Persona5: The Phantom X is a bold reinvention of the Phantom Thieves formula, with a gacha twist.
Persona5: The Phantom X is one of Atlus’s most iconic titles, an RPG juggernaut that blended turn-based combat, a rich Tokyo setting, stylish flair, and emotional storytelling into an unforgettable experience. It became a modern classic, spawning several spin-offs, adaptations, and a devoted fanbase.
Persona5: The Phantom X takes the core ideas of that success and reimagines them for the live-service, free-to-play space, making its debut on PC and mobile platforms. But in moving from console epic to free-to-play experiment, can this new title retain the heart of the original, or does it lose itself in monetization mechanics?
Developed by Black Wings Game Studio under the supervision of Atlus and SEGA, Persona5: The Phantom X offers a fresh take on the Phantom Thieves saga. It introduces a new protagonist and supporting cast, a slightly altered mission, and a new setting within the same familiar world of Persona 5.
What begins as a familiar stroll through Tokyo quickly escalates into an alternate metaverse narrative where the loss of desire, not its corruption, is the central theme. While Persona 5 was about stealing corrupted hearts, The Phantom X asks you to return stolen desires and rekindle hope in a world that has lost its drive.
From its opening beats, Persona5: The Phantom X feels invested in its narrative. A teenager unintentionally stumbles into the parallel universe at the beginning of the game, whereupon he befriends Lufil, an owl-like companion who aids with his Persona awakening. The two start out as phantom thieves and take on the code names Wonder and Cattle.
The story explores larger issues of apathy and hopelessness afflicting society rather than concentrating only on specific villains. People lose their ambitions, sense of justice, and drive for change. Early character arcs are surprisingly deep, such as the story of Motoha and her friend Tomoko.
Motoha’s emotional journey, from giving up her dream due to childhood trauma to reclaiming her purpose and joining your team as Closer, mirrors the game’s core idea that desire, when reclaimed, becomes a force for personal liberation.
The structure has been significantly altered to support its free-to-play style, even though the story is structured similarly to a mainstream Persona game. The absence of the conventional Persona calendar is the most obvious change. In-game dates no longer limit you, and you are not compelled to meet deadlines.
Rather, you are allowed to go at your own speed, finishing side projects and story chapters as you see fit. For some who found the original’s time limits stressful, this flexibility is a pleasant improvement. The well-known drawbacks of live-service games, gated content, level locks, and energy systems—which can stop your progress unless you grind every day or wait for resets—are the tradeoff, though.
The gameplay loop still follows Persona’s classic formula. You explore Tokyo, interact with NPCs, improve social stats, and build confident relationships. These confidants return with a new 20-rank system, but the implementation is uneven.
While some characters, like Yaoling or Minami Miyashita, have well-developed storylines unlocked through side missions, many confidant ranks offer little more than numerical progress. Unlike the emotionally rich conversations of Persona 5, several of these ranks feel like placeholders, giving you the illusion of growth without meaningful narrative payoff.
The emotional depth that Persona fans anticipate is diminished by this content padding, which seems to be an attempt to artificially extend the game’s length. But exploring the city is still interesting. You have five daily activity slots that you can use for training, side quest unlocks, or social bonding. Unlike the original’s calendar system, you’re encouraged to fully explore every option without worrying about time limits.
This opens up more leisurely city life experiences, with moments like hanging out at the batting cages, taking part in a clunky but amusing soccer mini-game, or playing rounds of Tycoon, the surprisingly deep and satisfying card game imported from Persona 5 Royal.
Persona5: The Phantom X is at its best in combat. Although it has been modified to provide additional strategic layers, the traditional turn-based framework is still present. As usual, you get an extra move when you take advantage of an enemy’s weaknesses, but this time, you are urged to fire a follow-up strike right away rather than selecting any other action.
This change encourages smart team-building around elemental coverage rather than brute-force tactics. Baton pass remains integral, letting you maintain momentum if your team is built correctly.
The new “highlight” system lets characters unleash special moves after filling a gauge. These attacks are powerful but not spammable; they’re affected by enemy resistances, and once used, they go on cooldown for several turns regardless of how quickly the meter recharges.
This keeps the flow of combat tactical and thoughtful. And if you’re looking for a challenge, the Velvet Trials offer increasingly difficult scenarios that push your team composition and combat knowledge to the limit.
Speaking of your team, you’re no longer limited to your core companions. Persona5: The Phantom X introduces phantom idols, cognitive manifestations of characters you’ve met in the story who fight alongside you. Although certain characters work as passive support rather than front-line combatants, they nonetheless provide extremely versatile party configurations.
Your protagonist’s Wild Card ability adds even more complexity to the ongoing balancing act that is team composition. More Persona slots become available to you as you level up, enabling you to quickly adjust to changing circumstances. The game even suggests recommended teams in the party menu, though discovering your ideal lineup through experimentation remains one of the game’s joys.
Dungeons, or “palaces,” have taken cues from both Persona 5 and Persona 5 Strikers. They feature increased verticality, more exploration, and can be revisited even after defeating their bosses, adding welcome replayability. While the design is generally engaging, not all dungeon mechanics are hits.
Some gimmicks, such as a camera-based puzzle in one palace, feel repetitive and more tedious than clever. Mementos also return in a modified form. It’s no longer randomized and instead serves as a structured, progression-heavy dungeon with a focus on grinding XP and materials. Though it still drags at times, its layout is more tolerable than previous incarnations.
XP grinding is deeply tied to the live-service design. Progression is often halted by level caps, with story advancement gated behind specific requirements. Daily content, such as battles in the realm of repression or training challenges, becomes your primary source of XP.
This implies that missing a day or two might have a major negative impact on your progress, which encourages a playstyle that prioritizes daily check-ins over extended game sessions. You are encouraged to concentrate your efforts on your protagonist since leveling them also raises the cap for other characters. But because materials and enhancement items are limited by gacha mechanics and time restrictions, even your progression strategy becomes subject to RNG.
Gacha systems are, predictably, the game’s most controversial element. Early iterations featured 50/50 mechanics on character banners and limited pity roll systems. Thankfully, recent updates have improved the experience. The 50/50 mechanic for character banners has been removed, pity thresholds have been lowered, and your progress now carries over across banners.
This makes acquiring featured characters more accessible. Unfortunately, weapon banners still use outdated systems, causing ongoing frustration. Even if the character gacha has grown more lenient, these systems are still in place, and making progress without spending a lot of time or real money can be frustrating and sluggish.
From the graphic style to the effects, crisp character art style, and stylized menus, Persona5: The Phantom X retained the series’ visual beauty. The cutscenes are equally well-directed, with an exuberance that keeps up with their precursors. Certain technical glitches, however, also inhibit smooth gameplay in real time.
Compared to the mobile version, the PC version is considerably less optimized, which results in stuttering, crashes, AI issues, and animation errors. Certain parts, such as the soccer mini-game, seem awkward and unfinished. These bugs don’t ruin the experience, but they do remind you that you’re playing a work-in-progress live-service title.
Sound design and music remain strong. While the game introduces new tracks rather than recycling the original Persona 5 soundtrack, the vibe is still unmistakably stylish and jazzy. The voice acting, when present, is fitting and character-driven, and battle sounds remain punchy and satisfying.
But the limited dialogue in many social systems, especially in the higher confidant ranks, leaves parts of the experience feeling hollow compared to the deeply written character interactions the series is known for.
A major letdown is the lack of meaningful online functionality. Other than the Tycoon mini-game, a social center, and a little chat area, there isn’t any cooperative content or shared multiplayer experiences.
The game that, by design, is live-service oriented; the absence of online raids, group missions, or even competitive mini-games feels like a tremendous missed opportunity. This, in fact, is a bit disappointing, given how much the Persona has historically stressed relationships and communities.
Persona5: The Phantom X succeeds in maintaining the essence of the franchise in spite of all its flaws. The addition of elements like Tycoon demonstrates deliberate enhancements that go beyond revenue, and its characters, concepts, and fighting are all captivating. The game is getting better, and its upgrades show that the developers are paying attention to what the players have to say.
It does, however, undoubtedly exist in the shadow of mobile monetization. This is not a substitute for a mainline Persona experience because of the gacha restrictions, time-gated progression, and artificial content stretching. It’s an experiment with some genius and a side project, but it’s best treated patiently and with reasonable expectations.
