Persona5: The Phantom X Review in Progress

I’ve always been skeptical of Persona spin-offs. How can you twist such rich games into new shapes while maintaining the intricate details that make the series so beloved? Well, when it comes to the most recent addition to the family, Persona5: The Phantom X, the team at Perfect World appear to have done just that – or, at least, that’s how it seems on the surface. With beautifully animated cutscenes and a goosebump-inducing soundtrack, The Phantom X makes it clear early on that it isn’t keen to shake up the Persona formula. What it does do, however, is infuse that already excellent base with the all too familiar premium currencies of a mobile-focused gacha game. I have a more to play before my final review, but no matter how close it comes to recapturing the magic, there’s already a creeping sensation that this walk down memory lane is going to make way for endless grinding eventually.

Despite being a Persona 5 spin-off, The Phantom X doesn’t centre around Joker and his crew – instead, you’ll be playing as a fresh protagonist, Nagisa Kamisiro (though you can still pick your own name), in an alternate timeline version of that story. A seemingly average student, Kamasiro’s life changes when an adorable owl called Lufel calls on them to fight back against the misery and hopelessness enveloping the world, and to turn the tables against the great despair that clouds the hearts of the public. Unable to refuse, Kamasiro learns to wield their inner Persona and travels to the shadow world to help clear out the collective unconscious, one monster at a time. If you’ve played Persona 5, you’ll quickly notice that The Phantom X is following its formula beat by beat.

To fight off the aforementioned evil, you’ll bounce between beautifully recreated Tokyo neighborhoods and the monster-filled Metaverse, seeking out misbehaving fiends and infiltrating their minds while learning to master the series’ trademark turn-based combat that centers around elemental weaknesses. And because Kamisiro is a teen, you’ll also have to balance studying, part-time work, and home life, too. With all of its obvious derivations, The Phantom X struggles to conjure fresh ideas or immediate excitement in the shadow of a nearly decade-old modus operandi, but it at least manages to successfully clone the Persona formula, and that will be enough for some.

Thankfully, where the gameplay itself feels overfamiliar, the surrounding cast of characters provides enough mystery and warmth to keep things interesting. Alongside Kamisiro, you’ll meet the baseball-loving Motoha Arai, your husband-obsessed neighbour Kayo Tomiyama, and adorable schoolmate Tomoko Noge, to name a few. With energetic voice acting to back up their emotive and often humorous dialogue, it’s clear there’s been an effort to give the NPCs a sense of self, or at least the ones I’ve met so far. It didn’t take me long to forge an emotional attachment to them. Morgana’s anthropomorphic owl counterpart, Lufel, is a particular standout, and I am thoroughly enjoying a running gag about their somewhat archaic vocabulary confusing the school-aged NPCs.

The Phantom X follows Persona 5's formula beat by beat.

You’ll spend most of your days in Kamisiro’s shoes doing time-progressing tasks like studying for school in local cafes, working at the Konbini for cash, and buying groceries that you can use to cook back at your home. I’m still scratching the surface on how integral these side tasks feel in the scope of saving the world, though I’ve been enjoying making shopping lists and gawking at iconic Tokyo landmarks all the same. Particularly, wandering through the bustle of Shibuya Scramble and spotting its famous puppy mascot amongst the beaming electronic signs felt like a wonderful ode to a city I’ve come to love in both real life and games.

Aside from being a typical teen, much of your time in The Phantom X is spent in battle, and your combat expeditions launch from the Metaverse app located on Kamisiro’s phone. You can access these challenges anytime from the overworld, but you’ll need to use a naturally refreshing currency called Stamina to reap the rewards. Focusing on the mainline story missions will help keep you on track in terms of difficulty, though you can also explore a variety of combat challenges as you please to stockpile loot and earn experience, too. This is where the first hints of grinding come into focus but, mercifully, the combat in The Phantom X is very moreish and easy to sink time into.

The Phantom X bases its combat system on Persona 5, meaning it's turn-based with engaging reactive elements. When you roll up on a baddie, you’ll cycle through your party one member at a time, choosing between melee attacks, ranged attacks, and special Persona abilities. Similar to Pokémon, the enemies you’ll face, as well as the Personas you deploy, all have elemental strengths and weaknesses (like fire or ice) that can be exploited for extra damage. It’s a tried-and-tested system with enough diversity in its moveset to keep battles fresh, and even if you are starting to tire of it, the imagination-stoking enemy designs pull a good amount of weight throughout. What makes Persona combat truly unique, though, is the series’ bold interface design and legendary battle themes. I promise, no matter how many times you’ve already heard Persona 5’s Last Surprise, it just doesn’t get old.

Sadly, no amount of vocal flair from singer Lyn Inaizumi can make up for the sizable array of gacha systems and currencies you need to balance in The Phantom X. While there are characters and Personas you can unlock through the story, the quickest way to bolster your team is to engage in the lucky dip Contracts menu. In line with most other Gacha games on the market, you can earn the currencies you need to pull by grinding, or cut to the chase and pop in your credit card details to get an instant boost. I’m still only about 10 hours into my playthrough, and I’ve not hit any obvious roadblocks, but I can see them coming. At my current level, I have enough cash to buy health items, as well as a plethora of unique currencies to upgrade my Personas, weapons and more. Plus, when it comes to actually engaging with the gacha spins, I don’t feel like the boost they provide are hugely necessary to my success yet. Inevitably, this won’t last, though, and I can see cash-shaped hurdles on the horizon.

Outside of the inclusion of premium currencies, perhaps my biggest issue with The Phantom X so far is that it feels more like an uncanny reflection of Persona 5, rather than a unique take on its established lore. Other spin-offs like Persona 5 Tactica or Persona 5 Strikers feel like strong additions to the series that come at it from a completely different angle, whereas The Phantom X is more of a well-executed imitation. It’s not to say that I’m bored, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed both its combat and getting to know the characters so far. The first few chapters of its story are well-written, appropriately shocking, and do well to hook you into the world. But The Phantom X’s “do-over” take on the story The Phantom Thieves just isn’t providing a new enough experience to warrant the amount of time (or possibly money) I’ll need to invest to see it through when Persona 5 and its predecessors are readily available and feel far more curated and engaging.

While I’m mostly enjoying my time with Persona5: The Phantom X so far, there’s still so much to explore before delivering my final review, like investigating the depth of the upgrade systems and the long-term impact of premium currencies as you progress. As a fan of the series, it’s hard to look a gift horse in the mouth when it comes to fresh Persona 5-related content. But as of right now, I’m just unsure about how The Phantom X can deviate enough from the core material to compel me to invest in it long term – only time will tell.