Persona 5 Tactica Review (Onyx Archer)
This is a followup to my review of the base game.
Repaint Your Heart, at least in my opinion, is a novel addition to the Persona 5 series, and I certainly think it's worth your time. It's really the only DLC for the game that adds anything of note to the game (unless you want to bend the base game over your knee and spank it with Izanagi-no-Okami Picaro or something), and as such, I think it's worth reviewing.
This DLC takes place during the main story of Persona 5, and long before Tactica's story even begins, with the only real mentions of Tactica's main scenario being at the very end. This story is set during the events of the Casino Palace from Persona 5, and has Ren (Joker) teaming up with Akechi and Kasumi in a small adventure. It's roughly 4 hours long, and only features about 6 characters including our heroes. The story focuses on a street artist named Guernica, who serves the role of primary antagonist. You'll also meet Luca, a girl in a "Mouscot" costume with a connection to Guernica, and Jerri, a pompous bird who is aiding in Guernica's destructive graffiti acts.
As I said, the story is quite brief as far as Persona stories are concerned, and you can certainly feel it. It passes by in what feels like no time at all, and I personally feel it could have been a bit longer. It's a decent enough tale, and it's conclusion is all well and good, with Joker, Crow, and Violet (who doesn't have her codename yet, but I'm sticking to the theme) forgetting everything that transpired, as to not interfere with the original Persona 5 story, or the stuff Royal added to it. I do think it works for what it is, but I can see it being a let down for some.
However, I can applaud it for being smarter about how it handled the DLC plot compared to another recent ATLUS release, Soul Hackers 2. While I like that game a fair bit more than most, I will say the way that game's DLC story feels awkwardly crowbarred into the main plot hurts both the DLC and the main plot of that title. Tactica and Repaint Your Heart avoid that entirely by having both be separate modes from one another. Honestly, they could slap together another scenario like this for this game or another spin-off, and I'd be a happy camper, regardless of the story's length.
Kasumi and Akechi are more or less how you remember them from the point in time the story of Repaint takes place in Persona 5 Royal proper, and don't really go through any meaningful development or anything. This story is forgotten in the end, so it's not as though they'd remember the development anyway. The new characters work well enough for the story being told, but in my view, could have used more time to simmer, as I said earlier.
The DLC retains most of the base mechanics from the base game, but centres itself around a unique gimmick: Paint. Whenever you attack an enemy, or an enemy attacks you, paint is splashed onto the ground. Blue paint for you, and magenta paint for the enemies. If an enemy is standing in your paint, regardless of if they are behind cover or not, they are as vulnerable as they'd be without cover, and the same applies to you if you're standing on an enemy's paint. Nobody can perform any actions outside of movement if you're standing in the opposite side's paint, so you have to move to your painted areas, or unpainted areas, to do anything. It's actually a unique mechanic, and obviously draws elements from Splatoon in some regard.
This DLC also has less customisation options for loadouts than the base game, and you can't fuse anything, but it gives you new Sub-Personas with each mission completed, so it works out. you also get two gun upgrades at select points, as there is no shop either.
Overall, I think the gameplay is solid, and if you like the base game, this DLC has an interesting twist on how you approach combat with the paint. I do think it's a bit lacking in other mechanics, as it goes all in on the paint gimmick, but because it's so short, it's not a huge loss.
Upon completing the DLC, you are given the ability to use Akechi and Kasumi in the base game, albeit only in New Game+, which is a neat feature. You also gain access to additional Challenge Missions, but that was one part of the DLC I didn't really touch. They lock the team comp and load out, and basically serve as more challenging battles where you have to win within the limitations. They're interesting, but it's just more of what's already there, so it's nothing too special. You also can view the DLC's gallery in the base game's New Game+ too, for what that's worth.
The DLC actually has some original music, and it's a little better than the base game's, in my view. It's got a different vibe from the usual Persona 5 fair, and it's a refreshing spin on P5's typical sound.
I think the DLC is worth the price personally, but I'd understand if the price seems a bit steep to some, depending on where you live, and how you perceive the relationship between price and value. But I'd still recommend it overall, especially if you can get it on sale, as if you are considering buying it at all, you probably played and liked the main campaign enough to consider it in the first place.