Announced years ago, and also known as Code Name X back in 2021, Persona 5: The Phantom X has officially been revealed, showing off a new trailer revealing its impressive gameplay for PC and mobile devices, familiar and new characters, features, and so much more!
Jointly developed by Perfect World Games, Sega, and Atlus, this new title focuses on the theme of “desires” as another ragtag group of students awakens to their Personas, in an era where people are filled with low desire and motivations, a young man meets a mysterious old man with a long nose in an underwater room, a talking owl, and goes on an adventure to take down Palaces just like the Phantom thieves.
While Perfect World is known to be the developer behind Tower of Fantasy, Persona 5 X is expected to be released in China first before it could head to the world (though no announcement has been made in regards to the global release). The game also planned a closed beta for Android and PC on March 29. Interested players can join the closed beta via the survey HERE, but all come in Chinese unfortunately.
▍Persona 5 X: Phantom of the Night Trailer
▍Persona 5 X Characters
Revealed at the moment are three characters, but in the trailer, you may have spotted a few more in the trailer. Persona 5 X’s character design is none other than Shigenori Soejima, who’s been the character designer for Persona and the SMT series for years!
■ Protagonist, Codename Wonder
Your playable character, and a second year at Kiba academy (yes, not Shujin Academy!). Following an unexpected event, he awakens to his Persona and has been living alone thanks to his parents often traveling abroad. he lives in Zoshigaya Tokyo, a new district to Persona 5. He wields the Persona Janosick, based on Juraj Jánošík, a folk hero and thief, whose deeds are often attributed to Robin Hood.
■ Arai Suwa, Code Name: Closer
A second-year student and classmate of the protagonist. She has an active and cheery personality and fights with her hands. She wields the Persona Awilda based on the female pirate.
■ Luffy, Codename Cattle
A mysterious creature in the form of an owl that can talk, and transform into a van! He wields the person Rob Roy based on Rob Roy Macgregor, the Scottish outlaw who was later known as a folk hero.
Persona 5 X also features a new Velvet Room attendant who makes a brief appearance in the trailer, but hasn’t been named! This time though the Velvet Room isn’t taking the form of an elevator, limo, or prison, rather underneath an Aquarium.
And of course, the Phantom Thieves will be making an appearance, with one of the images from the website showing the Protagonist with Joker, and the rest of the Phantom Thieves in 1 image!
▍Persona 5 X Gameplay
Now it’s time we dived into the gameplay, which needless to say looks absolutely stunning for running on a mobile game, with just the right amount of detail in most places to make it look almost as good as its console counterpart!
■ World Exploration
In Persona 5 X you’ll be able to walk around this world’s version of Tokyo, but from a new perspective! You can see the character being controlled with a virtual thumbstick on the bottom left of the screen, as he passes by Shibuya and all of its stores and activities.
You can also visit familiar places and other towns from Persona 5, and see some familiar faces like Tae Takemi walking down the street here! Unlike Joker though, this protagonist lives in Zoshigaya, and you can see shots of their town below.
As a student of Kiba academy, you’ll also be taking classes and have to navigate the new school building, with new faces, and teachers. Arai Suwa is also a classmate of yours, and she sits right in front of you just like Ann did in Persona 5!
Of course, all of the game’s shops are also making a return with Munehisa Iwai’s weapon shop also being available, with weapons purchasable using in-game cash. It seems the game will also be opening up several districts, with areas from Persona 5 Royal also being accessible!
Your main mode of transportation will of course be Tokyo’s robust train lines, and as you explore the world you can also visit districts day and night, participating in activities like part-time jobs.
Mini-games and training activities also make a return, with Luffy hanging out next to you cheering you on and saying how good you look. The Gym, Fishing, and the homerun batting cage were featured as just a few of the activities you can run around and do.
■ Palace and Mementos
It wouldn’t be Persona 5 without mementos and the palaces, and Persona 5 X brings them back with a new ride! This time with Luffy being your companion he’ll transform into a slick car for you to drive around Mementos, collecting items and running into shadows to fight.
Since Persona 5 X’s story is set in the same world as Persona 5 but with completely new characters, this time the palaces you’ll be encountering are brand new, but it’ll still feel very familiar to veterans! You’ll be scaling heights, running along air ducts, and sneaking up on your enemies before revealing their true form and going into battle!
Persona 5 X maintains the series’ turn-based RPG combat system, this time with modified UI elements for the game to make it simpler. You can see the character movement order on the top left of the screen, ad when attacking you can also see the characters’ current element and attack type to help you gauge weaknesses better.
