While I don’t consider myself much of a mobile gamer, I’m in denial. It’s because the short bursts of play time don’t feel as substantial as a proper console gaming session, regardless of how frequently I boot up the apps from my fingertips. Or maybe it’s because I spend more money on them than I’d like to admit.
Regardless, I’m a sucker for a good mobile game, even if I don’t like to admit it. So when a new title for one of my favourite series was announced, I knew there was no hope for me. After playingPersona 5: The Phantom Xfor the past couple of days, I know deep down that neither my time nor my bank balance will escape its clutches.
As I’ve only had a couple of days with the game and wasn’t able to fully explore the monetisation side of things during pre-launch, I’ll be holding off from a full, scored review at this time.
A Persona Where Your Gameplay Schedule Mirrors In-Game
It’s surprising how easy it is to forget that The Phantom X is a free-to-play game at first, especially when playing it on PC. Other than a couple of murky cutscenes and some recycled animations, or overlooking that the soundtrack, premise, and locations are just lifted straight from Persona 5 and Royal for the most part, you could easily believe you’re sitting playing the next mainline title.
You’ve got the sleek Persona style, animated cutscenes, a full 3D world to explore, familiar combat that doesn’t skimp on mechanics, and it still includes the lifestyle content with part-time jobs, optional requests, and raising your stats and confidant ranks through social links. The palaces offer unique themes, with puzzles, loot, optional areas, and special boss encounters just as you’d expect from any mainline Persona game. It looks great with plenty of meat on the bone – more delicious morsels than I was expecting.
Even after being introduced to the store where you will be able to purchase things in the full game (I couldn’t in the version I was using), the monetisation doesn’t seem too in-your-face for some time. I found a couple of Golden Tickets in dungeons, which can be used as currency, but you can also gain characters and personas through natural progression. When it comes to the gacha side of things, you could probably play through without spending too much on more allies and personas, but you’ll hit frustrating roadblocks that either force you to wait or pay up eventually. In that classic mobile free-to-play system, Persona 5: The Phantom X seems to offer the opportunity to ‘pay-to-skip’.
The point at which I was reminded this was a free-to-play game model was when I faced a level check that stopped me from progressing. Level checks aren’t uncommon in games, though they’re not normally so literal in that you can’t even attempt to progress while underleveled. You’re prompted to gain experience by completing daily missions, clearing side missions, or playing the Realm of Repression challenges, the latter of which is where you complete battles against demons to earn various rewards.
Such a grindfest wouldn’t normally be so bad, but you need stamina to claim the rewards at the end of each battle. If you don’t have any, you either have to wait for it to replenish over time or spend currency to replenish it straight away. Additionally, instead of the usual calendar system, activities now operate on an energy-based system, and likewise, if this energy runs out, you can choose to wait for it to replenish or pay out to move things along more quickly.
This is the nature of the free-to-play model, so it’s not surprising, and so far, arguably feels less heavy-handed in its approach than other games in so much as it’s not being forced in your face every few minutes with shiny new banners or things to spend your hard-earned cash on. At least, this was the case in the pre-launch version, where I couldn’t splash the cash even if I wanted to.
Chief producer Yosuke Uda explained to our very own Eric Switzerthat he imagines players will choose to play the mobile version by day, doing their social activities and lighter exploration while out and about living their real lives, before switching to PC in the evening for the more involved dungeon crawling when they’ve got more time to game.
I really love the concept of mirroring the game’s own schedule in this way, and I think in doing so I’ll feel less roadblocked. When playing mobile, I won’t have those endless hours to sink into getting to the point where I have to wait or pay out. Now that the game has properly launched, I’ll be mixing between the two platforms to get a better sense of how well this idea works.
An Almost Too-Familiar Narrative
Though Joker and other key characters from Persona 5 make an appearance, The Phantom X focuses on Wonder as the new protagonist, with a new cast of school buddies to make up the rest of the all-new Phantom Thieves. The narrative is familiar ground: as the protagonist, you enter Mementos, find a target who’s a wrong’un, and infiltrate their palace to steal their treasure and change their heart. Job done.
You gain your first proper ally, Closer, during the first palace section, where she also awakens to her persona. Like previous Persona titles, Closer’s plot ties in with this first palace as she has a history with the first evil-doer you set out to stop (called Menaces here), a misogynistic ex-baseball pro who is bodychecking poor women in the subway, earning himself the nickname the Subway Slammer.
Closer feels responsible for the baseball player’s career tanking, but by exploring his palace, the team learns the truth. Your second ally, Soy, comes along as part of the narrative of the second Menace and their palace, and so on. It takes the Persona 5 template and applies it to a new cast of characters, complete with a new mascot. That’s no surprise, as Persona 5 is baked right into the game title, but I’d prefer that it deviated from the old, reliable, tried and tested Persona 5 format and did something more fresh.
It’s not a complete plot lift, though, as in The Phantom X, the populace is suffering from a lack of desire to do anything with their lives to the point where some commit suicide. Something – or someone – is stealing their desires and free will and corrupting them into Menaces. That’s where our heroic troupe comes in. I haven’t landed on how I feel on this, likely because I need to see more of the narrative. I’m torn between thinking this feelstoofamiliar and wishing it were more unique, while on the flipside, I’m simply enjoying the game for what it is and appreciating more of something I already love.
Persona games have always been very narrative-heavy, so despite this being a free-to-play spin-off, I still have high expectations for The Phantom X to deliver a satisfying plot. Presumably, there’s a conclusion at some point, even if the gacha gameplay continues after that, and I want to experience the story in full before deciding whether or not it leaned too heavily on Persona 5.
Take Your Time
It’s for this reason I’m not writing a ‘proper’ review until I’ve experienced more of The Phantom X. At this point, I just don’t know if the narrative will land or how overbearing the monetisation will be. My first impression is that I’m quite impressed by the in-depth gameplay; it feels more like a fully fledged Persona title with free-to-play elements, rather than a lighter gameplay version adapted for mobile that you might expect.
As far as mobile games go, the monetisation doesn’t seem too forced in that you could play and happily hit pause to wait for things to replenish before progressing further and never spend a penny. In the version I played, I was relieved not to have banners and offers plastered everywhere, too, though I’m not sure yet if that will remain the case for the live version. Those who want to splash out to progress faster or for that gacha high can do at will, though they should note that it falls into the trap of offering so many different types of currencies that it’s hard to keep track of which is for what and how much anything actually costs underneath some of the layers of currencies.
I’ve enjoyed my time with Wonder and The Phantom X so far, and I’m keen to progress further. Whether I stick with it because the narrative and gameplay steal my attention (and my heart), or whether I bounce off because I get too frustrated by monetisation roadblocks remains to be seen. But, for the time being, I’m a fan of The Phantom X.
