When Persona5: The Phantom X was first announced for the Chinese market, I was very curious since it seemed to have a very interesting story for a mobile game. Of course, while there were multiple ways to play it, you could only do so in Korean or Chinese, neither of which are languages I speak. I was ready to tackle playing through in Japanese if I had to, like I did with Persona 5: Phantom Strikers before the official English release.
Not long after, ATLUS and Perfect World Games jointly announced that the Japanese and English versions were going to be released simultaneously on June 25, 2025. To say I was shocked is an understatement, due to the timing of it all. Thanks to ATLUS and Perfect World Games, Final Weapon got the chance to try out Persona5: The Phantom X on PC a little early before its official release. We will be publishing a full review soon on Final Weapon, but for now, here are my initial thoughts.
Disclaimer: The pictures used in this article and the footage on YouTube are from a development build and may not reflect the final product.
Persona5: The Phantom X Brings A Completely Different Protagonist
The story in Persona5: The Phantom X begins with what has become quite iconic for the Persona series at this point— the opening scene of the original Persona 5 game. However, it doesn’t take long until that scene looks and plays out…a bit differently, with a mysterious assassin trying to defeat Joker. Soon after, it turns out it was all but a fleeting dream by the actual protagonist of the story.
The protagonist’s name is Nagisa Kamishiro, a second-year student at Kokatsu Academy who suddenly has the impression that the world is “off” somehow. People have been very apathetic as of late, and as he’s coming back from school, he is about to be run over by a delivery bike. However, before the collision, he ends up pressing the Metaverse app that has suddenly found its way into his phone, similarly to Persona 5’s own protagonist.
Right off the bat, I’m liking how the story is presented, and that’s just from the initial 30 minutes. Persona5: The Phantom X has chosen to go an entirely original route, instead of regurgitating the original Persona 5’s story. Indeed, you’ll find many new animated scenes and originally designed characters, along with a plot that was written by the P-Studio folks for this game.
I did notice that some artistic liberties have been taken, but for now, my main question is: just how often will the developers update the story? Over the last year, fans have been diligent in providing ways to experience the story through unofficial translations, and the fact that we’re getting the English version at the same time as Japan feels like nothing short of a miracle. The release makes me wonder how exactly we will catch up with the original Chinese server, but I suppose only time will tell.
A Familiar Combat System
When it comes to the combat in P5X, you’ll find that it is almost unchanged from the original game. Although there are a few notable changes here and there. Firstly, character skills are all unique in some way, and even familiar skills such as Dia, Kouha, and others have been slightly tweaked, such as Dia now having a small equation attached to it. Besides that, you still have the usual elemental matchups, just like in the original series.
A unique aspect of P5X has to be the Highlight system. As you exploit enemies’ weaknesses and manage to deal damage to them, a gauge on the bottom right will fill up. Once it’s maxed out, you can select one character to deal a special attack that is unique to them to deal a massive amount of damage, which is kind of like an Ultimate Attack, if you want to compare it. Personally, the combat system wasn’t too hard to grasp at first, but I can only imagine just how complex it may become later on.
Signing Your Contract in Persona5: The Phantom X
As you may have deduced from the pre-registration campaign and its promised “free pulls,” P5X does, in fact, use a gacha system as a means of obtaining characters. You use this system to sign new contracts with the help of Merope, the Velvet Room assistant. The gacha system will summon a cognitive being known as a Phantom Idol, or Kaidoru, as she says in Japanese. These “Kaidoru” can tag along with you, and they each have their own Personas that can be used, alongside a weapon that is exclusive to them.
As is typical of a Persona protagonist, Nagisa has the power of the wild card, and can wield up to three Personas at a given time in this case. Because the game is still relatively new in the west, it is not impossible to think that the so dreaded “power creep” might come to show up its ugly head, but with what little time I had with the game, I didn’t have any particular problems with bosses or enemies feeling too hard…at least not yet.
Stealing My Desire
With the little time I had with Persona5: The Phantom X, I had a really great time. Of course, only time will tell how Perfect World Games will drive the game forward in all regions, considering just how volatile gacha games are these days. There are definitely a lot of systems and a very rich story to explore. I’ll definitely be actively playing P5X, so stay tuned for our full review of the game, which will be coming soon.
Disclaimer: ATLUS and Perfect World Games provided a PC (Steam) copy of Persona5: The Phantom X for review purposes.
