Persona 5 Strikers brings the beloved Phantom Thieves back for another adventure. Strikers is a sequel to the original Persona 5, taking the group across Japan to different cities, instead of just the streets of Tokyo.
Persona has transformed into one of Sega's biggest franchises in recent years, and it's attracted flocks of new players to the JRPG genre. Interestingly, Sega has had another series explode in popularity over the last few years, Yakuza. Both franchises have caught on more than ever in the West, and have seen releases expand to PC and other platforms.
Strangely, the most recent releases of both series would swap genres with each other, with Yakuza going to a turn-based RPG and Persona a real-time action-RPG. With that in mind, Persona 5 Strikers takes time to pay a little bit of homage to the newest Yakuza outing.
Persona 5 Striker's Small Reference to Yakuza: Like a Dragon
As seen in the image above, Makoto notes a movie playing at the theater in Central Street called "Dragon: Like a Yakuza." It's a fun play on words with the newest game, Yakuza: Like a Dragon. It's important to note that Yakuza 7 is only called Like a Dragon in the West but the series' Japanese name "Ryu Ga Gotoku" translates to Like a Dragon. The game's Japanese name is Ryū ga Gotoku 7: Hikari to Yami no Yukue, translating to "Like a Dragon 7: Whereabouts of Light and Darkness."
This isn't the first time the two series have referenced each other, as Yakuza: Like a Dragon had a selection of Persona 5 CDs that players could collect and play in the Survive Bar. On top of that, Persona 5 Dancing in Starlight had an entire set of DLC costumes that dressed the Phantom Thieves up as prominent Yakuza characters like Kazuma Kiryu, Goro Majima, and Taiga Saejima.
Persona 5 Strikers takes place six months after the original Persona 5, with Joker and Morgana traveling back to Tokyo for summer vacation with the Phantom Thieves. Strikers is a sequel to the original Persona 5, meaning the events and characters of Persona 5 Royal won't impact the story this time around. A few new characters will help out the Phantom Thieves, however, including a mysterious AI named Sophia and a police officer named Zenkichi Hasegawa.
Persona 5 Strikers launches on February 23 for PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Yakuza: Like a Dragon is currently available on PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC, with a PS5 version launching on March 2, 2021.