Do You Need to Play Persona 5 Before Tactica?

As the canon of Persona 5 grows more complicated with each passing year, it’s becoming difficult to figure out what games you need to play to understand the story. With that in mind, it’s fair to wonder if you need to play Persona 5 before jumping into Persona 5 Tactica.

Is Persona 5 Necessary to Enjoy Persona 5 Tactica?

I’ll be real with you – the answer to the question depends entirely on what exactly you want to get out of Tactica. It’s very clear that based on the name, aesthetics, and returning characters, the latest spinoff of the beloved RPG is lifting many elements from the title that came before it. Yet, the other games in the subseries, like Persona 5 Strikers and Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, only really require players to understand the surface-level aspects of the franchise to really get the most out of them.

Related: Oops… Persona 5 Tactica Gets Taken Down After Going Up on Steam Early

That is seemingly also the case with Tactica, as ATLUS has confirmed that it will be telling an entirely original story with the heroes that many have come to know and love already. So, based on that, I’d say it’d be a good idea to at least play Persona 5 Royal, the expanded version of the original game, so that you at least have baseline familiarity with all the characters and dynamics of their relationships.

Don’t worry about diving into Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth and Persona 5 Dancing in Starlight since both of those games take place in a dream that no one remembers when they wake up, meaning they have next to zero impact on the overall narrative. As for Persona 5 Strikers, that storyline takes place six months after the end of the original game, and given that Tactica is set before that, you should be okay to skip that one, too.

In terms of gameplay, Tactica is tweaking the established turn-based combat into something more, well, tactical. Think XCOM or, more recently, Baldur’s Gate 3. Given that major change, you likely won’t need any kind of extensive knowledge of how the franchise plays. Besides, each spinoff generally comes with an elaborate tutorial breaking down all the new and old mechanics, so you should be well equipped by the time the rubber meets the road.

When Does Persona 5 Tactica Take Place in the Timeline?

Oh man, now you’re hitting me with the tough questions. Given the sprawling nature of the Phantom Thieves’ adventures, ATLUS has confirmed that Tactica takes place at a very specific point in time. The spinoff is set right at the end of P5 Royal‘s third semester after the Phantom Thieves confront Maruki but before Joker leaves for home at the end of the world.

Of course, how Tactica slots into that period remains a mystery. The wonderful thing about Persona is that when nothing makes sense, then everything makes sense! You’ll just have to find out when Tactica arrives on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.