I came to the Persona party very late, only diving into the long-running JRPG series with Persona 5. It drew me in with its achingly stylish anime aesthetic and funky soundtrack. Still, I quickly tumbled into the depths of its world and spent hours exploring the back streets of its Tokyo suburb-setting and the recesses of its villains’ mind palaces.
I don’t usually play JRPGs; I’ve bounced off the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games many times. Perhaps it was the modern-day setting of Persona and the way it weaves a fantasy adventure into the day-to-day lives of schoolchildren, making the stakes of surviving an encounter with a monster in a mental dungeon on par with the importance of passing your exams, but I fell for Persona 5 hard.
Still, as much as I’ve enjoyed Persona 5, it wasn’t enough to make me pick up Persona 5 Strikers, at least not at full price. Strikers takes Persona 5’s complex RPG systems that make it a unique sandbox – putting you in charge of managing friendships, developing your character as a student and as a fighter of mental demons – and turns it into an action game where you fight hordes of monsters.
The Koei Tecmo brand is to take its Dynasty Warriors formula and apply it to other series. We’ve seen the publisher do it with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and most recently with Fire Emblem: Three Houses. And, while it’s done an excellent job of capturing the look of those games’ worlds, the result is off lesser than the original. An, at best, playable spin-off. At least, that’s how I’ve unfairly thought of them.
In the Persona games, you face off against enemies in turn-based battles, only ever facing a few at a time. That slower pace and smaller scale combat let you focus on and appreciate the monster design. Considering this is a world all about facing the purer impulses that we find deep in our psyche, they’re often grotesquely exaggerated sexual creatures, like the unmistakable penis-shaped Mara demon. I can’t help but think something of that will be lost when facing hundreds of them at once, like stumbling onto a beach covered in fat innkeeper worms.
You may feel the same way – about Dynasty Warriors combat not fitting the Persona series, not that fat innkeeper worm thing – and have avoided picking up the spinoff, too. But, there are two compelling reasons to give it a try.
First off, Persona has had weird genre spinoffs before. Persona 4: Dancing All Night turned the JRPG into a rhythm game, and it is honestly one of the best spinoffs of any game ever. Stripping out the RPG elements and simply having the characters take part in a joyous dance routine, after all the horrors you’ve seen them go through, is a beautiful surprise. Seeing the characters of Persona 5 in a new genre, one that’s pared back to pure action, may give us a new appreciation for them.
Reason two is that Persona 5 Strikers has a massive discount as part of Prime Day. On PS4 in the UK, it’s down from £49.99 to just £16.95, a 66% discount reduction. The deal is less good on Switch, with only 50% off, but that’s still no small amount of money.
If you’re shopping in the US, you can get Persona 5 Strikers for PS4 for $39.49, down from its usual $59.99 price tag., and on Switch you can get it for $39.99.
US deals
UK deals
At that price, I’m picking up the PS4 version here in the UK because £17, while not nothing, is a price I’m willing to take a punt on, especially considering how much I’ve enjoyed Persona 5. And, who knows, if I fall in love with Strikers, I’ll have to reassess Hyrule Warriors (which is currently down to £33 in the UK) and Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes ($52 in the US, and £35.99 in the UK).
More Prime Day deals in the US
- Alexa devices: Fire TV Sticks from $12 and more
- Adidas: 50% off sneakers and sportswear
- Apple: Apple Watch 7 at cheapest price yet
- Back to school: backpacks and stationery discounts
- Cell phones: $100 off the Google Pixel 6
- College essentials: bedding, decor and cleaning sale
- Cooling: portable fans from $16.99
- Fashion: 66% off clothing, shoes and jewelry
- Groceries: up to 40% off coffee and food essentials
- Headphones: up to $125 off Sony headphones and earbuds
- Home: Levoit Air Purifier for $42.49
- Instant Pot: up to 29% off
- Kindle: up to 50% off ereader bundles
- Kitchen: up to $120 off blenders, coffee makers and more
- Laptops: $200 off 14-inch MacBook Pro
- Mattresses: $490 off Casper mattresses
- PS5: register for the next PS5 restock
- Security: Blink Home Security bundles from $44.99
- Smart home: Echo Show 5 smart display for $34.99
- Smartwatch: Amazon Halo View up to 55% off
- Speakers: JBL portable speakers from $29.95
- Storage: up to 39% off Samsung SSDs
- Tablets: Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 - save up to $120
- TVs: Smart TVs from $89
- Vacuums: save on Shark, iRobot and Bissell
More Prime Day deals in the UK
- Amazon devices: up to 65% off Echo Dot and Fire TV Cube
- Adidas: 30% off some sportswear and trainers
- Apple: save up to £150 on iPads and Apple Watches
- Back to school: backpacks and stationery from £1.50
- Beauty: save on Rimmel, Revlon, Olay, and more top brands
- Coffee machines: starting at just £19 with up to 60% off
- Cheap Fire tablets: Amazon Fire tablets starting at £34.99
- Dental: 57% off Oral-B and Philips electric toothbrushes
- Fashion: 40% off Vans, Hugo Boss, Wrangler, and other brands
- Fire TV Stick: lowest price yet on all models
- Groceries: £10 off your first three grocery shops
- Grooming & hair care: 60% off Philips, Remmington shavers & straighteners
- Headphones: Sony and Bose headphones at lowest-ever prices
- Kindle: 25% off Kindle ereader bundles
- Laptops: 15% off Microsoft, Huawei, Acer, and Asus laptops
- Phones: Google Pixel 6 lowest ever price, OnePlus, Motorola
- PS5: Dualsense deals, plus savings on leading games
- Security: £180 off Ring Home Security bundles
- Smart home: £144 off Ring and Echo bundles
- Smartwatch: up to 50% off Garmin watches and trackers
- Tablets: 41% off Samsung, Lenovo, and Huawei tablets
- Tools: 49% off some Bosch tools and garden items
- TVs: 4K TVs starting at just £199 with half-price deals
- Vacuums: 35% off Shark cordless vacs
- Xbox: Xbox Series X in stock for £449
