Looks like we’re getting a new Persona game soon. No, not the long-awaited Persona 6, but another Persona 5 spin-off. Well, it’s not even “new,” per se; it’s just finally getting a proper worldwide release. I’m talking about Persona 5: The Phantom X, a mobile spin-off of the series set in an alternate timeline to the original game.
Atlus officially teased a worldwide release for The Phantom X on its social channels with a graphic that reads “Retake your desire” and the caption “Think you dropped this… [owl emoji] Stay tuned!” Some people took this as a tease for Persona 6, but the owl emoji is a giveaway that the post is a reference to The Phantom X. The spin-off features an owl-like creature named Lufel, a tonfa-wielding mascot character, but if you haven’t been paying attention to the game, which has only been released in China, you might not know that.
If you’re hoping this means new adventures for Joker, Morgana, and the rest of the Phantom Thieves, maybe hold your horses. The Phantom X does feature the original crew, but they’re not the main focus. Instead, the alternate timeline follows a different group of high school students who enter the paranormal Metaverse to commit crimes. At the very least, it will be something new after most of the Persona 5 spin-offs have been spinning their wheels narratively.
The Phantom X is a free-to-play game with some gacha mechanics and microtransactions, but it still includes the turn-based combat and social simulation elements the series is known for. What’s unclear is whether the spin-off will be coming to consoles, where more Persona fans play the series, or if it will be sequestered onto phones and tablets when the game is released worldwide. It has technically been in a beta test phase since 2024 in China, so we’ll see if this launch is the game finally exiting that phase and becoming a full game, or if other territories are just getting the beta test as well. All these questions will be answered whenever Atlus properly unveils the game, but we don’t have any clue as to when that’s going to be at the moment. Maybe we’ll hear more at Summer Game Fest in June?