Persona 5 Strikers (Nintendo Switch)

[no spoilers] [check 2nd last paragraph for switch version (above summary)]
INTRO
this game is an action rpg spin-off, it is also a sequel to the original (not royal) persona 5. as it’s a spin-off, the price may look steep but i promise it’s worth it – as it’s an entirely new game with a new story, new combat, new characters and brilliant voice acting from the original persona 5 cast + more.

The main story has themes of societal corruption, pursuing your true self and having to save others, which are synonymous with the rest of the persona franchise.
COMBAT/MECHANICS
For SMT: Devil Summoner fans, this game is a good intro to the persona franchise, however, i’d advise that you’re at least familiar with the basics of Persona 5 as this is a sequel. The reason im saying this is because Persona 5 Strikers (p5s) is an action rpg, like the devil summoner series, it involves the use of demons (or Personas) in combat. The combat maintains certain features from persona 4/5 including ‘1 more’, ‘all out attacks’ and showtime attacks from persona 5. However, the style of combat is actually most similar to the warriors games as it is co-developed by koei tecmo. Even though the combat is similar to warriors, it’s not exactly a ‘persona 5 warriors’ per se – moreso a persona game, with the turn based combat replaced with action through the use of combos, melee and long range damage but most importantly – persona skills. pressing and holding the right bumper will bring up a menu in which you can use your persona (equipped demon, which you can collect and fuse to make stronger demons. similar to pokemon, but megami tensei – persona’s parent franchise did it first. more on this later) to cast spells to attack, buff, debuff, heal and inflict ailments. in MegaTen games, buffs, ailments and debuffs are much more useful than other rpg’s, as they have much more effect and inflicting the right ailments will allow you to get technical attacks which deal additional damage, all these mechanics come with weaknesses you can exploit with most demons/personas in this game – exploiting these will help you deal loads of damage and makes you feel like a pro when you pull off a devastating blow.
PERSONA FUSION
The demon/persona fusion mechanic is also present as this is a MegaTen game – it functions most similarly to Megami Tensei games from persona 4 golden onwards, with the ability to choose certain inherited skills, having a list of which personas/demons you can fuse overall making the experience to fuse the perfect persona/demon a lot less luck-based. unlike with other monster collecting rpg’s, Megami Tensei (including persona 5 strikers) doesn’t encourage you to keep the monsters (in this case Personas or demons) you collect and instead requires you to fuse them to create more powerful Personas once your current ones begin to lag behind in combat.
COMBOS AND SP
Persona skills require SP (similar to MP in final fantasy/dragon quest or PP in pokmon) which is hard to come by in the early game and will be hard to manage at first – i recommend learning how to use combos, as the same three combos will cause different personas to cast different skills without costing SP.
Joker (main character) has the ability to hold multiple personas at once, whereas the rest of the cast only have one, meaning you will need to organise your party to find out who works best in battle to target weaknesses in certain areas of the game. Using other party members to cast skills can also help Joker save his SP as he is the most useful.
STORY (no spoilers)
I won’t go too much into the story (only before 1st boss) to avoid spoilers, but it involves Joker and the Phantom thieves being reintroduced to the metaverse – worlds created by different people’s cognition. In here they defeat the shadow of whoever’s jail (area of the metaverse they control) to “change their heart” and stop them from taking other people’s desires so the masses do their bidding. There is an over-arching plot as to the reason people do this and it really begins to get interesting after the 3rd jail. I especially like the new character, Sophia’s character arc as well as the heartfelt story of the other new addition – Zenkichi.
The game also has a handful of side quests which can grant you rewards and the ability to fuse more powerful personas, completing certain ones of these will allow you to unlock new game + and the merciless difficulty.

SWITCH PERFORMANCE
i own this game on the switch and im surprised at how well it runs. by no means is it as good as the ps4/5 and pc editions, but for a switch game it’s incredibly solid. The frame rate has only slowed when ive played in handheld mode, specifically when a mass of enemies appears, when i’m performing an all-out-attack or using a skill with a detailed animation at the same time as inflicting an ailment. The models have a lower resolution which can bother some people, if you’re unsure i suggest looking up a demo on youtube.
SUMMARY
Very fun, action rpg and a worthy follow up to the original persona 5 with a detailed plot, interesting and slick mechanics – cried at the ending.