have their desires stolen in the form of gems, with the instigator being none other than Alice herself.
The trio attempt to escape, but they are eventually ambushed and captured by the Shadows. They are brought to Alice's Shadow self, who then decided to dump them into the underground waterway after Ryuji's defiance. There, they encounter an AI called Sophia, who claims herself to be a friend of humanity and has no memories of herself. The three initially believe Sophia cannot fight, only to be surprised when she manifests some Pithos as a pseudo-Persona and shows herself capable of defeating Shadows. The group are able to escape from the Jail, upon which Sophia, being compromised of data, turns into an A.I. over the "EMMA" app on the protagonist's phone.
Back in the real world, the protagonist, Ryuji and Morgana gather their friends and tell them of the Jail they had barely escaped from. Upon further investigation, they find that most of Shibuya has fallen in fervor with Alice. After obtaining enough information on the matter, the protagonist and Ann visit the TV station at Akasaka Mitsuke to meet personally meet Alice, whom would then be attending a talk show. There, they witness the host attempting to talk about Alice's crush, only to be suddenly silenced and have his heart changed into falling in love with Alice. The talk show is interrupted, and Alice's manager tries to stop her in the hallway, only to show her true colors by physically attacking him and taking pictures of him with the intention of humiliating him. Ann and the protagonist witness her, and successfully stopped her from doing any further harm for the time being. It turns out that Shibuya is being overlaid by a Metaverse structure known as a "Jail," which is abused by its ruler to mesmerize an entire population. The Phantom Thieves reform and put off their trip until Alice is neutralized.
Needing to update their equipment and supplies, the protagonist heads to the typical shops that had supplied them, but find out that they are closed for the summer vacation. Sophia suggests ordering online, but the group tells her that they found that it took too long and the quality was not as good as their usual suppliers.
She asks Ryuji what he wants, who jokingly asks for a gold bar; almost immediately, a delivery man drops the bar off. Terrified that he may have just committed a crime and knowing the ludicrous price of such an item, Ryuji frantically tells her to send it back. Nonetheless, the Thieves realize the usefulness of Sophia's delivery service and head to the Jail once they are fully geared.
The night after the party explore the Jail's outskirts, they run into a member of the Public Security Bureau, Zenkichi Hasegawa. When the party returns to Leblanc, he takes the opportunity to blackmail them for cooperation, as the police believes that they're the ones responsible for the recent mass Change of Heart cases happening all over Japan; although he suspects another culprit is responsible, if they do not cooperate, they risk being arrested for the incident instigated by Alice yesterday, while she escapes unscathed. Suspicious of Zenkichi's motives, they decline his offer, intending to clear their names on their own accord.
Once they reach the end of Jail they find out that there is no treasure. Instead, the stolen desires in the form of diamonds are evaporated, then rise up into the pink fog above the Jail. However, the Monarch herself is absent and a barricade blocks the path ahead. It turns out that the Monarch is sealed inside a bird cage, a device that traps them in a past trauma or disdainful experience and prevent them from moving on. A vocal clue hints the party towards where they need to go to unlock the cage; a school where Alice was bullied in, but they do not know the school Alice attended until Zenkichi arrives, where they deduce that Alice is actually an alumnae from Shujin Academy: she was badly bullied by jealous girls at school for having a crush. This results in a confrontation with a powerful Lock Keeper Shadow, representing one of these bullies from Shujin. The party then issues a calling card to Alice via a broadcast hijack, and goes into the Metaverse to defeat her. It turns out that unlike the previous targets, Alice is not malicious, but was driven by desire of revenge against the bullies who took away her crush and her future. Refusing to become another forgotten victim, she transforms into a monstrous rabbit-like creature, but is defeated and convinced by Ann to release all of the Desires.
The next day, Alice confesses to her crimes on live television, making the Phantom Thieves believe that their names are cleared. Zenkichi returns to Leblanc and tells them that suspicions against the Phantom Thieves further increased, as the calling card they've submitted had made the police suspect their involvement behind the change of heart cases further. The Thieves accept Zenkichi's offer and tell him about everything going on behind the scenes to prepare him for what they are doing. Zenkichi is initially skeptical of their claims about a Jail and a Monarch stealing desires, believing it to be a fantasy, but after being taken into a Jail, is finally convinced of the situation and agrees to protect them from the police as long as they cooperate with him. The Phantom Thieves accept his offer, and he informs them to take transportation of their own to Sendai by the 8th to deal with another mass change of heart incident, deducing that the Monarchs may try to manipulate their driver into putting them in danger if they took other means of transportation.
Futaba investigates Alice's phone, discovering that someone had been monitoring her actions on the app, but does not know who the person is. Heeding Zenkichi's advice, the Phantom Thieves decide to borrow an RV from Sojiro as their means of transportation, with Makoto serving as the primary driver.
Back at the Police Station, Miyako Kaburagi, the chief of the Public Security Bureau, warns Zenkichi that he has to take down the Thieves, should any suspicions arise. She also advises him to take a break to his hometown at Kyoto to take care of his daughter.
Sendai Jail[]
Arriving at Sendai, the Phantom Thieves learn that their next suspect is Ango Natsume, a popular writer from Sendai. Upon further investigation, they learn that Ango is the grandchild of a well known writer. During the journey, they discover Ango's book, Prince of Nightmares, is unusually popular in Sendai, but has no popularity elsewhere in Japan. They learn that his name was used by his publishers to profit for themselves, having staged the competition he participated in. Having learned of this, Ango used the EMMA app in order to make his readers love his novels and to take the money from his publishers.
Upon defeating Ango's Shadow self in his bird cage, he promises to redeem himself after Yusuke convinces him to restart anew in the arts, citing his friends as the reason how he was able to move on. The following day, he holds a press conference in which he confesses that he had plagiarized his writings, falsified a claim and promises to reimburse all of his readers, vowing to never write again. Yusuke and the protagonist confront Ango at the conference, where the former convinces him to keep writing. Ango then retracts his statement and promises to return to writing once he clears up his name, vowing to create a novel that would honor his grandfather's legacy.
Clearing the next change of heart case, Zenkichi commends them for their efforts and has them attend a lecture hall on his behalf to investigate Akira Konoe, the CEO of Madicce and see if he would reveal anything about EMMA. He also tells them to head to Sapporo for another change of heart case. The visit is fruitless, as Konoe does not reveal anything out of the ordinary. As the Thieves decide on what to do, a woman learns of their identities, introducing herself as Kuon Ichinose, the creator of EMMA's code. She had sold it to Konoe for money, making Konoe the legal owner of EMMA. Ichinose offers to help the Thieves, who accept, seeing that the coder of EMMA may be able to detect abnormalities in the app.
Sapporo Jail[]
Arriving at Sapporo, the Thieves begin exploring the city, meeting a woman scolding one of her staff for incompetence. The woman then recognizes Haru and is delighted to see her again, apologizing for her father's death, introducing herself as Mariko. Zenkichi then contacts the group, informing them that Mariko is the suspect, having obtained an abnormal amount of supporters in a short amount of time. Haru finds it hard to believe that an old family friend would be a Monarch, having known her for her kindness as a child.
Investigating Sapporo's Jail, the Thieves are initially forced to withdraw after Mariko orders her huge Shadow staff to clean up the Jail. Returning to the real world, they find Mariko scolding one of her staff for being tired, despite the man being in danger of collapsing. Haru scolds Mariko for treating her staff terribly, becoming upset at how Mariko had turned cold and wonders what made her so cruel. Returning to the Jail the next day, they discover that Mariko's hostility came after she approved of an ice sculpture from a company that bribed one of her staff members. The sculpture collapsed and killed a young girl. She wept for the child's death, but did not know of the true culprit until she stumbled onto a conversation between one of her staffers and a shady person, who had approved of the deal. The staffer then threatened to link her to the incident if she tried anything against him.
Although she stepped down, the incident made her bitter and she used EMMA to force the previous mayor to step down and brainwash voters into supporting her. After defeating the Lock Keeper, the Thieves gaslight one of her campaign stops and issue several Calling Cards, evoking Mariko's Shadow. Thieves return to the Jail and defeat Mariko's Shadow. Haru convinces Mariko of the error of her ways and to remember what she stood up for. Mariko's Shadow then realizes the error of her ways and that she never needed the strange power in the first place, releasing her Desires while telling Haru that she is proud of her and that her father would be too.
The following day, Mariko steps down as mayor and a candidate for the election, revealing the truth of the ice sculpture scandal and turns herself in to the police. Zenkichi is able to schedule a time for Mariko and the Thieves to meet, upon which Mariko apologizes to Haru for her actions, but promises to help her in any way she can. The mother of the deceased girl then arrives and urges Mariko to remain in the election to campaign for what is right and what she stood up for, which she accepts.
After leaving Sapporo, the party and Zenkichi make a brief stop to Kyoto to meet Zenkichi's daughter, Akane Hasegawa, who is a big fan of the Phantom Thieves, although very distant from her father. In reality, she hates him for being unable to investigate the culprit that killed her mother, Aoi Hasegawa. The crime was instead pinned on his secretary who quickly committed suicide. Not only did Zenkichi refrain from investigating the case, he even talked of her as a burden. This led Akane to believe that the Phantom Thieves will rise and crush the police force.
Okinawa Jail[]
The party then tours Okinawa to enjoy their vacation, but during that night, they discover that its residents have turned insane and attack their camping van, but are able to escape. They soon discover the presence of a Jail in the vicinity, but discover that there is no Monarch. However, they do find old recordings where the head researcher of Madicce, Shuzo Ubukata, lost his sanity when a greater power told him to hand out his desires, then committed suicide by jumping off a cliff, leaving the Jail without a ruler.
Sophia also hears voices that only she can hear, running ahead of the group. Once they reach the abandoned bird cage, a voice resembling her own can be heard, claiming that Sophia is useless because she cannot state her purpose as Lock Keeper appears and attacks the party. Upon defeating the Lock Keeper, the Desires are returned to Okinawa's populace. Although the facility has lots of incriminating evidence, they are worried Zenkichi will be unable to use it was illegally acquired. Zenkichi then tells them that after clearing the Jail, the police found Shuzo's body, which means that they can legally use the evidence. When they investigate an abandoned apartment, they discover that Konoe is cooperating with politician Jyun Owada to change the hearts of his political enemies (largely consisted of unscrupulous politicians), in order to help set him as the next Prime Minister.
As Zenkichi leaves, the party visits Fukuoka due to Makoto becoming fatigued, only for Zenkichi to phone in and tell them that he has an important incident back at Kyoto. Without enough time to rest, Makoto is forced to let Haru, the only other qualified driver, take over despite knowing Haru is a speed demon, resulting in a terrifying drive that takes half the time it should have. As the group returns to Kyoto and recovers from Haru's reckless driving, Zenkichi reveals that Owada is actually a former lobbyist of Masayoshi Shido, the corrupt politician who terrorized Japan a year ago. Konoe issues an arrest order against the Phantom Thieves for supposedly hacking the EMMA application and murdering the Monarch of Okinawa. In reality, both are fabricated cases and it's heavily implied that Konoe was the one who drove Shuzo insane.
Owada, being accompanied with a National Police Agency head brainwashed by Konoe, bribes Kaburagi with a security bureau head seat if she arrests the Phantom Thieves, which she reluctantly accepts. Kaburagi arrives there that night with a heavily armed police force, only to be stopped by Zenkichi, who alerts the Phantom Thieves of the police's presence; he is subsequently arrested, but the Phantom Thieves are able to escape. When Zenkichi is being interrogated, the police also began to search and clear the Hasegawa residence, where an officer told Akane that her father is being an accomplice of the Phantom Thieves. After the police empties the residence, Akane pleads for someone to save her, only for EMMA to respond and unwittingly create a Jail in Kyoto. Back at the Madicce headquarters, Konoe asks EMMA for ways to catch the Phantom Thieves. EMMA proposes to him that he should use the Jail of "an associate of the Phantom Thieves" to catch them instead, implied to be Akane. Konoe tells EMMA to turn that person into a Monarch so they can induce a Change of Heart on the Thieves; if they can't, they are to be eliminated.
Kyoto Jail[]
Back to Kyoto, the party receives an obviously faked SNS message from Akane, telling them that she was kidnapped. Despite initial doubts among the group, Ryuji accidentally speaks the keyword of the Jail. Because of the Phantom Thieves' insistence, EMMA manages to bait and trap all party members with a heavily distorted Shadow Akane with all her negative traits exaggerated. Futaba is the only one who is able to escape, as she couldn't catch up with the rest of the group due to her low physical stamina. Thankfully, Sae, having been contacted by Makoto, arrives in time to get Zenkichi out of the station. Once he's freed, he enters Kyoto's Jail alongside Futaba.
As Zenkichi lacked a Persona and the abilities of the Phantom Thieves, he is forced to rely on Futaba to navigate the Jail's grounds while avoiding the Shadows patrolling the area. He eventually reaches Akane and the others, where Akane is furious at Zenkichi for his inability to investigate his mother's death and arrest the true culprit. Zenkichi admits that he was unable to protect Akane, because once he tried to investigate Aoi's death, he was dismissed for being her husband and then blackmailed with a death threat on Akane's life. Akane refuses to hear his pleas, being engrossed in Konoe's savior complex. She was more concerned about the reputation of the patsy killer's family than her mother, and rambles about a plan where she was going to change the Phantom Thieves' hearts, then change the heart of the man who killed her mother.
This revelation results in Zenkichi awakening to his Persona Valjean, allowing him to save the imprisoned Phantom Thieves. Being his first time with a Persona exhausts him, so the team retreats to the real world to allow him to rest. Zenkichi officially joins the group and works with them in infiltrating Kyoto's Jail to confront Akane. When they encounter her at the end of the Jail, Akane delusionally calls the Phantom Thieves as fakes and sends out cognitive copies of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts to fight the originals, claiming that the copies are her "friends." The protagonist deals with his doppelgänger while the rest fight their own fakes. Once Akane's cognitive thieves are destroyed, she calms down and gets a change of heart. The Thieves deduce that Akane was never kidnapped in the first place and tell Zenkichi to return to his home, where he finds Akane sleeping. As she wakes up, he has a long talk with her about recent events.
Sae contacts the group is relieved to see them all doing well, having discovered that the evidence submitted did not have a judge's seal and was fabricated. Zenkichi's involvement with the Thieves has also caused the police to attempt to cover up all traces of it, meaning that they are now free for the time being.
Osaka Jail[]
To prevent the Conspiracy that terrorized Japan from re-igniting, the party travels to Osaka to confront Konoe. Zenkichi also convinces Kaburagi to give him three days to apprehend Konoe and Owada, who grants his request, but warns him that she won't cover for him if he fails to do so.
In Konoe's Jail, the Thieves are surprised to learn that Konoe himself has a bird cage, having believed that Konoe was the creator of the Jails. Investigating further, they learn that Konoe's father was the previous CEO of Madicce. He killed his wife due to believing that she was a burden on his money, and tried to do the same onto Konoe himself. During a beating one day, before Konoe's father could act on killing him, he got distracted by the sound of Zephyrman on TV. Realizing no heroes would come to save him, Konoe seized at the opportunity to escape his torment and killed his own father. To avoid any repercussions, he staged the incident as a home invasion. Konoe had no ill intentions with EMMA; he wanted to change the world and saw himself as the only hero who could make the world a better place, to free the wronged and traumatized persons from the world's injustice; his cooperation with Owada is a ruse and he intends to change his heart after eliminating the Phantom Thieves.
Now learning of Konoe's traumatic past, the Thieves defeat the Lock Keeper and decide to send him a calling card, this time with Zenkichi writing its contents, hijacking Madicce's air blimp to drop the calling cards all over Osaka. The card has no effect on Konoe however, as Zenkichi had written it up as an arrest warrant. Nonetheless, it gets his attention as he asks EMMA about the status of the Thieves in Kyoto's Jail. EMMA fails to give an answer, upon which he realizes that they have escaped and his Shadow manifests to deal with the threat.
Returning to the Jail once more, the Thieves confront Konoe at the top of Madicce's headquarters, where Konoe reveals the contents of "Operation Oraculi"; after buying it from Ichinose, he sent it to the research facilities on Okinawa to experiment with the creation of the Jails by developing cognitive psience, resulting in Shuzo's death. He intends to spread the Jails and Monarchs all over Japan, and then the world to make a place free of crimes. The party calls him out on this claim, as he is taking away their free will and that he is acting like his father.
Konoe then calls in a Zephyrman mech and pilots it, but the mech is destroyed in the ensuing battle. He then fights them on foot, but is subsequently defeated by them. Konoe gets a change of heart after hearing from Sophia that the Monarchs he had installed did not appear to like their role, along with Zenkichi telling him that he was eliminating the heroes by robbing people of their free will, putting him in the footsteps of his father. He promises to purge EMMA from Madicce's servers and atone for his crimes, imploring them to tell the people who the true heroes were as he releases the Desires.
The following day, Konoe holds a conference in which he reveals the truth about EMMA, along with being responsible for Shuzo and his father's deaths. The Thieves are delighted to see that Konoe's heart has changed, believing that the mastermind has finally been defeated, and that their names will be cleared. Zenkichi and Kaburagi head to Madicce's corporate quarters to bring in Konoe for questioning. Elsewhere, Owada tries to convince the Commissioner General to pin all the blame on Konoe, but to his horror, finds that the Commissioner General has had a change of heart.
To celebrate their victory, the Phantom Thieves make their way back to Yongen-Jaya, but under Sophia's proposal, take a midway stop at Yokohama to view the summer fireworks. After the event ends, the protagonist picks up all the souvenirs from his friends. However, when Sophia was about to plan a route to go back home, she suddenly senses a Jail under Tokyo itself, with EMMA's central server in Tokyo Tower being the source. Zenkichi also phones the protagonist that EMMA has fired itself up again, and not even Madicce personnel can shut it down. The party and Zenkichi rush to the Tower, discovering a massive group of people standing under it, waiting for salvation and the ultimate answer to happiness. The EMMA application greets the party to the "Promised Land" and automatically drags them in with the Metaverse Navigator.
The Final Jail[]
Said promised land is actually the Jail of the Abyss, which takes the form of an area resembling the Depths of Mementos. The voices that only Sophia can hear also return. Once they reach the center of the Jail, they find EMMA, which has now evolved into a physical God known as the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant briefly greets them and vanishes, followed by Ichinose appearing in front of the party, exposing herself as the mastermind.
Ichinose explains that she used the EMMA application as a front to help her research human desires and find the ultimate answer to happiness. She sold it to Konoe so EMMA could use him to spread itself into the public. The Change of Hearts were actually performed by overwriting all other desires with the one "true" desire, and it was a default ability on the application even before Shuzo and Konoe meddled with it. However, the Jails were not responsible for EMMA's current state; instead, daily counseling from the application by the public triggers the changes. The public's cognition had also considered EMMA a granter of wishes, so she was capable of firing herself back up on her own volition and prevent the servers from shutting down. The Phantom Thieves tell Ichinose that she's just brainwashing people, and Sophia denies the premise of her actions to be "salvation." She snaps, and announces her special role that she is sent here by EMMA to kill the Phantom Thieves.
Ichinose uses the basis that Sophia is actually a failed EMMA prototype and demonstrates it by commanding her to attack the party. The Thieves are hesitant to hurt one of their own, instead attempting to find a way to pacify her. During the scuffle, the protagonist is hit by Sophia and begins bleeding. Noticing the blood dripping from her friend's face, Sophia hesitates and falls off the platform, apologizing for harming them. After the initial confrontation, the researcher drops off her pretenses and exposes herself as a misanthrope without a heart, before summoning a diamond to knock the party off the cliff and to the bottom of the Jail. The Thieves are able to fight their way back to the platform.
When the party returns to Ichinose, they attempt to convince her that the human heart is undeniable, angering her. She summons a massive herd of Shadows to buy time for her to charge up the diamond again, this proves to be successful, only for Sophia to return in time and block the attack. She attempts to convince Ichinose that EMMA is a misguided creation because it does not understand the human heart, and thus is unable to understand humanity. Ichinose reveals that she shut off her emotions for unknown reasons and refused to display any even if her parents died, and because of this, people around her saw her as being abnormal. In order to see if she was indeed abnormal for "lacking a heart," she created Sophia to understand the human heart, only for her to scrap Sophia because she asked a question that caused her to snap. This led to her working on EMMA instead, who was wasn't able of understanding the heart, but only desires. Unfortunately, due to lacking a heart, EMMA believes that humanity's true desire is for it to think for them, since it only collects the queries and not their contents. Ichinose continues to attempt brainwashing of her creation to no avail, instead causing Sophia to realize the true meaning of the human heart and fully awakens her Pithos into Pandora. The turn of events sends Ichinose into a fit of rage. She summons a Hecatoncheir and additional Shadows as a last ditch deterrant, but her distraction over Sophia's heart allows Futaba to disable the crystal and the Shadows fall soon after. Once defeated, Ichinose begs for her death, but to no avail and is convinced by Sophia to ditch her heartless former self, and then breaks out her first tears. Reforming for good, the party escort her out of the Jail.
Once the party and Ichinose return to the surface world, more and more people flock to Tokyo Tower waiting for salvation. The city blacks out and a massive tree of light sprouts out from the tower, melding the Metaverse with the real world once again with an Eden-like structure, the Tree of Knowledge. The party scales the tree and reaches the Ark of the Covenant, only for it to outright refuse combat and ask them to hear the public's voices. The Ark traps them in an infinite path of fog, but the party is able to escape from it. Once the protagonist returns back to reality, a desire fog can be seen, which must be materialized by sending a calling card to it. However, EMMA knows exactly how a Calling Card works (and thus cannot be affected by it herself) and the Desires lack an owner. Ann deduces that the party should send the Calling Cards to the public instead. Returning to EMMA's servers, Futaba tries to hack the system, but finds herself outplayed by its security protocols until Ichinose arrives and begins helping her, eventually replacing EMMA's interface with a calling card notice, summoning the False God Demiurge from the Ark and defeating her after a grueling fight and a 10-man All-Out Attack.
The Demiurge and the tree have vanished, the crowd near Tokyo Tower reverts to normal, and the destruction was undone as if it never happened. Zenkichi parts ways with the Thieves, thanking them for their assistance in the case and now full of resolve to put Owada behind bars for good. Returning to Leblanc for a celebratory meal, Sophia tells the group that she heard the Demiurge admitting that she and the Phantom Thieves' assessment of humanity was correct, hoping that they can continue the work in her stead. The next day, before the party splits ways, Ichinose requests to meet them in Shibuya's central square. To their initial disdain, she does not appear on time, but instead they witness the news announce Owada's arrest by the police for his various crimes due to Konoe's testimony, along with suspicion that he was involved in the turmoil last year and ordered his secretary's death.
Ichinose then arrives and greets the group, apologizing for her tardiness as she was held up in the police station longer than usual. Despite admitting her crimes to the police, they did not believe her testimony and let her go. Sophia then asks the protagonist if she can accompany Ichinose on her journey, hoping to help her and others with what she learned from the Thieves. The protagonist gives her his approval, with everyone promising that they would reunite some day. As Ichinose and Sophia leave, the protagonist gets an email from Sophia and opens its contents, revealing a photo of the entire group, which she has labeled "Treasure".
Characters[]
- Main article: List of Persona 5 Strikers Characters
Playable Characters[]
- Protagonist: The leader of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. He returns to Tokyo during his summer vacation and reunites with his former teammates, who join him on investigating the new mysterious cases that occur around Japan.
- Morgana: The loyal guide of the Phantom Thieves. A strange cat-like creature that attains the appearance of a normal cat in the real world. He returns to Tokyo with the protagonist during his summer vacation. After restoring his memories in the previous case, he is shown to be more relaxed and laid-back.
- Ryuji Sakamoto: A former track team athlete. He returned to his daily routine after their previous case was over, but was still unable to study accordingly.
- Ann Takamaki: A quarter-American girl and part-time model. Shows a strong will to help those in need.
- Yusuke Kitagawa: An aspiring third-year artist attending Kosei High School. His passion for art makes him utter otherworldly thoughts that are often confusing for others.
- Makoto Niijima: Former student council president of Shujin Academy. She is currently a law student aiming to work in the police. Her strict and serious attitude from last year has been mellowed, and her issues with her elder sister were successfully ironed out.
- Futaba Sakura: A former shut-in hacker who serves as the Phantom Thieves' rear support and navigator. After the previous case was over, she's grown accustomed to others and started attending school.
- Haru Okumura: The daughter of the president of a major food manufacturer, Okumura Foods. She lost her father during their work as Phantom Thieves last year. As a former student of Shujin Academy, she is currently involved in the management of Okumura Foods while studying agriculture at university.
- Sophia: A mysterious AI who meets the protagonist in the basement of Shibuya's Jail. She has no memories of herself and only remembers that she is humanity's friend. She joins the Phantom Thieves in their investigation. She uses her hood as a mask and wields yo-yos and blasters in combat. Her codename is "Sophie" and her Persona is Pithos, after the large storage container.
- Zenkichi Hasegawa: A member of the Kyoto Prefectural Police. He's the investigator in charge of looking into the mysterious conversion cases that occur in various parts in Japan, and contacts the Phantom Thieves to help him. He eventually awakens to his Persona and joins the Phantom Thieves. He wears a pinpoint blindfold as a mask and uses dual pistols and two-handed swords. His codename is "Wolf" and his Persona is Valjean, after the literary former convict.
Supporting Characters[]
- Lavenza: A resident of the Velvet Room. She is responsible for merging Personas in place of Igor, who seems to be absent.
- Sojiro Sakura: The manager of Café Leblanc and Futaba's adoptive father. He reunites with the protagonist during his visit back to Tokyo.
- Alice Hiiragi: An idol with unique fashion and songs that gains uncanny popularity in Shibuya. Behind the scenes however, she can instantly snap and attack others.
- Ango Natsume: A writer in Sendai and the author of "Prince of Nightmare," a novel that gains abnormal popularity in this specific city.
- Kuon Ichinose: A mysterious woman who meets the group at a beef tongue shop in Sendai. She is enthusiastic to help the party out with investigating the EMMA application.
- Mariko Hyodo: A charismatic politician in Sapporo who was an acquaintance of Haru Okumura's father. She wishes to make Sapporo a beautiful city without stagnation.
- Akane Hasegawa: The daughter of Zenkichi Hasegawa who lives in Kyoto. She is a huge fan of the Phantom Thieves, but has shown to be distant with her father.
- Akira Konoe: The president of a company named "Madicce", a global IT company headquartered in Osaka which provides innovative services. He is in charge of maintaining the EMMA app and has an unrelenting stance for his own version of justice.
- Miyako Kaburagi: Zenkichi's boss and a firm police enforcer.
- Jyun Owada: The Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan. He's incompetent and easily manipulated.
- Sae Niijima: Makoto's sister, currently a defense attorney. The party calls her for help at one point during their trip.
Gameplay[]
Difficulty[]
Before starting a game, players must choose between 3 difficulties: EASY, NORMAL and HARD. They may change the difficulty at any time when outside battle or during an in-game cutscene. If one has not played a Warriors-style game or a real-time RPG before, it's recommended to set the game difficulty on EASY in order to adjust to an unfamiliar combat system, particularly because unlike Persona 5, the game is considered challenging on NORMAL by many players.
If one has seen the game's ending and cleared the quest to defeat the Ultimate boss, New Game Plus will be unlocked, and they might choose to play a new cycle in RISKY difficulty (MERCILESS in English). Enemies in RISKY have abnormally high stats and certain bonuses exclusive to New Game Plus are disabled. Furthermore, one may raise all their Persona's stats to 99, party members' included.
Summer Trip[]
Sendai, Japan
Although the calendar makes a return in Strikers, the time consumption system of mainline Persona games is absent: the protagonist's choices during the tour will not pass time, and the group no longer has to work under strict deadlines.
The protagonist can shop from local stores during their travel, with items corresponding to the region they're in. On the other hand, they will have constant access to Sophia's Shop, which builds up on items as the story progresses.
In Joker's Kitchen, the protagonist can cook food that can restore HP and SP in dungeons, and potentially have secondary effects. Each dish requires different ingredients to be made.
Combat[]
The protagonist in combat, selecting a skill.
Strikers' combat system is a mixture between Dynasty Warriors's hack-and-slash and Persona's RPG tactics. Instead of being turn-based, the battle takes place on the field in real time. However, when selecting Persona skills from a menu, the battle will pause, allowing for tactical positioning. All members of the Phantom Thieves can be controlled both in and out of battle in the Metaverse, and are able to be switched manually via Baton Pass or in certain moments with Follow Up attacks.
The party members will be able to learn special moves, also known as Master Arts, that can be unlocked through command inputs between two buttons in the specific orders.
If a party member fills the Showtime gauge from damaging enemies, they'll be able to initiate a powerful Showtime attack.
The protagonist can collect Personas as drops from defeating enemies in battle and fusing them in the Velvet Room.
The BOND system allows all party members to access and upgrade useful perks, by exchanging with special points that can be accumulated through winning battles or progressing the story. Over the course of the story, more abilities will be unlocked.
Early Purchase Bonus and Downloadable Contents[]
In Japan[]
There was an early purchase version of the game in Japan, which included the following battle BGM tracks from the series for free:
- Persona Sound Set
- Megami Ibunroku Persona: "Normal Battle - Refined Version"
- Persona (PSP): "A Lone Prayer"
- Persona 2 Sound Set
- Persona 2: Innocent Sin (PSP): "Normal Battle"
- Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (PSP): "Normal Battle"
- Persona 3 Sound Set
- Persona 3: "Mass Destruction"
- Persona 3 Portable: "Wiping All Out"
- Persona 4 Sound Set
- Persona 4: "Reach Out To The Truth"
- Persona 4 Golden: "Time To Make History"
Having the Sound Sets lets the player replace the regular battle BGM with the music from said sets. Each of these sets can also be purchased as DLC for 300 yen per set. Furthermore, if the player imports Persona 5 or Persona 5 Royal save data into Strikers for the PS4 version or Super Smash Bros. Ultimate save data for the Switch version, or after completing the game on the PC version, they can obtain a Sound Set of Persona 5's and Persona 5 Royal's battle themes, "Last Surprise" and "Take Over."
Global[]
The battle BGM is bundled in the "Legacy BGM Pack" DLC.
Additionally, a new DLC, the All-Out Attack Pack includes several items for support in gameplay, mostly a collection of Skill Cards, 1 each:
- Boost Skills Pack
- Basic Affinity Pack
- Enemy Debuff Skills Pack
- Ally Buff Skills Pack
- Armor Pack
- 10K Persona points
Both DLCs were made available for purchase on February 24th.
If bought digitally, the Standard Edition of the game contains several bonuses, such as a soundtrack with over 40 songs, a digital art book, and a behind-the-scenes video.
Special editions[]
In Japan[]
Persona 5 Strikers was released for the PlayStation 4 and the Nintendo Switch in Japan for 9,680 yen on February 20, 2020.
A 13,800 yen Limited Edition called Persona 5 Strikers Treasure Box includes the following additional content:
- Persona 5 Strikers art book
- Persona 5 Strikers soundtrack
- Theme Song Making-Of Blu-ray Movie
- A 350mm x 900 mm hand towel
- Special illustrated box
Global[]
The Digital Deluxe Edition allows purchasers to access the game early, on February 19, 2021. Also, both the Persona Legacy BGM and All-Out Attack packs are bundled in the collection.
Gallery[]
- General
(Facebook; Tweet; pixiv)
- Screenshots
- Wallpapers and Headers
- Release Date Mobile Wallpapers
- Concept Art
Videos[]
- Trailers
- Character Trailers
- Traveling Morgana Newsletters
In Other Languages[]
| Language | Title |
|---|---|
 English
|
Persona 5 Strikers |
 Japanese
|
ペルソナ５スクランブル ザ・ファントムストライカーズ (Perusona 5 Sukaranburu Za Fantomu Sutoraikaazu) |
| File:Flag of South Korea.svg Korean | 페르소나 5 스크램블 더 팬텀 스트라이커즈 (Pereusona 5 Seukeuraembeul Deo Paenteom Seuteuraikeojeu) |
| File:Flag of Hong Kong.svgFile:Flag of the Republic of China.svg Traditional Chinese | 女神異聞錄5 亂戰：魅影攻手 (Nǚshén yìwén lù 5 luàn zhàn: Mèiyǐng gōng shǒu) (Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers) |
| File:Flag of France.svg French | Persona 5 Strikers |
| File:Flag of Italy.svg Italian | Persona 5 Strikers |
| File:Flag of Germany.svg German | Persona 5 Strikers |
| File:Flag of Spain.svg Spanish | Persona 5 Strikers |
Trivia[]
- Persona 5 Strikers is the first Persona game released on Nintendo Switch.
- It is also the third Persona game overall to be released on Nintendo hardware, after the Persona Q games on the Nintendo 3DS.
- It is also the first original Megami Tensei game in general to be released on the system, and the second overall after Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE.
- Persona 5 Strikers is the second Persona game to be released on Steam, the first being Persona 4 Golden.
- The game takes around 45 hours to complete.[1]
- Loading times in this game are significantly slower than in Persona 5 or Persona 5 Royal, especially on the Nintendo Switch. On the PlayStation 5 however, loading times are significantly faster and comparable to those in Persona 5 Royal in the PS4.
- The marketing behind the Japanese release date (2.20.2020) is tied to the concept that Persona 5 Strikers is the 2nd entry in the Persona 5 series.
- In addition, in the 2nd Japanese PV trailer, the logo of the game has temporarily transformed into P52 (lit. "Persona Five Two") before returning back to its normal look as P5S.
Morgana singing the P5S jingle
- The Japanese release date for Strikers has a complementary meaning behind it: The "2's" seem to be pronounced as "Nya", and the "0s" as "o." This serves as wordplay for the Japanese onomatopoeia for "Meow." It's used as part of a jingle to advertise the game, sung by Morgana: "Persona 5S; 2020.2.20!" Template:J. Before the game's release, it could be played at the bottom of the Japanese Persona 5 Strikers website.
- Strikers was initially planned to be a "Persona Warriors" game spanning multiple titles. However, when coming together with Atlus for a story, it was decided to make it a direct sequel to Persona 5 and focus on continuing its story.[2] Another early concept was for the game to have the cast time travel to the Warring States era.
- All characters original to this game are designed by Koei instead of Atlus, although it was done under Atlus' supervision to ensure their designs are faithful to Persona's worldview.
- One of the early design drafts in the gameplay of Persona 5 was the action-based system incorporating real-time elements, but it was scrapped in fear of sudden changes making fans uncomfortable. The draft could have been modified and implemented to Persona 5 Strikers.[3]
- The font Optima Nova is used for the dialogue in Strikers, which is the same one in Persona 5 Royal and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight.
- In the Japanese version of Strikers, the font, FOT-Slump Std (FOT-スランプStd), is left unchanged between games of the Persona 5 series.
- In the Traditional Chinese version of Strikers, the font was changed from ordinary round sans to FZYiHei (方正藝黑) in favor of distinction and stylishness.
- In comparison to the Japanese box art for Strikers, the Western one has been mildly modified: instead of having Ryuji be punched in the face by a Shadow in a comical fashion, his artwork has been modified to one where he falls down wielding his weapon while the Shadow grabs him by the ascot. This is because the ESRB does not allow video game box arts to depict violent blows to the head.[4]
- Some parts of Striker's English transcript might be substiantially different compared to the Japanese and Chinese versions.
- Although unable to make more concrete references due to largely simultaneous development cycles, the game semi-implies that it can also be applied to Persona 5 Royal's continuity instead of just the original Persona 5.
- During the night of the first day of the game, the protagonist ends up in the Velvet Room during a dream, as usual, but with Lavenza as the sole resident. However, during her greeting, she refers to the protagonist's world as "the future he should've stolen back". This term could actually be associated with the collapse of Maruki's altered reality, and doesn't make much sense as a reference to the Qliphoth World (Nevertheless, the Western localization differs from the Eastern scripts where it instead references "the public whose hearts you strove to greatly to change.").
- Not once in Strikers does Morgana talk about becoming or wanting to be human (though he still gets upset when he's called a cat as a running gag). After the Phantom Thieves of Hearts defeat Yaldabaoth in the Persona 5's ending, he still wants to become human, and specifically cites finding a way to do so as a reason to continue to stay with Joker. In Persona 5 Royal however, after the Thieves deny Maruki's reality, he completely accepts that he is not a human. In the ending after Maruki is defeated, Morgana tells Joker that no matter what he is, he will always be Joker's sidekick.
- During the final act, Morgana will talk about "A palace that bled into reality half a year ago" while the Phantom Thieves and Ichinose are under the Tokyo Tower prison, which is clearly based on Eden. While Mementos bled in reality, the landscape that was the Qliphoth World was far from any depiction of Eden, including the Psientific Model at the heart of Maruki's Palace (This only occurs in the Eastern script; in the Western version, Morgana states that the Metaverse corrosions occurred "last year," which puts Maruki's Palace out of the question, as it takes place in January).
- In the post-credits cutscene, the Phantom Thieves say they will part ways again, which they did for the first time during Persona 5 Royal's true ending, in the Persona 5 ending, the Phantom Thieves never separate and leave together in Makoto's van.
- While not a story reference, both the songs AI Heart and Towards a Dream share a motif with Throw Away Your Mask, the final boss theme from Royal.
- So far, this is the fourth Persona game with translations outside Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean.
External Links[]
- Official Western Website
- Official Japanese Website
- Official Korean Website
- Official Traditional Chinese Website
- Steam page
References[]
- ↑ Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers Famitsu Review Score: 36/40, Impressions, Story is 45 Hours Long Persona Central (Reggy, February 12, 2020)
- ↑ Persona 5 Scramble Was Originally Planned as ‘Persona Warriors’ Siliconera (SATO, January 26, 2020)
- ↑ かつてないプレイ体験を──満を持して発売された『ペルソナ５』の開発裏話【特集最終回】 PlayStation.Blog (PS.Blog Staff, September 21, 2016)
- ↑ Advertising Principles and Guidelines, esrb.org
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