Video Game / Persona 5 Tactica

Due to its nature as a sequel, spoilers for the original Persona 5 (or the first nine months of Royal) are left unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

Revolutionize your heart.

The mind is its own place, and in it self,
Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n.

-Paradise Lost by John Milton

Persona 5 Tactica is a 2023 Turn-Based Strategy Role-Playing Game spin-off of Persona 5 developed by Atlus. It released for PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch on November 17, 2023.

During a particularly cold day, the Phantom Thieves convene at Leblanc for some relaxation, only for the cafe to be caught up in a mysterious phenomenon that sends the Phantom Thieves into a strange world. They have little time to analyze their surroundings, however, as they're beset by Queen Marie, a tyrant who rules the Kingdom with an iron fist. Thankfully, they don't have to face this new threat alone: Erina, leader of the Rebel Corps, collaborates with the Phantom Thieves to overthrow Marie in exchange for helping them find a way back to their world.

Their task isn't an easy one, nor is it so simple: Also wrapped up in this mess is Toshiro Kasukabe, a politician who mysteriously went missing some time ago. Toshiro can't remember how or why he ended up in the Kingdom at all.

What exactly are these Kingdoms? And what is Toshiro's role in all this? Either way, Joker and the Phantom Thieves of Hearts are back in action!

Previews:

• Announcement Trailer
• Second Trailer
• Third Trailer
• Launch Trailer

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Persona 5 Tactica includes examples of the following:

• Absurdly High Level Cap: As is typically the case for a Persona title, the level cap is 99, while the game can be beaten by the time you're in the mid-60s. Even if you complete all the side quests and collect every battle bonus along the way, you'll only be in the mid-80s.
• Alliterative Name: All of the Mooks in the Third Kingdom follow this: Hostile Husk, Hollow Hellion, Devoid Drummer, Missing Madam, and Nonexistent Ninja.
• Ambiguous Time Period:
  • Downplayed for the main story, they mention a few milestones in the timeline: the events with Shido and Yaldabaoth took place in the previous year, Ryuji alludes to Maruki, Makoto and Haru have yet to graduate, and Joker has yet to return home. This indicates that it occurs sometime between February 13th, when Joker is released from prison, and March 20th, when Joker leaves Tokyo. And due to the snowy weather, it's likely sometime in February.
  • The Repaint Your Heart DLC is a bit more muddled. It is most likely supposed to take place during the Casino heist, as Akechi is currently cooperating with the Phantom Thieves while wearing his Crow outfit and wielding Robin Hood, Yoshizawa is still using her deceased sister's name, neither of them are aware of each other being Persona-users, and Akechi keeps his circumstances secret in front of Yoshizawa, who decides to not pry further believing it is "a complicated situation." However, Guernica is still a passionate fan of the Phantom Thieves during a period where their reputation is supposedly in ruins^note Though this could be explained by her having a deep-seated rebel's spirit, which she does, and/or her being desperate for anything that could possibly help her break free of Jerri's brainwashing before she went irrevocably insane, which she was; the casino Palace itself is neither referenced nor mentioned in any way, unlike the collaboration event in Another Eden and Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth; Akechi acts more like his Black Mask self (a side of him that he's gone to great lengths to hide up to that point) compared to his appearance in Q2^note Although this might simply narrow it down further to taking place after his Rank 8 event, where he shows more of his true colors to Joker; and the Velvet Room is nowhere to be found or heard, with no explanation other than possibly being inaccessible due to the circumstances.
• Ascended Extra: On New Game Plus, Yoshizawa is playable for almost the entire game and is treated as a member in battle, whereas in Royal she doesn't join until the final arc. Downplayed, however, as she (along with Akechi) is not involved in the plot and given the game's short (by series' standards) length, her playtime isn't that much longer than her base game in the first place.
• Arc Welding: The "Repaint Your Heart" DLC is a prequel story taking place during an unknown time period between Niijima's Palace and the Third Semester. Retroactively, it also takes place prior to the events of Tactica, which takes place sometime between the events of Persona 5 and Persona 5 Strikers.
• Art Shift: During the flashback where Natsuhara passes her will of rebellion to Toshiro, a close-up of her face is shown. However, she is drawn in a more detailed style similar to the one mainline games use rather than this game's standard deformed style. This is the only time this happens in the game.
• Art-Shifted Sequel: The art style seen in the trailer vaguely resembles the style of the Persona Q duology, but gameplay footage eschews the traditional Super-Deformed style for ones with more heavily exaggerated limbs.
• Bag of Spilling: Although the game is a spin-off title, it nonetheless takes place after the events of Royal. The Phantom Thieves, however, are not at the top of their game as they all note that their powers aren't as potent as they should be, nor are they working properly; most drastically, Futaba loses her entire offensive skillset (e.g. Position Hack). Even Lazenza is affected by whatever the Kingdom is; the Velvet Room has been ripped from Igor's influence, forcing Lavenza to take up her master's role and make a few modifications to accommodate Joker's Wild Card abilities.
• Bittersweet Ending: The Phantom Thieves and Toshiro return to the real world, with Toshiro's spirit of rebellion renewed by his experiences, and his first action being to expose his father and now-former fiance's crimes. The fallout is great, though, with his political standing damaged and his future prospects uncertain. Even still, it ends as optimistically as it can: Toshiro is willing to build back up his career despite the bumpy road ahead, and the last scene shows him finally reuniting with Eri.
• Black Bug Room: The Kingdoms turn out to be this for Toshiro, especially the Third Kingdom, as they were designed by Salmael to deliberately use his worst memories and experiences to break his spirit so that he couldn't influence society to rebellion if he ever became Prime Minister.
• Boss Rush: The fourth Kingdom is basically this, deploying monochromatic echoes of the first three Kingdoms' rulers along the way to the final boss.
• Brainwashed:
  • The tyrant Marie has the power to dominate the minds of anyone she manages to ensnare, even Persona-users. Except for Joker and Morgana, she manages to inflict this on the Phantom Thieves, which is reflected by their masks turning white with a kiss mark. Though there's a bit of Insistent Terminology with it:
    Marie: (through Futaba) "Brainwashed"? How dare you equate my handiwork to something so common as cleaning!? This is domination! From every corner of their minds to every sense in their bodies, I am the one in control!
  • The whole plot of Repaint Your Heart is that Jerri scrubbed Guernica's mind of her memories and personality, turning her into an Omnicidal Maniac, and Luca is trying to break the spell.
• But Now I Must Go: At the end of the adventure, the Phantom Thieves have to leave Erina behind, as she is a part of Toshiro's psyche and cannot enter the real world.
• Call-Back:
  • During the tutorial, your initial party is Joker, Mona, and Skull, just like in Persona 5 and Strikers.
  • Though he's not mentioned by name, Takuto Maruki is directly referenced by Ryuji during the story when he describes Shujin as having had "nosy counselors," as the game takes place shortly after his defeat.
  • Morgana functions as the navigator during the time Futaba is brainwashed by Marie early in the game.
• Call-Forward:
  • In the opening sequence, the Phantom Thieves discuss how Joker will be leaving at the end of the school year. But how they won't be apart for long and they can go to the beach again.
  • Similiarly, in the ending, Morgana hopes they can get at least a half a year to relax, which is the amount of time between the end of the game and Strikers.
  • During the epilogue of the "Repaint Your Heart" story, Guernica comments that "Big Sis" will always be with her and Kasumi is noticeably affected by the sentiment. This alludes to the later reveal (chronologically speaking) from Persona 5 Royal that she is actually Sumire, brainwashed into thinking she’s Kasumi.
  • Also in the DLC, there are far more signs of Akechi's true personality than during his last spinoff appearance in Q2. He speaks in a far colder and condescending tone on multiple occasions, has several battle lines that are much more aggressive and profane, one of his portraits features a sinister glare, and Luca initially thinks of him as "some heartless, hyper-rational bastard..."
• Cerebus Syndrome: While there's no shortage of dark moments in the game, the humor becomes almost non-existent when the party reaches the Nakabachi Kingdom. The cognitive tyrant of the Kingdom is a personal enemy of Toshiro's, and the arc itself is one big Wham Episode that is followed up by the reveal the entirety of Tactica is a giant attempt at psychologically breaking Toshiro by the game's Big Bad in an attempt to prevent him from becoming a threat to the masses.
• The Cloudcuckoolander Was Right: When Toshiro is first briefed on the world he's ended up in and the company he now has, he initially thinks it's all insane, and he must be dreaming. "Or perhaps some dystopian organization is experimenting on constructing worlds directly in people's brains!" Morgana immediately dismisses both points, but considering this is a Persona game, it comes as little surprise that the latter isn't far from the truth.
• Combination Attack: A variant of the All-Out Attack called the Triple Threat, where three characters team up to deal massive damage to all enemies within a certain field range, which is based upon the size of the triangle formed between the three characters. The triangle has no size limit if the Thieves can spread out enough; the only requirements are that at least one enemy within is knocked down, all three party members are healthy, and the character initiating the Triple Threat has a One More.
• Composite Character: In terms of appearance and abilities, Akechi is mostly the same as he portrays himself up until Sae's Palace. However, some of his dialogue and personality mix his Detective Prince persona and his true self as the Black Mask as he comes off as condescending and arrogant. If he gets hit with friendly fire, he'll snarl at you for your mistake.
• Continuity Snarl:
  • The same one as in Strikers, although unlike that one, this game is all but stated to take place in the Royal timeline after Maruki is defeated: Morgana still takes offense to being called a cat, despite him stating in Exact Words "Oh wait, I guess I am a cat" shortly after the third semester begins.
  • If you use Akechi in battle in the DLC or New Game Plus, who uses Robin Hood and wears his Crow outfit, he acts unambiguously like when becomes a party member in his Black Mask self from Royal's Third Semester if you accidentally knock him back, screaming at you angrily for your mistake in a way he never does during Niijima's Palace in the main game.
  • Similarly to Strikers, Joker has the option to (possibly jokingly) hint to Lavenza that he forgot who she was upon their first meeting in the game. While it's somewhat justifiable in the former due to the long chronological gap, Tactica takes place possibly mere days after Joker is released from prison, which itself happened just a week after Lavenza herself informed him reality was restored. That, on top of her being the source of knowledge of the last two arcs of the original game, makes his comment seem baffling, even if he's just playing around. Lavenza even notes she'd be disturbed if Joker wasn't speaking in jest about forgetting her.
• Darker and Edgier: The Repaint Your Heart DLC is significantly darker than the main story. The colors are much darker on the Streets than with the Kingdoms (all the vibrant paint notwithstanding), there's less humor present, the background OST mostly consists of gritty street grunge and rap, the resident Big Bad literally attempts omnicide, and the main supporting character's backstory proves to be even more tragic than Toshiro's. Not to mention your only allies are Akechi with aspects of his Black Mask persona slipping out and Kasumi still using her dead sister's identity. Even the game over screen becomes bleaker, replacing a Paradise Lost quote with a poem by a journalist describing the destruction caused by the real-life bombing of Guernica.
• Defiant to the End: Lady Marie and Lord Yoshiki both laugh triumphantly and viciously mock Toshiro even as they fade from existence upon defeat.
• Destructive Saviour: Yoshiki tries to guilt-trip Toshiro by painting him as one at the end of the second Kingdom, as his revolution succeeds but leaves the city heavily damaged (admittedly by Yoshiki's own forces) and a lot of casualties including Yuki. It initially just looks like a diatribe from an insane ruler, but given the fact that the Kingdoms created by extracting memories from Toshiro's mind, this likely represents the incident at his old high school, where exposing a corrupt teacher caused a domino effect of horrible collateral damage that left him believing taking a stand would only lead to bad things.
• Developer's Foresight:
  • If you do a quest after the Kingdom it was unlocked in, the cutscenes in between will have borders and less vibrant colors to present itself as a flashback.
  • Although Akechi and Yoshizawa are not playable in the main game until shortly after the very beginning of New Game Plus, even if you beat the DLC beforehand, Futaba has a full set of navigator lines acknowledging them each by codename if you use them, which could've easily been overlooked since they have zero effect on the plot. Especially noteworthy for the latter since there is no reference to her codename elsewhere.
  • Players can try visiting the Velvet Room after being asked to come back later by Lavenza, where she has a unique set of dialogue when Joker tries visiting the Velvet Room before she calls him to show him how Fusion works. The player can do this up to six times, with each visit slowly getting on Lavenza's nerves.
• Downloadable Content: There are three pieces of DLC:
  • The "Repaint Your Heart" challenge pack, featuring a campaign that involves Joker being dragged into an unknown Kingdom with Kasumi Yoshizawa and Goro Akechi coming along for the ride. Completing the campaign allows the player to use Crow and Violet in New Game Plus playthroughs of the main game, along with additional mini missions that have pre-set character skills and Sub-Persona sets.
  • Downloadable Personas, including Raoul and the Picaro Personas.^note The original Personas (such as Messiah or Izanagi-no-Okami) are in the main game but can only be fused in New Game Plus
  • A "Picaro"-themed weapons pack.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: At the end of the "Repaint Your Heart" campaign, Guernica promises to meet the Phantom Thieves again, even if they don't remember meeting before; when they wake in the real world immediately after this, Joker, Akechi, and Kasumi have no recollection of the DLC's events.
• Foreshadowing:
  • When Toshiro is mentioned having gone missing in the news report, the Phantom Thieves speculate why he disappeared, with Morgana dismissing that it could have been him "just dealing with some family stuff". Morgana's not too far off the mark when they all learn how the first two Tyrants are connected to Toshiro in the real world.
  • There's plenty for the true nature of Erina:
    • Toshiro and Erina both call Morgana a "catfish" on their first meeting.^note this is not something added in the English script; both Toshiro and Erina call Morgana a catfish (ナマズ, Namazu) in the Japanese script This hints that Erina is part of his psyche. In the same scene, Erina manifests her Rebel Corps flag for the first time... right after she encourages Toshiro to stand up for himself. In hindsight, this allowed him to subconsciously power up her.
    • Toshiro's ability to wield Erina’s flag to free Yusuke and Makoto implies that Erina is part of him.
    • Erina wears a greave on her left leg and her bangs cover her right eye. It's heavily implied that Eri Natsuhara (who Erina takes the form of) lost her right eye after Nakabachi pushed her into the path of a train. Natsuhara also shows up at the post-credits cutscene limping towards Toshiro with a walking cane, suggesting that she was also crippled by the incident.
    • A shot in the intro flashes between Toshiro, a version of him with a sinister smile, and Erina. This foreshadows both his Shadow Self and Erina's true identity as his Persona.
    • Erina can use Persona-like skills despite not having one. This is because she's a disembodied Persona herself.
  • For the true nature and Tyrant of the third Kingdom:
    • Whenever a rebel tries to say the Tyrant's name, it's drowned out by static. At first, this seems understandable, because the Tyrant isn't known yet, but it continues even after Nakabachi is "revealed" as the Tyrant, with it sometimes being censored in a way that they're referring him by his first name, Ichiro. It's later revealed that they were really saying "Toshiro."
    • Once you hear Nakabachi's voice in flashbacks, it sounds completely different to the voice heard over the Kingdom's PA system.
    • The Phantom Thieves point out that the Kingdom's Legionnaires look more like students than faculty. While initially chalked up to Nakabachi blackmailing students into being his spies, upon defeating him, the rebel club students reveal Toshiro was their real target and transform, meaning they and the Legionnaires were one and the same.
    • Unlike the other Kingdoms, the rebels are angry, suspicious and confrontational towards the party from the outset, and we never see them being oppressed. The students were against Toshiro from the beginning.
  • During a side skit in the Third Kingdom where the party learns about Toshiro and Natsuhara's career path, Ryuji comments that he could totally imagine Natsuhara showing up out of nowhere in front of Toshiro one day. Come The Stinger, and she does exactly that.
• Forging Scene: This game's variation of the Velvet Room is a blacksmith's forge, with Lavenza acting as The Blacksmith and performing Persona Fusion by smelting Personas in the form of golden gears or Persona weapons.
• Full-Circle Revolution:
  • Yoshiki claims this is what the Rebel Corps will bring about at the end of the second Kingdom. Initially it just looks like a final, delusional attempt to break Toshiro, who's having none of it, but it makes a lot more sense when we find out Toshiro believed that he started one when he and Natsuhara kicked Nakabachi out of school and got lots of people arrested and/or gravely hurt, of which included Natsuhara and Nakabachi themselves even if the incident was just a mishap nobody accounted for.
  • The Rebel Club turns on the party the moment Nakabachi is defeated, revealing their real target was Toshiro all along. This represents what happened in Toshiro's school in real life: the students he encouraged to stand up to Nakabachi ended up going too far and harassing him into insanity, then turned on Toshiro when they were punished for it.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Although Akechi and Kasumi are playable in the main story on New Game Plus, they don't have any effect on the plot nor does any new event get unlocked, and their presence is never acknowledged outside of battle. Erina's shop even has weapons for them even though she (as far as we know) has no idea who they are in-universe.
• Gameplay Protagonist, Story Protagonist: While the Phantom Thieves serve as the playable characters of the game, the game's story is more focused on Toshiro and his past, especially given that he was drawn into the cognitive world because its ruler wanted to prevent him from changing society.
• Genre Shift: As a tactical game, the gameplay involves more grid-based strategy combat, rather than the more straightforward combat of the original.
• Heroic Second Wind: Just when it looks like Shadow Toshiro is about to break his regular self, Erina reminds him to remember how his last conversation with Eri went. Remembering she told him to never give up, he snaps out of it and saves Erina.
• He Was Right There All Along: As it turns out, Toshiro was something of a regular at Café Leblanc due to its homely atmosphere. Joker and Morgana are surprised to hear this.
• Hidden Depths: Previous games have established that Haru had experience using an axe (for gardening) before she became a Persona-user. Here, side quest 10 elaborates on it further, saying that chopping wood was always a good stress-reliever for her until her father told her to stop. And Haru admits that not only did she not stop, showing her earliest traces of rebellion, but one of their servants informed her that her father knew all along but chose to allow it. In short, carrying an axe is as symbolic of her father's love as of her rebellious will.
• Hope Spot: After Marie is defeated, the Phantom Thieves plus Toshiro go through the door behind her throne since it's the same door that brought them to the Kingdom in the first place. To their dismay, the door instead leads them to another Kingdom, meaning their journey is far from over.
• Hub Level:
  • Cafe Leblanc serves as this. Here, players can rest between missions and grind for money, Personas, and EXP by replaying missions, accept quests, purchase new guns, fuse new Personas, and move on to the next mission after doing all your prep work. This winds up crossing into Gameplay and Story Integration territory as the confusion as to why Leblanc is in the Kingdoms is cleared up after Toshiro theorizes (and later confirms) that the Kingdoms are tied to his cognition and are comparable to being his Palace in a sense. During periods of stress from dealing with his father and fiancée, Toshiro visited Leblanc due to its comfy atmosphere and became a semi-regular, saying it was the only place where he felt at peace. As a result, Leblanc serves as the Kingdoms' "Safe Room".
  • During the endgame, the Velvet Room acts as this, due to it having transformed into a train and is right on the doorstep of the final dungeon. However, Lavenza can still give some Trials for the Phantom Thieves to overcome in order to unlock their Secret Art.
• I Always Wanted to Say That: Less defied and more cut short: After defeating the final boss, in typical Persona 5 fashion, the arena crumbles around them, leading to a bit of haste when it's time to leave:
  Lavenza: Welcome back, everyone.
  Morgana: Miss Lavenza! There's no time! Please get us out of here!
  Lavenza: Understood. In that case, this train will be departing momentarily. Please be sure to keep your hands, feet, and tails inside of the windows at—
  Ann: Let's skip that part for now, okay!? Just get us out of here, please!
  Lavenza: (disappointed) What a shame. I wanted to do that at least once...
• Idiot Crows: When Joker, Mona, and Erina break into Marie's prison to free the brainwashed Thieves, Erina has a rather deadpan response to freeing Toshiro, a stranger to all of them. When she asks Joker if he knows him, the latter just tilts his head questioningly while a cut-in cartoon appears behind him, showing a crowing Yatagarasu flying by and leaving ellipses behind.
• Insult to Rocks: In the side quest, when Yusuke is informed how he behaved while he was Brainwashed by Marie:
  Futaba: Marie made you call yourself an "inconsequential, dirt-poor brat."
  Yusuke: What!? How... How could she...!?
  Makoto: Hey, it's okay. You shouldn't take what she says to heart, you know that right?
  Yusuke: Dirt is the source of all things beautiful and nutritious. I won't allow anyone to insult it like that.
• Interface Spoiler:
  • Counting the number of blank entries in the info log gives away how much of the game is left.
  • The fight against Nakabachi includes rewards, which the previous two Tyrant battles lacked. This is one of the hints that he isn't his Kingdom’s real ruler.
  • Kasumi is a strange case. Her real name isn't spoken or written in the game and she is the only thief whose code name isn't shown on the menu screen when viewing stats, instead reading "Kasumi", seeming like this trope is deliberately averted for those who haven't finished Royal. However, if you use her in battle when she and Akechi are unlocked on a second playthrough, Futaba explicitly calls her Violet, even though she doesn't receive her code name until after her true identity is revealed.
  • Unlike other characters, Erina cannot equip a sub-Persona. This is because she is a Persona herself.
• Interquel: Tactica takes place sometime between the events of Persona 5 and Persona 5 Strikers. The game is set within the dates between Joker being released from prison and having to return home in either version of 5, and is before when he returns to Tokyo in Strikers six months later.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Just like in Strikers, Lavenza is the only Velvet Room attendant. Makoto also name-drops Yaldabaoth, the true Big Bad of the original Persona 5. Yoshizawa is also called by her code name, Violet, in battle on New Game Plus despite the game otherwise going to great lengths not to spoil her arc.
• La Résistance: Erina is the founder of the Rebel Corps, which fights the oppressive regime of Queen Marie. While they initially operated in Marie's Kingdom, Erina decides to expand the Rebel Corps to encompass other Kingdoms after learning they also suffer under tyrants.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Unlike the Q games, the main story averts this; the Thieves and Toshiro return to reality with all the growth and memories of their adventure in an unfamiliar world. But the same can't be said for the "Repaint Your Heart" DLC; after it's over, the Persona-users lose all memories of The Streets (though Guernica/Tao does remember, and hopes that she can meet with the Phantom Thieves once more).
• Lighter and Softer: Than the main game, even more so than Strikers, as it has a T rating in comparison to the M rating all the other combat-oriented spinoffs received, and for good reason. In addition to the chibi art style, there is very little strong profanity, the exclusion of Mara ^note Incubus and his Gag Penis is still present, though, brighter colors, more lighthearted humor, and a more down-to-earth and personal story with less high stakes. That said, other than organizing your skill trees, Personas, and weapons, the game lacks any activities the player can do outside of battles and cutscenes, which previous games used to dilute the darker parts.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Erina plays slightly different to the other Phantom Thieves, much like Zen and Rei before her. She's the only party member who cannot equip sub-Personas, and thus cannot benefit from the extra HP/SP or bonus skills they offer. To compensate for this, she has higher base HP and SP by default and a very powerful showtime attack that makes all nearby enemies vulnerable to crits even if they're behind cover.
  • Toshiro, unlike the rest of the playable cast, functions much differently than the Phantom Thieves and Erina - since he's unarmed, he has no access to melee attacks or traditional gun attacks; instead, his weapon functionally is Ernesto, his Persona, with whom he can cast a free Gun magic attack as well as a few other powerful Almighty attacks, but at the cost of not being able to utilize melee attacks at all. Also, since he and Erina are basically the same being, any buffs one gets will apply to the other.
• Mental World: The Kingdoms, much like the Palaces of the main game and the Jails of Strikers, are part of the Metaverse, i.e. a world shaped by cognition. One of the big mysteries of Tactica is the Kingdoms' existence, which are explicitly stated by Morgana to be different from Palaces. Unlike Palaces, which the Shadows of the Palace creators rule, the Kingdoms are instead ruled by Tyrants, who themselves are cognitions based off of people Toshiro knows in real-life. In the second Kingdom, Toshiro theorizes that the Kingdoms are derived from his cognition after meeting Tyrant Yoshiki, meaning they're technically his Palace. The third Kingdom seemingly confirms this as its Tyrant is Shadow Toshiro. The fourth Kingdom later reveals that the Kingdoms' existence came into being as part of a plan by Salmael to mentally break Toshiro so he wouldn't pose a threat to the masses.
• Mind-Control Eyes: The Phantom Thieves brainwashed by Marie have Dull Eyes of Unhappiness.
• New Game Plus: Much like every other Persona title, completing the game offers you the chance to start a new playthrough and carry over certain things, such as money, weapons, and any Personas you've collected (Key Items required for story progression excluded). Upon starting your second playthrough and regaining access to the Velvet Room, you will be able to fuse new Personas such as Orpheus from Persona 3 and Joker's Ultimate Persona, Satanael. Additionally, if you've completed the Repaint Your Heart DLC, Crow and Violet will be added to your roster of characters, though their inclusion will have no effect on the story.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: In the second Kingdom, Lord Yoshiki berates Toshiro for spurring a rebellion against him, saying his subjects were peaceful and alive under his tyrannical rule, while shoving the scenes of citizens fighting back and dying against the Aizen Squad while the town burns into his face. This turns out to be the overall lesson Shadow Toshiro is trying to impress onto his real self, as after he and his friend Eri exposed the crimes of their blackmailing high school vice-principal Nakabachi, the rebelling students used him as a scapegoat and harassed him so much that he went mad and pushed Eri into the path of a train, and when the students were punished for it, they turned on Toshiro himself. And then it turns out the God of Stagnation is trying to impress this lesson onto Toshiro through the Kingdoms so that he does not spur society into rebellion if he becomes Prime Minister.
• No Sidepaths, No Exploration, No Freedom: The gameplay is significantly more limited than almost all other Persona games, as aside from battles, the only interactivity is advancing dialogue, fusing Personas, buying guns and skills, and optional social events. You can't explore any of the environments meaning there's no deep glimpse into what the Kingdoms look like beyond a glance, the side quests have their own maps but play identically to the main missions except for having specific requirements to win, and you can't buy different melee weapons or armor.
• Prequel: Takes place before Persona 5 Strikers, as Joker has not left town yet indicating it happens the prior winter, despite being released almost 4 (3 worldwide) years later.
• Present-Day Past: Futaba says "sus" and "cancelled" in the epilogue, neither of which was used in that sense during the game's circa 2017 setting.
• Pretentious Latin Motto: The Rebel Corp's motto, emblazoned on Erina's flag, is Si Vis Pacem Te Ipsum Vinci, roughly meaning "If You Wish For Peace, Conquer Yourself."
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: When Toshiro calls Morgana "the catfishy thing" shortly after they first meet him, Morgana's written text reads far calmer than what he actually sounds like:
  Morgana: Listen real well, all right? I. Am NOT. A CATFISH!
• Rewatch Bonus: Much of Toshiro and Erina's dialogue to each other takes on a new meaning once you know she's actually part of his psyche, and a nascent form of his Persona. Him admonishing her for her recklessness is subconsciously him raging against his past self out of the belief that his sense of justice only got people hurt, while her pep talks are his spirit of rebellion slowly returning.
• Running Gag: Much like in Strikers, Morgana gets mistaken for something other than an anthropomorphic cat. In this case, both Erina and Toshiro mistake him for a catfish.
• Sequel: Tactica is set after the events of Persona 5 Royal, specifically sometime before Joker returns to his hometown and the third-year Shujin students' graduation.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: The Rebels in the third kingdom have much less screentime than the ones in the previous two, are abrasive and confrontational when they do appear, are the only ones never shown actually being oppressed, and their final appearance before the ending has them turn into Legionnaires and attacking the party, all before the fight with Shadow Toshiro. They are completely absent from The Very Definitely Final Dungeon as well, and none of them reappear until after Salmael is defeated.
• The Stinger:
  • After the credits roll, right before the end card comes up, we get one last scene of Toshiro in the midst of working on his new campaign, and a cane-using Eri Natsuhara finally catching up to him.
  • The DLC also cuts to Toshiro, several months before the events of the main story, as he looks at a report on Guernica's latest art piece. He's still a sycophant to his father at the time, but he's clearly fascinated with the mural, which is implied to be the catalyst for Erina's birth.
• Super-Deformed: Similar to the Q duology, Tactica's artstyle is more cartoonish and deformed compared to the anime stylistic presentation of the main game. The character concept art does, however, show almost all of the characters with correct proportions and how'd they look in Persona 5's normal art style.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: In comparison to the residents of the Marie and Yoshiki Kingdoms, the Nakabachi Kingdom members of the Rebel Corps aren't as trusting or as kind to the Phantom Thieves, being immediately hostile and suspicious of them. The only reason they're able to work together is that Nakabachi is just as much of a tyrant as Marie and Yoshiki were. After Nakabachi's defeated, the residents quickly turn on the Phantom Thieves, mirroring how the students at Toshiro's school turned on him after they rebelled against the real Nakabachi and drove him to insanity, and were punished for it.
• Trailers Always Spoil: Lavenza driving a Velvet Room train was shown in full in some trailers, despite being from the tail end of the story.
• Trapped in Another World: The Phantom Thieves were brought to Marie's Kingdom unexpectedly during a chill winter's day at LeBlanc. Toshiro was also trapped within that world right before the Phantom Thieves did.
• Wham Episode:
  • After defeating the Aizen Squad in Mission 26, the Phantom Thieves reconvene at Leblanc where Toshiro reveals his relationship with Yoshiki. Not only is Yoshiki his father, but he's been rigging the upcoming election in order for Toshiro to become the new Prime Minister for the sake of using him as a political tool to advance his career. Similarly, this is also the point in which the Phantom Thieves realize that, based on Toshiro's explanation as to why the cognitive Yoshiki is after him^{Explanation - spoilers}Toshiro explains he gathered evidence of his father's crimes but didn't have the opportunity to expose him. While Yoshiki himself never expressed or show signs of panic that Toshiro has enough dirt on him to throw him in jail, Toshiro believes Yoshiki knows or at least suspects he does, hence explaining why the cognitive Yoshiki demands Toshiro return "that thing" and why the whole Kingdom is littered with surveillance cameras, the Kingdoms may actually be Toshiro's Palace.
  • The Nakabachi Kingdom from start to finish, and is fittingly the moment where Cerebus Syndrome kicks in. From the start, it's a stark contrast to the past two, as the entire thing is a single building with the Legionnaires confined to pocket dimensions within. Also, we're unable to hear the name of the Kingdom's ruler. Then, in the process of gathering the keys to the ruler's lair, we learn that it's Toshiro's high school, and spend most of the time learning about his high school life and the heavy influence of his high school friend Eri Natsuhara, a girl who not only looks like Erina, but also acts and speaks like her. At the climax, after reaching the ruler, we finally learn the "great crime" that Marie alluded to before fading: Toshiro and Eri's actions against the ruler's real-life counterpart went horribly right, driving the man mad and leading to Eri getting pushed in front of an oncoming train. She survived, but it seemingly killed her will of rebellion. Which segues into the reveal that the Kingdom's ruler is Toshiro's Shadow, the embodiment of his weaknesses. Finally, we get to see Erina reminding him of Eri's last encouragement, whereupon Erina transforms into Toshiro's Persona, Ernesto, to fight his Shadow Self and deny him. And even after all of that, after undeniably conquering the Kingdom, there's one more big wham: right after they win the fight, the mastermind behind the whole thing shows himself: the God of Stagnation, Salmael, who created the Kingdoms to snuff out Toshiro's will of rebellion. And shortly thereafter, Lavenza elaborates on the truth to the Phantom Thieves that Salmael is essentially extracting Toshiro's worst personal fears to kill him because the God believed his ascent to premiership will result in chaos.
• Wham Line:
  • When Yoshiki first confronts the Phantom Thieves directly in the second Kingdom, him focusing his ire on Toshiro is expected. What isn't expected is why.
    Yoshiki: You damn ungrateful good-for-nothing son of mine!
  • After the above, when the Phantom Thieves are discussing why Yoshiki is after Toshiro, Toshiro comes to a realization that explains the true nature of the kingdoms.
    Toshiro: It might be because I thought that he knew about it. The thought of my father questioning me about the evidence I stole fills me with terror. In other words, I think he knows because that's how I perceived it to be.
• Wham Shot: At the climax of the Nakabachi Kingdom, Toshiro starts undergoing a Persona awakening...and Erina gains gold eyes and starts burning with a familiar blue flame, revealing that she's Toshiro's Persona, Ernesto.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: "You gotta be kidding," delivered in a completely deadpan tone, is one of Morgana's placeholder voice clips in unvoiced cutscenes.
• Your Magic Is No Good Here: Despite being a plane of the Metaverse, the Kingdoms end up interfering with not only everyone's Personas, but Joker's Wildcard abilities as well, making him unable to use multiple Personas properly. As a result, Lavenza sets up shop as the Velvet Room Armory Ltd. in order to give Joker access to Fusion and create sub-Personas as a workaround.

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Si vis pacem, te ipsum vince.

-Rebel Corps motto^TranslationIf you want peace, conquer yourself.

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