Psst. Get in here man, it’s time to get hype for the next big Persona installment. Personally I think they waited a bit long to announce Persona 5 Arena, but hey it’s better late than never, right? Time to whip some ass with Makoto’s fists baby! Hmm. Wait a minute, this trailer is looking a little different. Who the hell are these new characters? This isn’t a fighter at all! It’s… it’s kinda the same as Persona 5 but for mobile? Recently Atlus announced their latest project Persona 5: The Phantom X. It’s a mobile game that clearly takes place in the Persona 5 universe, almost to the point of looking much better than I’d ever expect. Looking at the trailer you can definitely point out how some areas and models are a bit lower quality than the actual game of Persona 5, but the closeness is impressive for a mobile game title, at least to me. You can check out the full video below for yourself if interested.

So things are different this time around. First of all, it’s a mobile game. Second, it’s being developed by a Chinese game development team, Black Wings Game Studio. Third, the game will be free to play. All three of these aspects are new territory for the series and players are already speculating what kind of monetization practices will be in the game. Based on what we know, a strong possibility is shaping up for the game to have a gacha system. Some in the community speculate that because Persona 5’s Joker appears in the trailer, you will be able to roll on banners that feature established characters from the series and their signature Personas. I know many hate gachas, though personally as long as there is a decent pity system and no reliance on certain high tier Personas, it shouldn’t bother me too much. 

Right now the game is only slated for release in China, though due to the overwhelming popularity of the series here in the West, it’s not far-fetched at all to assume an English release is in the pipeline somewhere. As for me, I’m on the fence about playing it. My mobile device probably couldn’t play the damn thing for more than 15 minutes before eating my entire battery, and I don’t find mobile gaming to be very engaging in the first place anyway. There’s always utilizing BlueStacks to be able to play it on your computer so if the game receives some acclaim then I may consider booting it up on there. Otherwise though, I may just skip it since it’s still in the “spin-off” zone. Now if they get really crazy and make a PlayStation port for it with even better graphics and gameplay (like Genshin Impact) then that might be a no brainer, at least to try out. Lord knows I won’t get my turn-based combat fix from Persona 6 anytime soon.

If we're looking like this, let me boot it up on my PlayStation and appreciate the hardwork baby.

While it may not be the fighting game I’d hoped for, I still plan to follow this game’s progress and see if it shapes up to be a nice addition to the series. Honestly at this point we’re so far from Persona 5 that I think they decided against making a fighting game for it at all, and hell we’re likely a few years away from Persona 6 so part of me hopes they did give up on the idea. Are you going to check out this game if it comes to the West? Does a Persona 5 gacha sound like an interesting spin for the series, or an easy cash grab? Do you play mobile games at all? Suit up, gamble some money, and steal the hearts of those consumed by desire in the comments below!