Persona 5: The Phantom X Review

Persona 5: The Phantom X has been officially released for nearly a year now, first going live in April 2024, and has seen many developments since then. In case you aren’t familiar with this game, it is a gacha game developed in China by Black Wings Game Studio, a subsidiary of Perfect World Games (you might know them for Tower of Fantasy); the game is officially licensed by Atlas.

An important aspect of every Persona game is the story. The story of Persona 5: The Phantom X is so much better—no joke, this could be on the same tier as Persona 5 itself if they keep going at the pace they are. As of now, I’ve more or less finished the Third Palace, and I could say the characters are great; the palace owners are pretty solid, and the pacing is really good.

Since this game takes a different approach to the Persona calendar system by virtue of being a gacha game, you can advance the story as slowly or as quickly as you want. It’s like a more open version of Persona 5 in that regard—the only drawback being that you can’t replay the dungeons once you finish them.

As for the theme of Persona 5: The Phantom X, it takes the theme of Persona 5, which is to take the hearts of bad people, and sort of flips them on their head. The slogan of Persona 5: The Phantom X is to retake your desire rather than take your heart; you’re more or less on a mission to give people back their desires since, in this alternate universe, everyone’s desires have already been taken.

As for the gameplay of Persona 5: The Phantom X, how does this game shape up in comparison to the rest of the series? On paper, I think this game has the greatest turn-based combat the series has ever seen. There are so many unique team compositions you can make; you can create characters that fulfill many different roles and assign different navigators, among other things.

However, there’s a catch: Persona 5: The Phantom X is a gacha game, and you all know what that means. A new banner just dropped, and while it looks sick, being a gacha game is the saddest ever because it’s the main reason many have fallen off the game in recent times. There are so many different strategies you can use, but if you don’t end up pulling that new unit, you'd better cough up the dough to grind for several hours straight or just go it alone.

Exploring the Palaces is really fun, and they function similarly to the jails in Persona or as personified strikers if you’ve played that game. There are many extra places you can explore that aren’t required, and you can return to the Palace after defeating the owner; however, exploring the Palaces is simultaneously really fun and really boring in this game.

In Persona 5: The Phantom X, the dungeons are pretty well-designed, but they also have some of the most boring gimmicks ever conceived. For example, in the second Palace, there is a camera gimmick that you have to constantly fiddle with to open a gate or something similar. While it goes with the story of the palace owner, having to use it over and over again made it feel like a total chore.

It’s not all bad, though—the dungeons have a lot of verticality and unique design choices, and they’re both visually and functionally distinct from the palaces and dungeons in any other Persona game. They even made Mementos better in this game; it’s still kind of tedious, but it acts more like a standard dungeon rather than a randomly generated labyrinth that, quite frankly, feels like a waste of time.

Since Persona 5: The Phantom X is a gacha game, there are also deliberate roadblocks to slow down your progress. Randomly throughout the story or elsewhere, there will be a level requirement you need to fulfill to progress, and leveling up in this game is a long and arduous process. The only real way to level up is by doing your dailies, and beyond that, you’re not spoiled for choice.

There are so many deliberate choices designed to compel you to log in and do those dailies. O

n the bright side, the addition of online Tycoon—the card game from Persona 5 Royal—is one of the best additions in the game’s history and could add nearly limitless replay value if you enjoy that mini-game. It’s kind of like the triple triad of Persona if you’re familiar with Final Fantasy, and the best part is you don’t need to interact with the gacha mechanics to enjoy it.

Persona 5: The Phantom X does still have confidants, which go alongside the reworked calendar system. You get five free time slots per day that can be replenished through other means, and you can use them to spend time with a confidant, raise your social stats, or engage in standard Persona activities. However, the confidants in this game have a fatal flaw: although there are 20 ranks, not all of them are fully fleshed out.

Every other rank is essentially a blank where nothing happens—it’s like you’re constantly stuck in that limbo in a standard Persona game where it says your bond isn’t ready to strengthen yet. You end up waiting days, weeks, or even months to finish a single confidant, and half the time, you get no meaningful interaction at all.

This same exact idea was applied to the social stats as well; instead of five ranks, there are now 20, and for some of the ranks, you don’t get any closer to spending time with a confidant—you just get nothing. It’s just another way to waste your time in a game that’s already filled with such delays.

One of the biggest pitfalls of Persona 5: The Phantom X, beyond anything else, is just how buggy and janky it is. The bugs and jank have not been addressed very well since launch. I’m still constantly experiencing random game crashes, and at times, the game will completely bug out. The shadows in the AI are dumb as rocks; animations feel smooth, and then the next second, they feel off.

There’s always something amiss with how Persona 5: The Phantom X functions and is presented. The soccer mini-game is the jankiest thing I’ve ever seen in Persona—not only does it not feel responsive at all, but the animations fall into an uncanny valley, especially when compared to the amazing quality of the story cut scenes.

There needs to be better-quality control because these issues really hurt the game. It’s funny, though, because apparently, the game works flawlessly on the phone, suggesting that the developers may have prioritized that platform.

The online functionality of this game is perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the entire experience. Persona, as a series, is all about making bonds with people and interacting with real individuals. Persona 5: The Phantom X had the potential to blend these aspects into a meaningful online experience, yet nothing substantial has been implemented.

For the past year, I’ve been waiting for any form of online functionality, perhaps online raids or a campaign mode, but all we’ve gotten is Tycoon, a nearly unused chat room, and a hub where you have to jack in, with very little to do once you’re there.

On a positive note, there have been notable improvements to the gacha system of Persona 5: The Phantom X over the past year. The changes have made it less cringeworthy. Previously, after so many rolls, you would face a 50/50 chance on whether you got the new unit or another featured one, and then once you hit pity, you would receive the new character—a system that was fairly generous even back then.

The new system in Persona 5: The Phantom X, however, is way better: the 50/50 chance is gone, the ceiling for pity has been lowered, and the pulls you put on one banner toward pity carry over to the next banner if you don’t end up getting the new unit you want or if you simply stopped summoning.

This is a much better decision because reaching that 50/50 chance and losing was extremely frustrating. That said, the weapon banners still use the 50/50 format and do not have the new system.

Looking at the good and the bad so far—the story, gameplay, bugs and jankiness, online connectivity, and the gacha system—it’s clear that while Persona 5: The Phantom X has its share of significant issues, there have been some improvements with post-launch support. The game has gotten a lot better since its launch, with many features added and the gacha system refined significantly.

Once localized, I’m certain many players will warm up to it, given the strong story and fun gameplay loop, even despite its predatory gacha mechanics. However, Black Wings Studio definitely needs to address the jankiness and technical issues.

Persona 5: The Phantom X might not be perfect, but its creative approach to narrative and combat stands out in the crowded genre. It remains to be seen whether future updates will remedy the technical and online connectivity issues that have long plagued the experience, but for now, the game holds promise for both Persona fans and gacha enthusiasts.