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

Genshin Impact, Wuthering Waves, Honkai Star Rail—none of these best-selling gacha games have managed to keep my attention for long, but Persona 5: The Phantom X came across like a different beast. I love the Persona franchise, and Atlus games in general, so I was willing to put my anti-gacha bias to the side and check out this free-to-play game set in the same world as one of my favorite JRPGs.

And for what it’s worth, Persona 5: The Phantom X is actually quite good. It has the same impeccable sense of style and charm as the rest of the series, its social simulation fodder is still strong and engaging, and its combat, while watered down compared to the original Persona 5 and subsequent Atlus games like Metaphor: ReFantazio, is good enough to keep me coming back for more. Indeed, Persona 5: The Phantom X is “good enough” for a Persona fan such as myself, but I can’t help but feel like I’m playing a hollow imitation of the real thing, and there’s an obvious reason why.

If Persona 5: The Phantom X Inspires One Change for Persona 6, It Should Be This

Persona 5: The Phantom X might fall short of other Persona games in some ways, but it has at least one feature that should bleed into Persona 6.

Persona 5: The Phantom X Is Good, but I’d Rather Be Playing Persona 5

Persona 5 Has All the Good, and None of the Bad, of Persona 5: The Phantom X

The Phantom X has been a bittersweet experience for me. It’s fun and enticing in the ways that only an Atlus game can be, but it’s like a beautiful painting reproduced as a cheap print: it doesn’t feel like the genuine article. This comes down to its predatory gacha mechanics, which not only harangue you to spend extra cash on the game for a minuscule chance at a worthwhile reward, but actively degrade its core systems.

A common defense for in-game spending goes something like this: “if you don’t want to spend money on microtransactions, then just ignore them.” This sounds reasonable in theory, but the reality of in-game monetization is often quite different. When a developer intends for the majority (or, in the case of Phantom X, the entirety) of its game’s profit to come from in-game spending, said game will inevitably be designed to drive players toward such purchases. In the case of The Phantom X, this manifests in a major adulteration of Persona‘s central gameplay tenets.

In a sense, it can feel like The Phantom X is holding Persona‘s best mechanics hostage, locking new combat tools and social simulation opportunities behind a paywall. I feel like I have to shell out extra cash on a bizarre, dystopian game of chance if I want the complete Phantom X experience, which is an awkward and depressing dynamic that isn’t shared by other Persona releases.

Are gacha mechanics enough to spoil Persona 5: The Phantom X completely? For some, maybe, but I still like the game—it’s just that it reminds me that things could be so much better. After just a few hours with Phantom X, I found myself drifting back to the Persona 5 Royal download button, eager to explore Atlus’ singular vision of magical teenage life in Tokyo. But why do I feel such an urge to replay the original Persona 5, especially since that endeavor could take north of 100 hours? After all, The Phantom X is still sitting on my SSD, hiding a world of new characters to meet and adventures to experience, and Persona 5 is old news to me at this point.

Maybe it’s nostalgia—Persona 5 was my first Megaten game—but I think it’s more than that. The truth is, Persona 5 has the same lovable character writing, strong combat, and satisfying progression as Persona 5: The Phantom X, but after I first purchased it, it never asked me for more money.