While Persona fans are eagerly awaiting news on Persona 6 and the rumored Persona 4 remake, Atlus has dropped a hint on their next larger release. It seems Atlus is not ready to move on from Persona 5. The Persona 5 gaming lineup already includes the original Persona 5, Dancing in Starlight, Royal, Strikers, Tactica, and appearances in Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth. Yes, quite a bit of a lineup but we’re adding one more to the list.
Persona 5: The Phantom X, a free-to-play game for mobile, has been in open beta in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and South Korea since April 2024. The upcoming teaser seems to hint at a larger release. In September 2024, Atlus announced the game would be released in Japan. To celebrate the release the live stream will reveal the date.
The live stream is scheduled for May 15th at 10AM EDT, 3PM UK time, 11pm JST. While the live stream is in Japanese, there is one small blurb that gives western fans hope. At the bottom of the YouTube video description, we’ve used Google translate for this statement:
We will keep you up to date of the latest information, such as the release date and information about the development of the English version.
Not only do we have this blurb from the YouTube video, but Twitter brings us some hope as well. These two postings have fans ready to see Persona 5: The Phantom X for the western audience.
Persona 5X had been initially announced as a mobile game, but did not stay that way. It will also be available for Steam in the upcoming releases and was available for open beta on Windows. Persona 5X will continue to follow the Persona 5 model with dungeon crawling happening in the Metaverse. The Metaverse is a collection of two areas of Mementos and different Palaces.
For those unsure of what these terms mean, we’ll try to keep this as spoiler free as possible. In the base game and Royal, the Palaces are a creation of someone’s distorted desires. By comparison, Mementos is a collective of desires of society. The Phantom Thieves go through trials and tribulations to change the hearts of many over the course of a year. With a theme of rebellion, they are specifically rebelling against the corrupt adults in society.
Persona 5X game play will continue to use the turn based battle system. However not everything is a direct port from Persona 5. Instead of the calendar system, Persona 5X will use an energy system that replenishes over time. This makes sense as it is more in line with typically mobile games.
Overall, Persona 5X has had a lot of input from the ATLUS and Persona team. Yusuka Nitta who has credits on Persona 5 Royal, Strikers, and Tactica has credits as development director and lead scenario planner. Fans who have enjoyed the previous entries should feel comfortable seeing Persona make its way to mobile.
Many fans are understandably ready for the next entry in the larger Persona series. For now, we’ll have another entry in the Persona 5 legacy and this looks to still be one to try. With the free to play element, its worth at least giving it a shot. When it’s available in your region, will you be giving it a chance?
If not, ATLUS has plenty of other games already out for you to try with more later this year. For a fantasy Persona vibe, check out our thoughts on Metaphor. If you’re looking to go more action RPG Raidou Remastered releases June 19th. Let us know what your next ATLUS game will be below!
