2026 is a huge year for Persona, with the series celebrating its 30th anniversary. If you’ve yet to catch up on the series, now is the best time to do so. Beyond the standard mainline games, Persona has seen spin-offs here and there, but Persona 5, in particular, has seen a suite of them.
Persona 5 Strikers from Omega Force is actually set after the events of Persona 5, and the recently released Persona 5: The Phantom X brings many new characters into the fold. However, the most interesting spin-off is arguably Persona 5 Tactica, a strategy-based spin-off that is similar to XCOM. If you’ve yet to check out this game, Best Buy has a great deal to pick up a copy for only $10.
Persona 5 Tactica for $9.99
Persona 5 Tactica falls in line with the story of Persona 5, with the game actually taking place during the base game. One day, the party is transported away to an alternate reality called a Kingdom, and these worlds are where Tactica takes place. DLC was also made available for Persona 5 Tactica, in the form of Repaint Your Heart, which brought back familiar faces Goro Akechi and Kasumi Yoshizawa.
In each Kingdom, you control up to three characters and move them around a grid-based map to take down enemies. Many of Persona 5’s unique combat mechanics are implemented here in familiar ways, such as the 1 More mechanic when attacking an enemy and knocking them to the ground.
Noah Hunter is a freelance writer and reviewer with a passion for games and technology. He co-founded Final Weapon, an outlet focused on nonsense-free Japanese gaming (in 2019) and has contributed to various publishers writing about the medium.
