Set six months after the conclusion of Persona 5, Persona 5 Strikers reunites the Phantom Thieves of Hearts for an all-new adventure. Rather than focusing on Tokyo, Persona 5 Strikers expands the adventure to include a road trip to various regions across Japan. Not only is the scope of the journey expanded, but the combat is completely different from the turn-based fare of Persona 5. 

This time around, the Phantom Thieves traverse dungeons and encounter Shadows, triggering action-packed, hack-and-slash battles. However, the turn-based inspiration carries through to Persona 5 Strikers, as Joker, Ann, Ryuji, and company can still summon their Personas for pause-and-plan sequences that stop the action while you navigate the menus. Just as each character has their own Personas with unique abilities, each member of the Phantom Thieves has their own special abilities and affinities.

Today, Atlus released a new trailer highlighting some of the combat abilities of the Phantom Thieves. Whether you're talking Ann's ability to use fire attacks or Makoto's nuclear affinity, so much of Persona 5 Strikers' combat relies on exploiting enemy weaknesses to trigger Follow-Up opportunities and All-Out Attack sequences. You can see the team reunited and battling it out with Shadows in the new trailer below.

Persona 5 Strikers hits PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC on February 23. However, you can access the game starting on February 19  if you purchase the Digital Deluxe edition. This bundle comes with a digital art book, a digital soundtrack, a behind-the-scenes video showcasing the making of the music, and special background music from past Persona games. 

For more on Persona 5 Strikers, check out my early impressions of my time with the game here. If you've missed the boat on Persona 5 to this point and want to start at the beginning, the enhanced re-release Persona 5 Royal is the way to go (even if Strikers serves as a follow up to the vanilla version). To learn about that game, you can read my review, or check out associate editor Jason Guisao's opinion piece on why it's a game worth playing – even if you already experienced the original.

EA answered years’ worth of prayers when it announced the return of the Skate franchise last July. The reveal offered no trailer, gameplay, concept art, or much of anything because the game was very early in development. How early? Well, as of today, EA has announced the formation of a new studio that will helm development of the next Skate game.

Meet Full Circle, a Vancouver based team led by Daniel McCulloch, formerly Head of Xbox Live at Microsoft. Fans will be pleased to know that Deran Chung and Cuz Parry, who helped create the Skate franchise and worked on all three mainline games, make up the creative leadership on the new title. “We’re so stoked to be back working on Skate,” says Chung and Parry in a press release. 

McCulloch offered his own statement as well: 

“The fans wished Skate back into existence and we want them to feel involved in the process from development to game launch and beyond. We want them to feel like they are a part of Full Circle. We’re all about having fun and making great games that people want to play with their friends. And, we’re looking for more developers to help us build compelling worlds for players to explore.”

Full Circle is still staffing up with positions open for designers, artists, and engineers among other jobs, so if you are skilled in such things, go apply and help make Skate happen faster, darn it! Still, Full Circle seems like it’s off to a solid start. Unfortunately, this also signifies that the new Skate is further away than fans may have realized. But, after spending over a decade waiting with little more than hope and a prayer, at least fans have something tangible to look forward to now. While you're waiting you can satisfy your Skate cravings with our Replay episodes of Skate 2 and Skate 3. 

What do you think of the new team and what are you looking for in a new Skate game? Sound off in the comments!

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