The answer to creating the best DLC campaign was Splatoon all along. Where's my singing idols when I need them?

ATLUS heard our cries and whines about Kasumi and Akechi's lack of presence in Strikers and gave us them as paid DLC out of spite to us. What do I have to say about it? I'm thankful.

Repaint Your Heart (RPH) plays a slight bit differently to the main game. Enemies spread paint with each hit they do to the opposition, and generally it's a good idea to have as much of your coloured paint across the map, since it allows you to stagger enemies for a One More if they stand atop your side's colour - even if they're near a wall or corner. This changes things up from the main game, since you'll generally be abusing Akechi and Kasumi voltage's to help abuse game mechanics during tough calls, and even Joker's own one becomes much more useful when certain bosses later on are harder to hit with paint. It's a short campaign, but a lot of the levels got very creative as they went on. A lot of tactics games suffer their final bosses being too easy or too convoluted, but I found this finale a delight when faced with having to think outside the box to paint my way through to the end.

Story-wise, there are some contrived tidbits that no fan can ignore when booting up this campaign! Kasumi isn't herself from Royal's Third Semester, so she lacks a lot of the development that a lot of her fans love her for, and Akechi's joining up with Joker in the DLC story is also done at a delicate point in the timeline of the main game that really offsets things. The main characters who develop in RPH really come down to original characters, Luca and Guernica, and I did enjoy watching them. It was nice to have this side story showcase having a rebellious spirit in a new way, and I think Guernica was a really good shout into how it could be done for a negative end-goal, as opposed to the Phantom Thieves.

Even better was how the game's story doesn't make the symbolism as in-your-face as OG-P5. It's, to this day, one of the few annoyances I have with the original's narrative, and I was really happy to see no one point out the indication of the normal Street residents being rats to do with Guernica's past, or through Kasumi remembering something she dearly forgot towards the end of the campaign - if only for just a little bit. It was times like these I personally enjoyed picking up on things the things the game didn't otherwise tell me so that it could seem smart, and I think it made the setting of The Streets incredibly interesting from a symbolic point of view. I personally enjoy thinking back to a game's story constantly even after playing it, and RPH scratched that personal itch for me.

I won't beat around the bush. I enjoyed RPH more than I thought I would. I'm a sucker for Tactics games, so I was already hooked on Tactica's main-game, but acknowledging Royal was the cherry on the cake for me, and I'm glad they did so because it confuses the timeline of what's real in the P5-verse even more now (Strikers Royal should exist by the the way). I do still think you SHOULD ideally get this DLC if you've at least played through Royal's Third Semester for the most enjoyment, but the levels are incredibly varied and unique to accommodate less narratively-driven players.

It's a good DLC. Day 1 DLC was a little cringe, I'll be honest, but you can do what I did and wait for a sale before swooping in for it. If any of Tactica's DLC packs are worth getting - then this is the one!