Software:Persona 5 Scramble

Short description: 2020 action video game

Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers
PlayStation 4 cover art
Developer(s)	Omega Force P-Studio
Publisher(s)	Atlus
Director(s)	Mumon Usuda Daisuke Kaneda
Producer(s)	Daisuke Kaneda Kenichi Ogasawara
Designer(s)	Takaaki Ogata
Programmer(s)	Tatsuto Tsuchishita
Artist(s)	Shigenori Soejima
Writer(s)	Takaaki Ogata Toru Yorogi Yusuke Nitta
Composer(s)	Atsushi Kitajoh Gota Masuoka Ayana Hira
Series	Persona Dynasty Warriors
Platform(s)	Nintendo Switch PlayStation 4
Release	JP: February 20, 2020
Genre(s)	Hack and slash, role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player

Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers is a hack and slash role-playing video game developed by Omega Force and P-Studio for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. The game is a crossover between Koei Tecmo's Dynasty Warriors and Atlus's Persona franchises, and is set six months after the events of Persona 5. It follows Joker and the rest of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts as they investigate a series of mysterious events involving people across Japan. It was released in Japan on February 20, 2020.

Gameplay

Persona 5 Scramble is a gameplay crossover between Koei Tecmo's hack and slash Dynasty Warriors series, and Atlus's role-playing game Persona series. It features elements from both franchises, such as the real-time action combat of the former with the turn-based Persona-battling aspect of the latter.

Joker, the game's protagonist, is able to wield multiple Personas, which are gained through random drops or by defeating named mini-bosses in dungeons. These Personas can then be brought to the Velvet Room, where they can be fused to create new Personas. The Confidant system from Persona 5 is absent. In its place are Requests, a form of side-quests, and the B.A.N.D. system, where increasing its level can grant players bonuses such as stat increases. The B.A.N.D. levels can be increased through interacting with party members, winning battles, and hitting milestones throughout the game.

Players can form an active party of maximum four members, with Joker being the only character not removable as an active party member. Outside of battle, active party members can be swapped with the standby party members. Players can only control Joker in the real world but is able to control any party member freely when exploring the story dungeons. Exploring dungeons is similar to Persona 5, where players can use stealth to avoid enemies or may occasionally face the need to solve puzzles to progress. The 'Third Eye' also makes a return from Persona 5, where it highlights enemies strength and interactive objects. Should the alert meter of the dungeon reach 100%, the party is forced to leave the dungeon. The Alert level can be lowered by winning battles that are initiated with surprise attacks or by leaving the dungeon. Unlike previous entries of the Persona series, leaving the dungeon does not progress time and there are generally no demerits in leaving the story dungeons.

Battles are mostly initiated when the player character comes into contact with the enemy, where they can launch a surprise attack to gain a combat advantage if the enemy has not spotted them. Battles are also now in the form of a real-time combat system. However, players will use a command-based skills menu when using Persona skills. During the time in this menu, the battle will pause to allow tactical positioning of the Persona skills. If the party deals a critical damage or deals damage that the enemy is weak to, the enemy may be knocked down for an 'All-Out Attack' which deals a large amount of damage. All party members can obtain new moves, known as Master Arts, by controlling the characters manually and defeating enemies. If all active party members are knocked out in battle, the game ends.

Plot

The game is set four months after the events of Persona 5, The protagonist and Morgana return to Tokyo for a reunion with the other Phantom Thieves of Hearts to spend their summer vacation together on a camping trip. To determine the camping preparations, they use a popular application called EMMA. While going to Shibuya to buy the necessary tools, they pass by a rising idol, Alice Hiiragi, who gave the protagonist a card requesting them to input "Wonderland" into the EMMA app for her special event. Upon entering the keyword, however, he, Morgana and Ryuji are transported into a mysterious alternative version of Tokyo called a Jail, where they encounter the ruler called King who is Alice's Shadow self, and a sentient A.I. named Sophia who is able to fight Shadows who joins their party. They learn that EMMA, similar to the Metaverse Navigator, enables them to enter Jails. Hearing rumors that people have been attacked by Shadows in Jails that leaves them behaving strangely in the real world, Joker and his friends once again establish the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.

After changing Alice's heart, they are approached by a police officer, Zenkichi Hasegawa, who is investigating the sudden bizarre changes of behavior in people around Japan with the Phantom Thieves as the prime suspect. Zenkichi forces them to make a deal with him: He will provide them with information necessary for their heists in exchange the Phantom Thieves help his investigation, which they reluctantly agree to. Accompanied by Zenkichi, the Phantom Thieves travel to Sendai and Sapporo, changing the corrupted hearts of the Jail's Kings. During their trip, they make a deal with a professor specializing in artificial intelligence, Kuon Ichinose, after eavesdropping and finding out that the protagonist and his friends are the Phantom Thieves. Later on, the Phantom Thieves learn that the head of the global IT Company called Madicce who developed EMMA, Akira Konoe, is misusing the app to manipulate people's hearts. He is supported by Jun Owada, a corrupt politician who once supported Masayoshi Shido, cooperating with Konoe to dispose the King of Okinawa's Jail and Zenkichi's wife. He uses his position to pin the blame on the Phantom Thieves and order for their arrest, deeming them terrorists for hacking into EMMA.

Zenkichi's daughter, Akane Hasegawa, is made a King of Kyoto's Jail when asking the app to help her after Zenkichi's been arrested for treason. Entering Kyoto's Jail upon learning of Akane's situation, the Phantom Thieves, except Futaba, are captured by Shadow Akane. Futaba requests Zenkichi's help after he is freed from custody and confronts Shadow Akane, awakening his Persona, Valjean, in the process and officially joins the Phantom Thieves. They successfully save Akane, and then requests help from Kuon Ichinose to gain more information about EMMA and Madicce, eventually allowing them to enter Konoe's Jail in Osaka . Successfully changing Konoe's heart, the EMMA app is shut down and Madicce is disbanded following Konoe's arrest.

However, the EMMA app suddenly restarts on its own, causing a massive blackout throughout Tokyo and emergence of a new Jail. Entering the Jail, they encounter Ichinose who reveals herself to be the true creator of EMMA: she sold it to Konoe so she can determine humanity's true desire. She also reveals that she created Sophia as a prototype of EMMA, but deemed her a failure and discarded her. She then commanded Sophia to attack the Phantom Thieves, but due to spending a lot of time with the Phantom Thieves and forming a bond with them, Sophia defied her creator's commands and proceeded to awaken her Persona, Pandora, to everyone's surprise. After convincing Ichinose to abandon EMMA, they learn that the application's true identity is the False God Demiurge, who believes that humanity's biggest wish is for a world free from crime and wrongdoing. It uses the EMMA app to manipulate people's hearts to take them to the Promised Land. With Ichinose's assistance, Futaba hacks into EMMA central server to send the calling card to reach Demiurge, allowing the Phantom Thieves to confront the false god and defeat it.

With Demiurge's defeat, the EMMA app is finally shut down for good, erasing Jails from existence. In the aftermath, Owada is arrested thanks to Konoe's testimony, Zenkichi returns to Kyoto, and Sophia decides to go on a journey together with Ichinose. As their mission has ended, the Phantom Thieves once again go their separate ways, but promise that they'll meet again sooner or later.

Development and release

Persona 5 Scramble began development around the time of the Japanese release of Persona 5 in September 2016, where it was known as Persona Warriors. It was first teased as Persona 5 S in December 2018, with it being fully revealed in April 2019. It is being co-developed by Koei Tecmo's Omega Force studio and Atlus's P-Studio, and released for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in Japan on February 20, 2020. It was produced by Daisuke Kaneda and Kenichi Ogasawara, with music composed by Atlus's Atsushi Kitajoh and Koei Tecmo's Gota Masuoka and Ayana Hira. A demo of the game was released on February 6.

A collector's edition for both platforms, called the "Treasure Box", included the game, an art book, a soundtrack, a Blu-ray disc featuring the creation of the theme song making-of, a towel, a traveling bag, and a package featuring new illustrations. Players who pre-order the game received a Persona series music downloadable content (DLC) set for free that can be played in Persona 5 Scramble. In addition, players who have save data from either Persona 5 or Persona 5 Royal on their PlayStation 4, or Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on their Switch received DLC featuring some Persona 5 music tracks. Versions of the game were released by Sega in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea on June 18, 2020.

Reception

Reception
Review score Publication Score Famitsu 36/40

Persona 5 Scramble sold 162,410 copies during its first week at retail in Japan, with 115,995 and 46,415 units on the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch respectively. The Asian release debuted in the top five in Taiwan and South Korea for the both platforms.