Persona 5 Strikers is a pretty unique game. It’s not a classic Musou like most of them tend to be, such as Dynasty Warriors or even Hyrule Warriors. Yet, it also isn't an infinitely long JRPG like Persona 5 originally was either. No, this game falls somewhere in the middle, and because it's so unique, people have been missing out on a lot of secrets hidden throughout the newly designed Palaces (though the originals were some of the best in the franchise to date)
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Therefore, to help players out with gameplay, narrative, and even just some common secrets, here are some of the biggest ones we found.
10 Shooting Shadows Works Just As Well As An Ambush
Early on in the first Palace, the game brings back the Security Level mechanic from the base game, eventually booting players from the Palace if they manage to fill it up. To avoid getting caught, the game tells users all about sneak attacking shadows using the "Ambush" prompt.
But, what players might not know is that this isn’t the only method of starting confrontations without raising security. Sure, it's likely the best method, since it essentially gives a free all-out attack, but shooting shadows from afar works well too, and usually teleports the Phantom Thieves to the enemies most of the time as well.
9 Free Party Heals With Mediarama
By now, anyone playing Persona 5 Strikers likely knows about how the combo system allows them to use Skills for free. With Joker, most are part of the ▢, ▢, △, △ or ▢, ▢, ▢, △ combo, but each of the Phantom Thieves can do it.
Utilizing these specific combos both in and out of combat is a fantastic way to save SP without going through the trouble of leaving and rentering the Palace. But, it also works with multi-target Skills. For example, using Sarasvati allows Joker to heal his entire team for free with Mediarama, just by swinging his weapon around a few times.
8 Interrupt Big Enemies With Spells
Another mechanic unique to Strikers game is the whole “shield” system known as a "Down Gauge," which helps prevent stronger Persona from getting stuck in an infinite loop of All-Out Attacks at the hands of the Phantom Thieves. Basically, they only become vulnerable to an All-Out Attack after these shields are gone.
However, how many people realized that they also stagger whenever a shield is broken? And, when they stagger, whatever spell they were about to cast gets interrupted and canceled. Therefore, by tactically breaking one of their shields at the right time, players don’t even have to worry about dodging the enemies' spells, which is nice against some of the larger AoE attacks.
7 The Optional Reaper Boss
Secret Boss Fights in the Persona or even the Megami Tensei series are nothing new. Reaper, in particular, has shown up in Persona 3, Persona 4, P4 Golden, Persona Q, Persona 5, and now Strikers. Fans of Persona 5 will be surprised to learn that Reaper is no longer a boss that can be found by wandering around aimlessly, rather, he's the wall players must climb if they want to unlock NG+.
Even unlocking the Quest to fight Reaper requires completing a laundry list of other Requests, including one that doesn't unlock until the main story is completed. And, there's no Flu Season Despair exploit this time around, so get ready for a long and arduous fight against one of the best visual designs for the Grim Reaper in the franchise.
6 You Can See When Party Members Have Full Showtime
It is absolutely possible to tell when one of the Phantom Thieves has a fully-charged Showtime Bar. Showtime is basically the “Special Attack” from any other Musou game, where the character in question launches into this big, invincible, cinematic attack meant for wiping out an entire area of the map.
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But, because of how small the groups in Persona are in general, it’s usually best saved for bosses. In any case, all players have to look out for is a little blue flame that will pop up behind the teammate's Baton Pass icon in the bottom left, because as soon as that flame is burning, it’s showtime.
5 AI Joker Won't Switch Personas
The biggest way Persona 5 Strikers innovates on the Musou formula is the concept that all of the playable characters are around 100% of the time. In all the other Musou games, a character is selected before each level, but in Persona 5 Strikers, they’re all a part of the party, although only three are active at any moment.
Each Phantom Thief has a different gimmick to their playstyles, such as Ryuji's charge attacks, Haru's Hold Button combo enders, or Yusuke's Counter system. A small detail that can be difficult to notice is that an AI-controlled Joker can't switch off the current Persona they have equipped. It's actually more of a benefit than it is a boon, since it allows players to control their favorite character, and Joker will still be able to target the Persona's weakness.
4 Skill Swap Is Easier Than Ever
Swapping Skills in Persona games has been a frustrating but understandable nitpick for quite a long time. Not being able to pick which skills transfer over is one of the main reasons why people have a hard time going back to Persona 3.
It wasn’t until Persona 5 in fact that players could finally pick which skills transfer during a Persona Fusion. But, once those skills are picked, that’s it, they’re locked in, there was no easy way to get the old Skill. Well, that is, until now. In Strikers, it is possible to just re-equip any of the old skills on a Persona at any time! Joker doesn't even have to be in the Velvet Room to do it either.
3 Frustrate Lavenza By Trying To Save
This next one is just a cute little nod to fans with a bit of Persona 5 muscle memory. In most Persona games, there are plenty of places to save, the Velvet Room being one of those places. Frankly, being able to save there is like an unspoken tradition.
But, in Strikers, this isn't possible. The funny part is, for those who try and press what would be the save menu input in the Velvet Room, all they will be doing is annoying Lavenza. Yep, she reacts to every mistaken button press; while she initially finds the mixup cute, Lavenza grows more frustrated as the button is spammed. It's a cute little detail, and Strikers is packed with tons of things like this.
2 Selling Request Persona For Points
Fusion Requests have always been in Persona games, and Strikers is no exception. Basically, these side quests involve Lavenza asking Joker to present a specific Persona to her with a specific Skill. The solution to all of these “puzzles,” of course, is just to find the right combination of Persona Fusions, which is a very neat way to get players to explore the Fusion system.
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Something not everyone might notice is that these “request” Persona break down for a ton of Persona Points. Lacking Persona Points later on in the game can be incredibly annoying, but with some careful planning, grinding this combination Persona out then breaking them down is the absolute best way to generate PP in the game.
1 The Same Old Classic References
Persona games love to reference other companies and IPs, sometimes in small ways, other times very obviously, but always in the same fashion. The references to other Sega/Capcom games in Persona 5 Strikers are particularly numerous.
For starters, most of Yusuke's attacks look almost exactly like Vergil's attacks from Devil May Cry 5, especially Judgement Cut. Then, there are the Yakuza references that Makoto makes and her background with that particular IP. Finally, there are just all the little lines that characters say that are obviously homages to other classic games, like Natsume's line that's obviously an homage to Dragon Quest.