Persona 5: The Phantom X is a solid RPG, but even adding gacha can't hide the fact that Persona 5's been stretched awfully thin over the last 9 years

In the roughly eight or so years since Persona 5 made its international debut, there has been no shortage of Persona 5-related spin-offs. Even barring the influence it's had on the genre at large, numerous games, adaptations, and crossovers have expanded the world of the Phantom Thieves.

It's important context to have when talking about Persona 5: The Phantom X, a mobile and PC game developed by Perfect World subsidiary Black Wings Games Studio launching on June 26. I got to sit down with a build of Persona 5: The Phantom X, experiencing the introduction and a good chunk of the opening section of the game, including its first Palace.

A good spin-off shouldn't just rekindle feelings of Persona 5 but add something new to the mix; like Persona 5 Tactica which took combat to the grid, and Dancing In Starlight which went straight for the dancefloor. My takeaway from Persona 5: The Phantom X is that it's a perfectly solid RPG with all the trappings you'd expect of a mobile, gacha-fueled affair. But it's also leaning deep into the well of Persona 5 nostalgia, and I'm not sure if that will pay off for everyone.

Persona of interest

The introduction plays out much the same as Persona 5; you're Joker, leaping across the chandeliers, escaping the big casino heist. Then, suddenly, a new character appears and fights with Joker. They defeat the Persona 5 lead, and right as a gunshot rings out, the hero wakes up in their bed, confused and disoriented.

From there, it's a few familiar but remixed beats. The strange Metaverse app pops up on your phone and won't go away, several characters with defined portraits and party member aura pop up around you, and an animal mascot (an owl this time, rather than a cat) becomes your guide through the dangers of the Metaverse and, ultimately, stealing the Treasure of someone's palace.

After playing the introductory section, we jumped forward to the end of a Palace, where our assembled party was ready to send the calling card for a misogynistic former baseball star who'd been harassing women. Under the codenames Wonder, Cattle, and Closer, plus a party with a couple additional, seemingly story-unrelated , we went in.

All of it felt like Persona 5, and not necessarily in a bad way. The dungeons still have all the decor and exploration you'd hope for, characters have quite a bit of flair, and there's a good mix of lighthearted gags and serious subject matter. Battles are turn-based affairs that play just like Persona, right down to the "1 More" mechanic that lets you tag in a party member for a follow-up after hitting a weakness, and All-Out Attacks when you've downed all enemies. Running around the Palace or out on the streets of the real world, it all felt like Persona 5.

There are also layers of what you would expect from an RPG with gacha systems. You can roll for new characters, feed materials and lower-rank resources into bolstering your chosen party, and there's no shortage of menus to sift through and bespoke progression items to hoover up across activities. I never ran into an energy system, if there is one, but otherwise, it had all the trappings of other gacha-utilizing games I've played.

In that way, it did make me take note of just how far these games have come. My first gacha-driven games were essentially menus and screens with barebones battles, driven largely by the Sisyphean climb for higher numbers. Gacha games nowadays look incredible, though. Those like Honkai: Star Rail, Genshin Impact, and Wuthering Waves have incredible presentation, and in that same vein, once you've scrubbed away the additional icons and menus on-screen, Persona 5: The Phantom X looks and feels like Persona 5.

One of the biggest draws for me so far is the proposition of an alt-universe.

The context becomes important, though. Because if The Phantom X is largely rekindling good feelings I have towards Persona 5, what can it do to differentiate itself from that? In my first hour, I was enjoying the sights and sounds of P-Studio's Tokyo again; while there is some new music, The Phantom X also reuses many of the familiar beats that underpinned so much of Persona 5. It's got a similar look, familiar characters, and the same narrative drive: high-school student with a busy social life during the day, heart-stealing Phantom Thief by night.

This is potentially a huge boon for The Phantom X. A brand-new role-playing game that looks, sounds, and plays like a Persona could connect with fans, especially if it's playing off the established story of Persona 5 in interesting ways. One of the biggest draws for me so far is the proposition of an alt-universe, and the ways in which that could change or remix major story events that I would have expected.

Due to its gacha nature, though, its RPG systems are also centered squarely in the conventions of the genre. That means saving up some resources, rolling for some characters, and being greeted with "buy it now" limited-time real-money bundles after wrapping a major story moment. In a world with no Persona 6 on the horizon yet, that notion can be appealing. We also live in a world with numerous Persona 5 spin-offs, not to mention additional Persona games like Reload, or even games heavily inspired by Persona.

The silver bullet may ultimately be the characters, which are often front-and-center in a gacha game, and that's no different here. Already, we got to see crossovers with the main Persona 5 cast, and with teases for more on the way plus some high production value on the super attacks (dubbed Highlights), I could see players getting attached to chasing individual characters.

Even the main cast we were introduced to was fairly compelling. Wonder, the main hero, is essentially your standard Wild Card-using Persona protagonist. But Cattle, the owl companion, uses some tonfa and a mech, and Closer is a baseball star with some flashy electric attacks. I also got to see an Ice with a cool stacking mechanic, and a character who dropped different beats to amplify the party.

Once combat gets going, it certainly feels like I'm back in Persona 5.

There are building blocks here that could make Persona 5: The Phantom X interesting for those who simply crave more Persona. They'll need to stomach some of the realities of playing a gacha game, but once combat gets going, it certainly feels like I'm back in Persona 5. For those a bit fatigued though, with myself among that number, I'm wary to say The Phantom X could steal any new hearts.

There's no looming pressure from the calendar, sense of urgency, or really any of the narrative rails that gave Persona 5 momentum. Without a moving, driving force behind it, the sheer glut of stuff feels less like a rollercoaster and more like an overwhelming wall. There are social links, side quests, and even just NPCs littered about that you can talk to, but they all exist within a world structured around making numbers go up with associated price tags or time investments. From what I've played, The Phantom X feels like more Persona, for all the good and ill that entails.

If this is Persona's big swing at the gacha business, it's certainly got the aesthetic right. The sights, sounds, gameplay, everything is all tuned to Persona standards. We'll find out on June 26 whether The Phantom X becomes another treasure or not.