The Phantom X’s Famously Long Runtime Comes With a Big Asterisk Attached

Persona 5: The Phantom X has finally arrived in western markets, and audiences’ opinions on it are somewhat mixed. For better or worse, Persona 5: The Phantom X is about what one would expect: it’s a gacha-infused spin-off of Persona 5, carrying over that iconic game’s mechanics, world, and design elements with a hefty dose of in-game purchases.

Thankfully, Persona 5: The Phantom X‘s monetization isn’t too egregious—by gacha game standards, anyway. Players can technically experience the entirety of the game’s narrative without spending a dime, but its various premium currencies make that a difficult task. Many crucial in-game activities, such as overworld recreation opportunities and social link development, require a resource called Action Points, which replenish automatically each day but can also be replenished by spending real-world currency. Stamina is another, similar resource, used for critical actions like unlocking new Personas and upgrading gear. Long story short, premium, hard-to-come-by currency is a roadblock to progression in Persona 5: The Phantom X, which tarnishes its ostensibly substantial runtime, at least a bit.

Persona 5: The Phantom X’s Gacha Mechanics Have Driven Me Back to Persona 5

Persona 5: The Phantom X is surprisingly good, but its monetization is making me long for the days of some good, old-fashioned Persona 5.

Persona 5: The Phantom X’s Gacha-Style Energy Mechanics Take the Wind Out of Its Long Playtime

Persona Games Are Usually Long, but Not Like This

Persona games, along with their spiritual siblings like Metaphor: ReFantazio, are known for their exceptional length. For instance, a fairly straightforward playthrough of Persona 5 Royal can take well over 100 hours, even if the player doesn’t spend a significant amount of time on side activities. This gargantuan time-to-beat is something that Persona fans have come to expect from the series by now, so it’s not a surprise that Persona 5: The Phantom X is beefy in the content department as well.

But it’s not beefy in the same way as its predecessors. For one thing, players can’t really have marathon sessions without engaging in P5X‘s microtransaction economy, since every social activity consumes an Action Point, and the only way to restore Action Points without waiting for the daily refresh is to spend real money on in-game items. Similarly, collecting Personas and earning essential upgrade materials relies on stamina, which is regained at a rate of one stamina point per six real-world minutes. Of course, players can also spend real-world money to top up their stamina stores.

The impact that these features have on the broader Persona 5: The Phantom X experience is bifurcated. One important way that this long playtime differs from the likes of Persona 5 is how it’s segmented: players might spend months playing The Phantom X, but that could very well be a result of the game’s self-imposed restrictions, rather than the depth of its content. Assuming that a player wants to extend their time with the game without spending real-world money, they can earn AP-and-Stamina-recovering items through side missions, but this requires a good deal of grinding. In other words, the extended playtime can feel artificial rather than meaningful.

Of course, one could simply bypass these awkward issues by shelling out real-world cash on things like the Phantom Pass or various resource-replenishing bundles. This is why such restrictions exist in the first place: to have The Phantom X generate profit while still being a free-to-play title. Massive, time-consuming games are generally only worth it when the time spent in the game world is worthwhile; if the time is spent doing menial activities, or if it comes at too great a financial cost, then it’s not as gratifying.

Then again, perhaps The Phantom X is simply offering a different sort of gaming experience, one that’s meant to be enjoyed in bite-sized chunks. Through this lens, and especially considering that P5X is a mobile game, the notion that it’s best enjoyed for only a few minutes at a time isn’t totally ridiculous, but it’s not an airtight defense of the game, either.