Persona 5 Strikers is a direct sequel to Persona 5. It is set during summer vacation a few months after the original game wraps up. It does not take into account any events or characters from Persona 5 Royal making that more of a what if scenario rather than a full on sequel. Is that okay with the fan base?
That is to say which sequel to Persona 5 is more worthy of being the actual canonical follow up? Each game has their strengths, but only one will be accepted. This is, of course, an unofficial fight because Atlus/Sega have already made their choice but it should be a fun battle regardless.
10 New Characters: Persona 5 Strikers
Both games feature a cast of new characters. Persona 5 Strikers is a case of both quantity and quality with Zenkichi, his daughter Akane, Sophia, and Ichinose. Persona 5 Royal added Kasumi, Jose, and Takuto Maruki who were all great in their own ways, but overall the characters shine better in Persona 5 Strikers. As a teaser, Akane has one of the best moments in the entire series.
9 Story: Persona 5 Royal
The characters may not be as good, but the story is better in Persona 5 Royal. The way it weaves the old and new together is simply miraculous. One cannot tell it is extra stuff in other words as it does make so much sense by the end.
Technically Persona 5 Strikers has a longer and more original story as a full game, but the arc of the Palaces is just better than that of the Jails.
8 Gameplay: Persona 5 Strikers
The Dynasty Warriors games get a lot of flack for being repetitive hack and slash RPGs. This spinoff is way more than that as it feels like a Persona 5 sequel with action gameplay rather than turn-based combat. It’s like how Final Fantasy VII redid the gameplay for the remake. There are some moments where one will slay through dozens of enemies at a time thus adding to some tedium, but it still felt more exciting than Persona 5 Royal.
7 Side Quests: Persona 5 Royal
The side quests are pretty poor in this new game. They amount to fetch quests or fighting a certain number of enemies. These dish out good prizes but when there were side quests to flesh out the party, they felt cheap. There is one quest where Makoto wants to be blindfolded and hit a watermelon. While funny, this plays out through text so it felt like the budget was severely cut. Everything feels more satisfying in both Persona 5 on top of the extra quests added to Persona 5 Royal.
6 Style: Persona 5 Strikers
One of the best things about Persona 5 Strikers is that the style from the first game carries over well. From the menus to the music, it all blends well. This entry then could have been tied, but this game does have an advantage as it gets a nice boost if one plays it on the PS5. Technically it is a better looking and more vibrant game graphically.
5 Endless Dungeons: Persona 5 Royal
Dungeons can be replayed in Persona 5 Strikers, which is nice as the first didn’t allow that, but there is nothing like Mementos in it. Mementos was already big in Persona 5 but the expanded game gets even deeper. Plus Jose adds some great extras to the exploring. It’s nice to have somewhere where one can grind freely without being construed by a more confined space like the Jails.
4 Palaces/Jails: Persona 5 Strikers
On the subject of Jails and Palaces, both are giant improvements over the dungeons in Persona 3 and Persona 4. They actually have character to them. That said, Jails are slightly better because they offer more variety in terms of aesthetic and are often more open. From a gothic castle to a winter wonderland, it’s all great. Again, Jails are not as open as Mementos but this is a different comparison.
3 Content: Persona 5 Royal
It’s kind of unfair to compare both games in terms of content and or length. Persona 5 Royal adds to an already stacked game of seventy plus hours whereas Persona 5 Strikers is only around thirty if one wants to be a completionist. Persona 5 Strikers has more original content, but if one wants more bang for their buck, Persona 5 Royal is the way to go. It is one of the longest modern JRPGs out there.
2 Bosses: Persona 5 Strikers
Both games also improved boss battles over the other Persona games. That said, dealing with an enemy, be it a boss, or lowly monster, is still more engaging when one has to physically deal with them.
Hanging back and using strategy to plan out attacks in a turn-based order feels too easy at times. It’s still a great system in Persona 5 Royal, but dealing with the bosses up close and personal just felt more satisfying in Persona 5 Strikers.
1 Verdict: Persona 5 Strikers
Both games are obvious must owns for any RPG fan. This comparison was more about how each tried to become a sequel to Persona 5. While the new story stuff weaves in perfectly in Persona 5 Royal, Persona 5 Strikers was simply more ambitious. Because of that it didn’t quite hit every mark as it was a new type of game for the series overall, but it did a great job regardless of some small imperfections. It will be interesting to see if Persona 5 will get a third proper sequel with another new genre to play with.