REVIEW: ‘Persona 5: The Phantom X’ Captures The Persona Spirit

Persona5: The Phantom X, the gacha take on the popular role-playing game developed by Black Wings Game Studio and published by Sega, feels instantly familiar. Bringing players back to Tokyo with a mixture of new and returning faces, the spin-off takes a lot of the best parts of Persona5 and distills them, while layering on gacha systems.

It won’t be for everyone, but for fans of the franchise, there’s a lot here that’s done well. From the story to the combat, and yes, even the gacha systems, it all manages to feel very Persona. Persona5: The Phantom X kicks off with a bang. Starting with an initially familiar repeat of the Persona5 opening as Joker infiltrates a casino, fights a Shadow, and runs from the cops.

All of a sudden, a new character appears, seemingly shooting Joker before waking back up in their own bedroom. The new protagonist, codenamed Wonder, goes to school, meets an otherworldly animal companion in Lufel, and starts to fight back against wrongs in society.

Story and combat in Persona5: The Phantom X keep to the franchise’s signature style.

While Persona 5 focused on confronting corruption and rebelling against control, Persona5: The Phantom X looks at the loss of hope and desire. The first palace in the game highlights a fallen baseball player who starts pushing and assaulting women on the subway.

He keeps getting away with it, as the cops throw their hands up as he claims it was a simple accident every time. His victims and the public around start losing hope, both in people and the system, and it’s up to this alternate universe version of the Phantom Thieves to save the day.

Phantom X takes place concurrently with the original, but also in a seemingly alternate world. You still encounter and interact with the original Phantom Thieves, but the focus here is on Wonder, Lufel, and a new cast that joins over the course of the game. Similarly, the confidants are all new, with some familiar faces showing up mechanically. 

With it being a gacha live service game, the entire story isn’t out at this point. The Chinese and Korean versions, having already been out for a year, are on the fourth palace, while the worldwide edition goes to a certain point in the second palace. The road map seems to be aggressive in a good way, as we can expect more content every month from here on.

So far, the story and characters have all been really solid. None have managed to hit the heights of the original game, but none so far feel like they would be out of place. They manage to capture the charm and feel of the main series, making coming back every day exciting rather than a chore. Original writers from Persona 5 Royal and Persona 5 Strikers joined the writing team of Phantom X for later palaces, bringing even more of the core series vibes to the spin-off. 

The gameplay loop mirrors the original games really well. The opening hours of the game are really story heavy, bringing players back into the world of Persona. Main story missions follow Wonder and the Phantom Thieves as they take on Palaces and their corrupt rulers. The palaces here are massive, bigger in scale with much more to explore. 

Mementos also returns, tied together closer than before. In Persona 5, Mementos were a randomly generated dungeon that players progressed through over the course of the game. In Phantom X, players actually need to progress through Mementos to find new palaces.

There are also tickets to find along the way, as using them at fare machines unlocks new pathways and areas to explore. You’ll need to journey through to continue the story, but it remains a fun way to find new gear, items, and fight shadows along the way. 

Mementos tap into the gacha game mechanics without sacrificing lore.

The battle system feels instantly at home for any Persona fan, as you use your own Personas to fight turn-based battles against the shadows. Each Persona has different elemental and physical attacks. Exploiting the enemies weakness downs them and leads to a One More attack, where another team member can follow up for another hit. Rather than it being a bonus turn like it was in Persona 5, it’s simply another attack here, usually following the unit’s main element.

Hitting an enemy weakness with Wonder, for example, will allow the player to pick a unit to follow up. Picking Lufel, who is a fire character, will mean Lufel will use a free fire attack, usually targeting another weakness if able. If Lufel manages to hit another enemy’s weakness, then the free attacks continue with another Phantom Thief. Down all the enemies, and the whole team can All Out Attack for massive damage.

When not hunting through Palaces, players spend time in the world as Wonder. The social systems are very much here, just expanded on. Wonder can spend time with confidants, take on side missions, go to work or to school, and so on. Doing so uses an activity point and advances time, with each day being broken down into multiple time slots. Different activities and confidants are available at different times, making each time block feel different than the others. 

Each confidant has relationship levels, here called synergies. Getting closer to them unlocks various currencies that can be used for pulls, while also offering other boosts. Spending time with Merope, for example, unlocks new Persona fusions.

New synergy levels are available as you level Wonder up, with the five core personality traits (Guts, Charm, Knowledge, Proficiency, Kindness) also returning for our hero. These levels are achieved by doing actions in the world, such as working or studying. As they increase, new bonding moments and synergies are also unlocked. 

Persona5: The Phantom X feels very Persona in its opening hours, until the gacha systems start to layer on. Players will get new Phantom Thieves through the story, sure, but the majority of new characters, new Personas, and upgrade materials are tied to different systems.

New characters and Personas need to be pulled through using tickets, with the more powerful and rarer characters being more difficult to get. Gold tickets are used for the standard banner, while Premium Tickets are reserved for limited-time banners that hold better characters, like Joker. 

The systems of this Persona gacha game are surprisingly deep. 

Weapons, Personas, and upgrade materials are all also tied to these systems. You can find all of them in Palaces and in Mementos, but you can also pull for rarer versions of them. There are a number of different currencies that all do different things. For example, there are standard gems that can be used for new pulls, but there is also premium currency that can do the same. There are different tickets for Phantom Thieves and Personas, but different medallions used for weapon pulls. 

Players have a set amount of energy, 240, on any given day. Energy can be used for various Metaverse activities, like fighting for more upgrade materials, Personas, or other stat boosters. This is the best way to get all of the above, while offering substantial experience for Wonder.

Energy refills over a 24-hour real-world clock, making the choices of what to invest in every day important. Do you spend energy on new Personas, trying to fuse together new and more powerful ones? Or do you fight for upgrade points, to boost your team, their weapons, or their own Personas? Each day becomes something new as you find new things to prioritize depending on what you need for the story. 

On top of story and side missions, there are also daily, weekly, and seasonal missions that are all critical to progression, giving Wonder experience while also dishing out items and currency that can be used for pulls. Dailies can be taken out quite quickly, ranging from just logging in to clearing certain battle challenges, or using a certain amount of stamina or action points.

Completing a sufficient number of these tasks in a day rewards the player, while completing a sufficient number in a week grants even more. Weeklies and Seasonals follow a similar rhythm, mostly granting experience towards the battle passes. There are free and premium tracks, each offering a number of items, currency, and pulls.

For anyone unfamiliar with gacha games, all of these systems can be incredibly overwhelming. Persona5: The Phantom X does a good job of layering these in slowly, but even then, there is a lot of systems and game here to understand. This can be enough to turn players away, but for players who have played their fair share of gacha games or are willing to learn, Persona5: The Phantom X has proven to be pretty generous in it’s free handouts.

One of the biggest questions with any gacha is how accessible it is for a free player. So far, playing for about a week, I’ve gotten a number of free pulls, items, currencies, and more by just progressing through the story and knocking out my dailies and other missions.

Dailies keep players engaged in Persona5: The Phantom X.

I’ve pulled multiple five-star characters and weapons despite not paying anything in. I’ve only had a few instances of progression hard stops, which required me to go spend some time upgrading my characters, but these were quick roadblocks that I was able to get by quickly.

The thing is, these systems will be enough to turn some players away. A lot of what is here is elongated compared to the core games to keep players coming back day after day. Confidants now have 20 ranks to work through rather than 10, and social stats are following a similar bump.

It takes way longer to rank and level these up, but that’s by design. Upgrading and leveling Wonder takes time and effort, all built on systems that limit how much you can do in a day. These systems aren’t unique to Persona5: The Phantom X, as it follows the central gacha design philosophy of daily, weekly, and monthly player retention. 

Here, it’s a situation that’s entirely dependent on the player’s willingness to engage with these systems. Persona5: The Phantom X nails that Persona feeling, yes, but it’s still a gacha game first. If you’re willing to gel with and understand that things will inherently take longer, there is a lot here to fall in love with. For others, this will be enough to turn people away, choosing to wait for the next installment of the core franchise. 

Personally, I’m invested so far. I’m a massive Persona fan, playing every major entry and spin-off series. What I’m not is a gacha fan, having spent a bit of time with Honkai Star Rail before falling off due to the gacha-ness of it all.

The IP familiarity and love for the brand have gripped me, as I spend a considerable amount of time reading and watching videos about how to best build my team, prepare for what’s new, and engage with various systems that I previously overlooked.

The difference this time is the Persona of it all, bringing all these various systems to a level that I already understand. While I still wish this was a full single-player campaign, those games and versions of Persona 5 already exist, and I’m willing to give this one a chance based on my first week with it. 

Persona5: The Phantom X is off to a great start, managing to feel very much like the core series, despite the gacha systems. There is a ton of game to dive in to here, including mini games, events, and a social hub that can be customized, while also delivering on that inherent Persona vibe.

The combat flows quickly, the story grabs you and doesn’t let go, and the social systems remain engaging and fun. While the gacha systems will be enough to turn people off, so far, I’m having a blast with Persona5: The Phantom X and will keep coming back for more. 

Persona5: The Phantom X is out now on PC and mobile.