Look out, we won't get cut off.Left to right
Persona 5: The Phantom X (alternatively called Persona 5 X and abbreviated as P5X) is a Mobile Phone Game spin-off of Persona 5 developed by Chinese developer Perfect World under Atlus' oversight. Between March 29 and March 31, 2023, the game underwent its first beta trial in China. Its second beta, "The Awakening", took place between August 18 and August 25, 2023. The third beta, "Heart Stealing", took place between January 16 and January 31, 2024. It entered Open Beta for iOS and Android devices as well as for PCs on April 12, 2024 in China.
You are an Ordinary High-School Student living out a fairly mundane student life at Kokatsu Academy in Tokyo. What seems to be a normal train ride home is disrupted when you suddenly awake in a mysterious otherworld, no less helped by a strange owl-like creature appearing before you. Under the guidance of this creature known as "Luffel", you discover that you are trapped in Mementos, a manifestation of humanity's subconscious wills and desires. At the risk of imminent death at the hands of hostile Shadows, you suddenly awaken to an awesome power — "Persona", your will of rebellion given form.
No sooner than you discover this power that you learn that the real world is being stifled by the warped desires of the corrupt and powerful. However, there is a beacon of hope: using the power of Persona, you can enter the Metaverse, the realm of the subconscious, and by invading the "Palaces" created from the twisted desires of corrupt humans, steal the "Treasures" located within and change peoples' hearts. Adopting the moniker "Wonder", you join in arms with others who share your power, forming a band of "Phantom Thieves" who seek to reclaim society from corrupt hearts and minds.
Trailers:
- Official Gameplay Trailer
- Awakening Test Trailer
- Heart Stealing Test
- Pre-Draw Event Trailer
- Opening Animation - Ambitions and Visions
Persona 5: The Phantom X has the following tropes:
- Actually a Doombot: In-Universe, any character recruited via the Velvet Room's gacha pull are this. Named "Phantom Idols" by Merope, they're stated to be cognitions who help aid Wonder and the Phantom Thieves in battle. Word of God even compares them to the cognitive selves of the Persona 3 and 4 protagonists fought in Royal's challenge battles. This also applies to the cognitive party members' Personas; dubbed as "Persona II" (also) by Merope, they're not the actual Personas of the person the cognition is based on, but are instead a Persona handpicked by Merope herself.
- Adaptational Modesty: Due to censorship laws in China, several Personas were redesigned with more tame and chaste appearances. The most obvious offenders are Incubus and Lamia, the latter being virtually naked from the waist up and Incubus being entirely nude while sporting a, erm, Gag Penis for lack of a better word. In X, Incubus now wears shorts and Lamia has a tanktop. Bar far the one most affected by this trope is Mara, whose design definitely would not pass Chinese censorship laws and has a gold hat covering his phallic-shaped head, now resembling a mass of vines due to a lack of veins and the addition of leaves.
- Alternate Universe: This game takes place in a world parallel to the original Persona 5 world. This alternate world is set in 2023 compared to the original's vague year of 20XX (though the calendar reflects that of 2016).
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: Rather than follow one of the original Phantom Thieves like Joker, the game puts you in the shoes of a brand-new protagonist going by the codename "Wonder". Similarly, this goes for the rest of the Phantom Thieves, all of which consist of brand-new characters. The original Phantom Thieves are instead relegated to being cognitions who assist Wonder in battle, although the third beta heavily implies that they will eventually tie back into the story in some way.
- Arc Words:
- The Persona series' Arc Words "I am thou, thou art I" is repeated by every Persona-user barring Luffel and the Phantom Idols during their Persona awakenings. Curiously, the Personas speak the first half whereas the Persona-users themselves speak the second half.
- "Desire" comes up frequently and seems to be a common theme. The game's synopsis and Igor and Luffel mention how people in the real world don't seem particularly driven, whereas those like Wonder and Motoha (through their experiences in the Metaverse) are noted for having a strong desire, something Luffel wishes to nurture and grow.
- Atrocious Alias: With the exception of the protagonist, Motoha, Luffel, and the original Phantom Thieves, the Phantom Idols summoned by the Velvet Room have questionable codenames in that they use their Real Name as an Alias, which defeats the point of Phantom Thieves trying to keep their real identities a secret. On the other hand, the Phantom Idols codenames are picked by Merope and are heavily suggested not to be the actual people, but rather cognitive clones made to appear familiar to Wonder. The third beta test changed some of the Phantom Idols' codenames so as to avert this.
- Big Damn Heroes: A newly added cutscene in the third beta involves Wonder and Luffel being overwhelmed by Shadows in Mementos. When Wonder is knocked down and the situation begins to look bleak, Joker suddenly appears from nowhere and takes out several Shadows at once, then teams up with Wonder to perform a Highlight, destroying the remainder with a powerful strike. Before Wonder or Luffel have a chance to make sense of the situation, Joker disappears into thin air before their eyes, just as quickly as he appeared.
- Bowdlerise: Being made primarily in China means that the game had to adhere to a few more censorship policies compared to the rest of the series.
- In addition to what's mentioned in Adaptational Modesty above, certain Personas were redesigned to conform to Chinese laws. Bugs had the blood and skulls removed in addition to making its stomach fully intact without any stitches, making Bugs more like a simply monstrous teddy bear, and Hell Biker had his skull head swapped with a helmet. Even Surt now wears a pair of shorts despite lacking visible genitals.
- Wonder's Persona awakening now has a 2D animated cutscene as of the second beta test, just like Joker's in the original game. Unlike the Persona awakenings in Persona 5, however, there is a distinct lack of visible blood when Wonder rips off his mask, as it's replaced by a brilliant sparkling light effect. Blood is not visible on any of the Persona awakenings for the other party members as well, although this is better obfuscated by convenient cuts and camera angles.
- Break Meter: Unlike the mainline Persona games, strong enemies in this game have a break gauge next to their health bars, and they cannot be knocked down with super-effective damage until the gauge is depleted.
- Breaking Old Trends: The Velvet Room's function in this game has changed drastically on account of the gacha mechanics. While it still acts as how you obtain new Personas by way of fusion, it's also how you recruit new party members, including the original Phantom Thieves.
- Call-Back:
- The gameplay trailer ends on a cutscene of Joker crashing through a window with a corkscrew jump and striking a three-point landing, identical to how he escaped Sae's Palace in the opening cutscene of the original game.
- Like in P5, the opening segment sees a character informing players that the story is fictional and relations to actual persons and places are coincidental. Unlike Igor, however, who asks players if they agree about the game being a work of fiction in order to play the game, the narrator warns players that "becoming part of the story" will lead to hardship and asks if they still want to play X.
- Cast of Expies: A significant portion of the main cast fulfill parallel roles to that of characters from Persona 5, despite differing backstories and motivations. This is an intentional choice according to Word of God.
- Catapult Nightmare: In the third beta, the game opens with the Phantom Thieves of Hearts' infiltration of Sae's Palace, as in the original Persona 5. However, this is soon rudely disrupted when Joker encounters A Glitch in the Matrix, followed by being attacked and killed by a hooded Wonder. The sequence ends with Wonder jolting awake in his bed before panning over to his smartphone, which now has the Metaverse Navigator app installed.
- Central Theme: Whereas Persona 5 was about fighting against oppression and breaking free from your emotional chains and prisons, this game has the central focus of "finding your way in life" and chasing after your dreams and passions. The protagonist, Wonder, is known to not be very driven or passionate overall before discovering the Metaverse and becoming a Phantom Thief, and all of his teammates have their own goals and dreams that they hold themselves back from achieving for one reason or another. In comparison, all of the antagonists are people who tried and failed to achieve their dreams and, rather than try and make something out of their lives afterwards, chose to fall into the everyday flow of life and become "another fish in the sea", while also lashing out at those who show the potential to reach their failed dreams and trying to crush their spirits. The Velvet Room even takes the form of an aquarium to drive this theme home, showing off the flow of life as an ocean current and all the "fish" who have resigned themselves to follow it.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Similar to Persona 5 Strikers, Shadows defeated in battle have a chance to become a Persona for Wonder to use in battle, unlike the negotiation mechanic in Persona 5.
- Demoted to Extra: Munehisa Iwae and Tae Takemi, two Confidants of Joker's in the main game, are relegated to being mere shop owners in P5X. Another one of Joker's confidants, Chihaya Mifune, shows up as a shopper at the 777 convenience store when Wonder is working there.
- Dueling Player Characters: In the "Heart Stealing" beta, the game kicks off with a re-enactment of the original intro from Persona 5, though it swiftly diverges where, after Joker dispatches the Shadows keeping him from escaping, he's suddenly attacked by a white-masked Wonder.
- Limit Break: Knocking down all enemies will produce the chance to execute a Highlight. Unlike All-Out Attacks or Showtimes, Highlights involve a single character performing a flashy cinematic attack to deal massive damage of a specific attribute to a single foe.
- Meaningful Name: Merope calls the cognitive beings summoned by the game's gacha mechanics "Phantom Idols", in a reference to how fans support their idols in real life as well.
- Mini-Game: This game features a rhythm minigame side mode where Wonder and other members of the Phantom Thieves play instruments together, similar to previous dancing spin-offs like Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight.
- Mysterious Stranger: Joker is this to the cast of X and especially Wonder. Early in the game, Joker shows up when Wonder and Luffel are struggling to defeat some Shadows. His assistance is brief, and he does not explain his appearance to the two before suddenly disappearing.
- Mythology Gag:
- Joker's Highlight attack includes the moment where he pulls out his gun from his coat before firing, similar to the Coup de Grâce Cutscene during the final battle with Yaldabaoth after awakening Satanael.
- Skull's Highlight attack is based on his sprint on Shido's cruiser to unlock the life boats, taking the same starting position and running across the sinking ship, dodging explosions, though the explosions are triggered by Captain Kidd instead of the Palace collapsing around him.
- Panther, Fox, and Queen's Highlight attacks take place in the same Palace they awakened their Personas in the original game, with Queen's Highlight attack being the exact moment she charges forward at Kaneshiro's mooks using Johanna.
- In Persona 5's Strength subplot, Caroline and Justine enjoy visiting an aquarium and say they'll try to get a fish tank installed in the Velvet Room. This game shows that they got a lot more than a mere tank.
- Motoha's yellow and spindly thief costume resembles the Persona of Chie, the series' previous "female jock" character.
- New Work, Recycled Graphics: Visually, the game is identical to Persona 5 Royal, with the only major new additions being characters and locations such as the Velvet Room and Palaces. The "Heart Stealing" beta even reuses the same opening intro of the main game, albeit reworked to fit into X and diverging when Wonder suddenly shows up and attacks Joker as he's fleeing the casino.
- Noodle Incident: According to the developers, the world of the main game and the world of X become linked due to a "certain event." What this event is exactly is not made clear, save that it seemingly involves Wonder.
- Palette Swap: The gacha summon characters have alternative color variations, like black-and-white Noir and, infamously, cow-patterned Mona.
- P.O.V. Cam: Some cutscenes occasionally take place from Wonder's perspective, such as him being startled by Merope when meeting her for the first time in the Velvet Room.
- Recurring Element: Like the original Persona 5, the first Palace and boss involves a former professional athlete who is targeting a future teammate specifically while also representing the Vice of Lust. However, while Kamoshida was a Hate Sink who was specifically targeting Ann due to seeing her as a sex target and represents Lust fully, Kiuchi's story is played slightly more sympathetically, and his link to Lust is more of a side element to his promiscuity and issues with women than his core motive, which is fueled by a vengeful grudge against Motoha for supposedly kicking off the ruin of his career.
- Recycled Soundtrack: The game lifts a significant portion of its music from Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal. New themes have been added in addition to returning themes, such as a new theme song and battle track.
- Shout-Out: Similarly to Morgana in the original, when Luffel turns into his form that allows for travel in the Metaverse, he does a pose from Kamen Rider, with Luffel's being based on Kamen Rider Nigou's poses.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute:
- Strangely, despite the overworld being 95% identical to Persona 5's world, a few locations and names have been inexplicably replaced by generic equivalents. Wonder can still visit Café Leblanc's location in Yongen-Jaya, but it is now a generic coffee bar run by a woman named Ena Kageyama, and Luffel has no unique dialogue for interacting with Sojiro's house. Big Bang Burger locations can still be visited, but they now bear the name "Big Hamburger." The official explanation is that X is set in an Alternate Universe with diverging events compared to the main game's timeline, with the Heart Stealing Test trailer showing familiar locations from the original P5, such as Leblanc and the Bikkuri Boy diner.
- Luffel is more or less Morgana if he were an avian cartoonish being rather than a cat, briefly serving as the fledgling Phantom Thieves' mentor and teaching them about the Metaverse, right down to his transformation pose being similar to the second Kamen Rider's. He acts somewhat more professional and ominous than Morgana, however.
- Under the Sea: In contrast to the prison cell block it was for Joker, the Velvet Room takes on the form of an underwater hallway in this game, with fish and even a whale drifting above Wonder and the residents of the room. Merope describes it as an "underwater tunnel dug into the sea of the mind."
