Persona 5 Strikers has recently been confirmed to receive a western region launch but it appears like a free demo outside of Japan will not be considered. In a year where the Persona franchise has seen the launch of various titles, both ports and new releases, this strikes as a peculiarity.
There was much controversy over whether or not Persona 5 Strikers would be localized at all. Speculations roamed about for the whole year, but it wasn’t until English footage leaked that the launch of Persona 5 Strikers in the western regions was verified for 2021.
This sequel to Persona 5 mixes together the combat style of Dynasty Warriors with some of the JRPG mechanics of Persona, though the title doesn’t take the events of Persona 5 Royale into account. The game launched in Japan back in February this year, with a free demo launching on the Switch and PlayStation 4 a few weeks before its official release, though the English launch will also be available on Steam, continuing Persona’s growth in the PC market.
In spite of finally getting the confirmation of the western release of Persona 5 Strikers, it appears likely that a demo for the game will not happen. A hands-off preview of the game from RPGSite reveals that “When asked if there were plans to bring the demo that was seen in Japan for both PS4 and Switch, I was told that unfortunately there were none.” The reason for this decision was not stated.
While it is probable that this could still change in the future, the possibility of this occurring doesn’t seem likely, should this information be true. But even if a free English demo won’t be releasing, the Japanese demo of the game is still downloadable on both the PlayStation Store and Nintendo eShop.
However, players would have to create Japanese accounts on their consoles in order to have access to the demo which is a moderately long process. Though the Japanese demo won’t be available for English players, it does at least give a way to check the gameplay before Persona 5 Strikers launches in the future.
The chance to play the Japanese demo does lighten the frustration that there won’t be an official English demo, though it is a shame that the Japanese demo remains the only choice to try the game for free before buying it.
On the brighter side, it won’t be a long wait before the full version releases. It is probable that the rationale for the demo not being localized could be because of the reveal of the localization being so near to the game’s release.
Whatever the reason is, the Phantom Thieves will make their introduction once more in Persona 5 Strikers when it launches on February 23, 2021.
