The Persona series is no stranger to spin-offs, but there's no doubting that Persona 5: The Phantom X is a very different beast from what came before. Even in a series whose side games range from turn-based strategy and musou-style beat-em-up to dancing-based rhythm games, Persona 5: The Phantom X is something new. It's perhaps the closest cousin of the mainline games in its core gameplay loop, but that familiar core is propped up by the pillars of gacha gameplay and mobile-friendly design philosophy.
I recently attended a hands-on preview with Sega of America, where I had the chance to play about two hours of the game and join a group interview with chief Atlus producer Yosuke Uda and Sega Development Producer Jun Matsunaga about the creation of P5X. Dense as these two hours of gameplay were, it's clear that I only scratched the surface of Persona 5: The Phantom X; it's jam-packed with activities and places to explore, to an extent that rivals the mainline Persona games.
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Persona 5: The Phantom X Remembers P5 Fondly
My preview began with the first hour or so of the game, and here, the influence of Persona 5 was perhaps the most heavy-handed. The setup of the game's first arc doesn't dramatically deviate from P5's opening hours: the protagonist enters the Metaverse thanks to a mysterious app, is motivated to Phantom Thievery by a tragic event, and learns the ropes of Persona usage and the cognitive world from a cute but cryptic animal companion. The game even reuses a lot of P5 and P5R's soundtracks; fans should expect to hear many of the original game's greatest hits in cutscenes and the Tokyo overworld.
Thankfully, the story's introduction moves much faster than it does in P5, so fans of the original game don't have to strap themselves in for six hours of repeated exposition, and new music seems to become more and more common as players progress. In our interview, Uda discussed updated arrangements of P5's songs to match P5X's tone, and noted the return of iconic P5 singer Lyn Inaizumi and longtime Persona composer Ryota Kuzoka (especially known for his work on the Persona Dancing games) to create new music for P5X. It also helps that Perfect World hasn't skimped on the animation quality; some of The Phantom X's cutscenes and activity animations are even more dynamic and expressive than those in the base game.
What's more, Lufel shines as a remarkably different take on the Persona "mascot companion" in the intro. Morgana and Teddie sometimes get flak for their childish and annoying streaks; Lufel instead comes across as a wise but out-of-touch old man in the body of an owl. It remains to be seen how much his character arc will borrow from Morgana long-term, but on first impression, he seems much less grating than his predecessors, and rather charming in his old-school manners and vocabulary. I had little time to get to know the game's other original characters, but the glimpse I got into their lives at least suggested that fans shouldn't expect carbon copies of the Phantom Thieves, nor of Joker's other Confidants. With the help of these fresh faces, there's certainly hope that P5X's overarching story will establish its own identity.
The Phantom X is as Alive as Any Persona Game
After playing through the first hour of the story, I had another hour to free-roam, and in this segment, it was clear that the social sim elements of Persona 5 are the biggest winners of the mobile format in The Phantom X. Given that the entire point of a live-service game is to be played in perpetuity, Persona's strict calendar system would seem like a poor fit, but Perfect World has risen to the occasion here. Instead of passing in-game days after hanging out with a friend or working a day job, the player spends activity points, afternoon slowly turning to night as points get spent. The number of available points each day seems quite limited, so fans must still spend time as wisely as they do in mainline Persona games, but they refresh daily. In other words, the player's real-life calendar has become the P5X protagonist's calendar. It's a handsome spin on the Persona calendar system that also dovetails nicely with more standard daily log-in rewards, which also appear in P5X.
The social sim elements themselves seem short but sweet, ideal for mobile play. Social Links and Confidants have given way to a similar Synergy system that empowers the player through relationships. Studying, working, gaming, and other mundane solo activities are about as brisk as they tend to be in a mainline Persona game, and even hangouts with NPCs seem shorter than the typical Social Link or Confidant event. While this could leave one wanting more, it's certainly convenient for playing on the go, and with the help of P5X's handling of time, social activities are little imposition on the dungeon-crawling and combat for the mechanically-minded player. As a cherry on top, Persona 5 Royal's Thieves Den returns in P5X as a way to unwind and reflect on the player's story and social progress with collectibles and customization; I didn't get a chance to tinker with it, but it seems to come with all the expected amenities and more.
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Persona 5: The Phantom X's Banquet of Mechanics
Combat itself is both very faithful to Persona 5 combat, and yet entirely different. On the surface, combat plays out much like a normal Persona game: in turn-based battles, players test out elements on Shadows using Persona skills, earn 1 Mores by hitting weaknesses, then polish off the enemy with an All-Out Attack when they're all knocked down. However, the skills each Persona possesses are a far cry from the simple "deal damage" or "restore health" often found in Persona. Each character has elaborate passive abilities and secondary effects on active skills: Cattle can reduce incoming healing on an enemy, Closer can increase incoming Electricity damage, and so on. While battles with low-level Shadows are bound to feel much like a normal Persona game, longer boss battles will likely test the player's understanding of each character's kit and how the team synergizes. (Honkai: Star Rail die-hards may find themselves perfectly at home in Persona 5: The Phantom X.)
One element of combat worth highlighting is the Finisher. During battles, players charge a meter which, when filled, they can spend on one party member to activate their Finisher. What that entails is different for each character -- one might obliterate a targeted enemy, while another might heal the party with a buff on top. This is simple enough, and not unheard-of in a gacha RPG; what caught my attention is its obvious iteration on the Showtime format from Persona 5 Royal. Finisher animations are the spitting image of Showtimes, except they star a Phantom Thief and their Persona rather than two party members, and the effects are much more intricate than a Showtime's. To me, this feature was living proof of Perfect World's ability to faithfully capture the style and flair of Persona 5 while doing something new.
While this preview only offered a limited look at dungeon-crawling, it does appear to be one of the more time-consuming parts of Persona 5: The Phantom X, as one might expect. Mementos returns, still a series of winding tunnels where players must progressively unlock the depths and complete side quests. Lufel conveniently shares Morgana's ability to turn into a car; he bashes open doors and rams Shadows in a near-identical manner. This is an aspect of Persona 5 that Perfect World hasn't exactly reinvented, but since Mementos is so simple at its core, it's fertile soil for new features post-launch, and at least an even more convenient way to grind than before, thanks to The Phantom X's handling of time.
The dungeon element also makes good use of crossplay. If players knock out their social sim activities on mobile throughout the day, they can get into Mementos and the Palaces on PC later. During our group interview, Matsunaga emphasized the value of crossplay as a way to enjoy different parts of the game at different times, which resonated with me; during the gameplay preview, I found myself wanting to tap through simple social activities on mobile, then use a PC to settle in for a higher-commitment dungeon crawl.
The actual gacha system of Persona 5: The Phantom X didn't fully reveal its hand during this preview, but its presence was felt nonetheless. Shadow battles and side quests were loaded with multifarious component rewards, although I didn't have the chance to thoroughly learn all the ways to spend them. At a glance, it doesn't seem like anything a seasoned gacha game fan can't handle, but it may be a bit of a learning curve for those who just come looking for a mobile Persona game in the spirit of the series' PS Portable and PS Vita era. Still, this preview suggests that Perfect World has found a way for gacha and Persona to meet in the middle.
That's what P5X's future hinges on, really. Persona 5: The Phantom X is a clear love letter to the original game, and it will stay that way, so long as the combat, dungeons, and social sim activities stay gripping in their own right, existing in balance with the gacha grind, rather than merely in service to it. While I went in with my reservations about a gacha take on Persona, this preview made it clear that Persona 5: The Phantom X is a comprehensive Persona game for mobile, devoted to both honoring its source material and contemplating its further possibilities. With any luck, Perfect World's passion for Persona will keep P5X going full throttle for years to come.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 75 /100 Critics Rec: 67%
- Released
- June 26, 2025
- Publisher(s)
- Perfect World Entertainment, Atlus
