I'm probably one of the very small minority who is not only a Musou/Warriors fan, but also someone who was actually looking for some Musou action when picking this up (I blame hangover from Age of Calamity and Samurai Warriors 5 hype). In fact, I actually was not thinking it was going to be a full-on sequel to Persona 5, and more of the usual Warriors collaboration affair.
And I'm not gonna lie, that misplaced expectation left me in a strange state where I love it that it's a Persona 5 game, but also am disappointed that it's not a proper Musou game. I would even go as far as saying that if only thing you want from this is a proper Warriors title, this is not it--which, I assume, must come as a sigh of relief for most Persona 5 fans.
And yes, this is a proper sequel to Persona 5. If it had turn-based battle like the original, it would have been called Persona 5-2 (and the marketing materials, at least Asia, doesn't shy away from calling it "sequel"). The story may take place in a single month, but it's one hell of a long month, with (technically) the same number of dungeons as the original.
Now, if your favourite part of Persona games was schedule management for each day, you won't have that here. Instead, the Phantom Thieves are on a road trip across the Japanese archipelago, from Sapporo to Okinawa, solving supernatural problems while vacay-ing as much as they can during the spare time. This eliminates any time constraints the original game had--no longer are you wasting a day for going to Jail (this game's version of Palaces). This certainly feels more streamlined, a necessary change to fit the concept of the game.
What is disappointing is that there are very little things to do outside of the main story and the all the contents the dungeons offer. Each place the crew visits are good, but offer little in terms of actual things to do. They usually have one or two party member asking specific requests, but that's about it. Vast majority of things you can interact are stores selling items, which sadly does not go beyond its purpose as a consumable item for the vast majority of the time, rather than really injecting that feeling of experiencing someting new during a trip. The cast of characters you meet are also limited, which is understandable since they are not growing a community in a single city like the original, but just visting cities as tourists; however it also does feel like a missed opportunity to not include some characters from the original or introduce new side characters for each locale to spice up their trip.
The main story, however, more than makes up for these shortcomings. Let's get this out of the way: Persona 5 Strikers' story is a direct sequel to the original game. There is no other way of saying this. It's not like the other Persona spin-offs that clearly saw themselves as a side story; instead it is a game that is fully aware that it is a legitimate continuation of the original game that is equal in both scale and style. Many spin-off games fail in narrative because they are aware of the narrative restrictions that are placed upon them for being a "side" game. This problem is not present in Persona 5 Strikers: it takes up on the themes explored in the first game, the characters the players loved, and the lore it created, and just continues further, without the shadow of the original oppressing its potential. If anything, it adds to the original, showing different perspectives of themes of the original game while reinforcing the characterization for some characters who were lacking previously (by this, I mostly mean Haru). Not only that, it doesn't feel like an unnecessary sequel either; it respects the original and suggests new ways to continue the story that does not feel forced or manufactured. All in all, if you are a self-professed Persona 5 fan, there is no reason not to play this.
And if there is a reason why Persona 5 fans (falsely) believe they should not play this, it would be its supposed Musou gameplay-style. To that crowd, I have a message: it's not. The (partially-deserved) notion that Warriors games are repetitive comes from the genre's simplistic combo chains. While whether that is indeed enough of a reason to hate the genre is a totally different story, fans who are reluctant to try this due to Omega Force's infamy should know that is where the similarity between Persona 5 Strikers and a Warriors game ends. That's it. In fact, it's so different in every single aspect outside of that combo chain that calling this a Warriors game would be like calling Fire Emblem and Persona the same genre because they are both turn-based.
The combat loop this game has is in reality more of a fusion between Devil Summoner 2 and Persona 5 with Warriors combo chain as the basic backbone. Unlike most Warriors games where the game encourages doing combos that results in efficient mob control, Persona 5 Strikers instead is about using the right skills at right times. Some skills can be triggered with normal combos without costing SP, a mechanic that you will have to use as the game goes on. This is why I say this is not a Warriors game; it's not a game where combat loop is focused on building metres and continuing your combo chains. Intead, it's a game that puts each combat encounter in a limited scope and puts much more emphasis on countering specific enemies' moves. The combat only happens after a symbol encounter, which is exactly as it was in Persona 5, and each combat section usually lasts less than a minute, with some of them ending just as you start them. You can pause during your Persona commands or when you are aiming your gun, at which point it feels less like an action game and more like a pause-based RPG often seen in CRPGs. You are almost forced to go for the enemy weak points or create Technical attacks (attacks that combo with the status effect) against stronger enemies especially late in the game, not just to weather them down fast, but to stagger them (which interrupts them from an attack) and leave them open for an All-Out-Attack. It's a dynamic that reminds me of Octopath Traveller if anything, and works surprisingly well with this combat design--something I want to see expanded in further games.
It is not without its faults, obviously. The dungeon designs often feel like it was designed for a less hectic game, and the battles that happen in corridors are a pain to play due to the camera. Also, I don't think I've come across any kind of tactical order to give to the AI-controller party members. They mostly do a fine job, but sometimes you see Mona depleting SP too fast by healing too much. The balancing between the difficulty modes also leaves much to be desired, where easy is a bit too easy and normal drags boss battles forever with unfairly large health.
TL;DR
Persona 5 fans: buy it
Persona 5 fans who's worried it's just a spin-off game: it's a sequel, buy it
Persona 5 fans who thinks it's just another Warriors game: it's not, buy it.
Warriors fans who like Persona 5: buy this and wait for Samurai Warriors 5
People who hate Elon Musk: buy it right now
And I'm not gonna lie, that misplaced expectation left me in a strange state where I love it that it's a Persona 5 game, but also am disappointed that it's not a proper Musou game. I would even go as far as saying that if only thing you want from this is a proper Warriors title, this is not it--which, I assume, must come as a sigh of relief for most Persona 5 fans.
And yes, this is a proper sequel to Persona 5. If it had turn-based battle like the original, it would have been called Persona 5-2 (and the marketing materials, at least Asia, doesn't shy away from calling it "sequel"). The story may take place in a single month, but it's one hell of a long month, with (technically) the same number of dungeons as the original.
Now, if your favourite part of Persona games was schedule management for each day, you won't have that here. Instead, the Phantom Thieves are on a road trip across the Japanese archipelago, from Sapporo to Okinawa, solving supernatural problems while vacay-ing as much as they can during the spare time. This eliminates any time constraints the original game had--no longer are you wasting a day for going to Jail (this game's version of Palaces). This certainly feels more streamlined, a necessary change to fit the concept of the game.
What is disappointing is that there are very little things to do outside of the main story and the all the contents the dungeons offer. Each place the crew visits are good, but offer little in terms of actual things to do. They usually have one or two party member asking specific requests, but that's about it. Vast majority of things you can interact are stores selling items, which sadly does not go beyond its purpose as a consumable item for the vast majority of the time, rather than really injecting that feeling of experiencing someting new during a trip. The cast of characters you meet are also limited, which is understandable since they are not growing a community in a single city like the original, but just visting cities as tourists; however it also does feel like a missed opportunity to not include some characters from the original or introduce new side characters for each locale to spice up their trip.
The main story, however, more than makes up for these shortcomings. Let's get this out of the way: Persona 5 Strikers' story is a direct sequel to the original game. There is no other way of saying this. It's not like the other Persona spin-offs that clearly saw themselves as a side story; instead it is a game that is fully aware that it is a legitimate continuation of the original game that is equal in both scale and style. Many spin-off games fail in narrative because they are aware of the narrative restrictions that are placed upon them for being a "side" game. This problem is not present in Persona 5 Strikers: it takes up on the themes explored in the first game, the characters the players loved, and the lore it created, and just continues further, without the shadow of the original oppressing its potential. If anything, it adds to the original, showing different perspectives of themes of the original game while reinforcing the characterization for some characters who were lacking previously (by this, I mostly mean Haru). Not only that, it doesn't feel like an unnecessary sequel either; it respects the original and suggests new ways to continue the story that does not feel forced or manufactured. All in all, if you are a self-professed Persona 5 fan, there is no reason not to play this.
And if there is a reason why Persona 5 fans (falsely) believe they should not play this, it would be its supposed Musou gameplay-style. To that crowd, I have a message: it's not. The (partially-deserved) notion that Warriors games are repetitive comes from the genre's simplistic combo chains. While whether that is indeed enough of a reason to hate the genre is a totally different story, fans who are reluctant to try this due to Omega Force's infamy should know that is where the similarity between Persona 5 Strikers and a Warriors game ends. That's it. In fact, it's so different in every single aspect outside of that combo chain that calling this a Warriors game would be like calling Fire Emblem and Persona the same genre because they are both turn-based.
The combat loop this game has is in reality more of a fusion between Devil Summoner 2 and Persona 5 with Warriors combo chain as the basic backbone. Unlike most Warriors games where the game encourages doing combos that results in efficient mob control, Persona 5 Strikers instead is about using the right skills at right times. Some skills can be triggered with normal combos without costing SP, a mechanic that you will have to use as the game goes on. This is why I say this is not a Warriors game; it's not a game where combat loop is focused on building metres and continuing your combo chains. Intead, it's a game that puts each combat encounter in a limited scope and puts much more emphasis on countering specific enemies' moves. The combat only happens after a symbol encounter, which is exactly as it was in Persona 5, and each combat section usually lasts less than a minute, with some of them ending just as you start them. You can pause during your Persona commands or when you are aiming your gun, at which point it feels less like an action game and more like a pause-based RPG often seen in CRPGs. You are almost forced to go for the enemy weak points or create Technical attacks (attacks that combo with the status effect) against stronger enemies especially late in the game, not just to weather them down fast, but to stagger them (which interrupts them from an attack) and leave them open for an All-Out-Attack. It's a dynamic that reminds me of Octopath Traveller if anything, and works surprisingly well with this combat design--something I want to see expanded in further games.
It is not without its faults, obviously. The dungeon designs often feel like it was designed for a less hectic game, and the battles that happen in corridors are a pain to play due to the camera. Also, I don't think I've come across any kind of tactical order to give to the AI-controller party members. They mostly do a fine job, but sometimes you see Mona depleting SP too fast by healing too much. The balancing between the difficulty modes also leaves much to be desired, where easy is a bit too easy and normal drags boss battles forever with unfairly large health.
TL;DR
Persona 5 fans: buy it
Persona 5 fans who's worried it's just a spin-off game: it's a sequel, buy it
Persona 5 fans who thinks it's just another Warriors game: it's not, buy it.
Warriors fans who like Persona 5: buy this and wait for Samurai Warriors 5
People who hate Elon Musk: buy it right now