Persona 5 is getting a new spinoff on mobile and PC

It’s not the next mainline entry in the series, but Atlus did announced a new Persona game today. It’s called Persona 5: The Phantom X, and it’s a spinoff that’s launching on both mobile and PC on June 26th.

As the name implies, The Phantom X is set in the same universe as 2017’s Persona 5, and will feature a new main character leading a new band of Phantom Thieves. This story takes place in “a mysterious Tokyo where desires have been lost.” The structure of The Phantom X sounds a lot like traditional Persona, as players will experience normal high school life during the day, before heading off to explore dungeons at night. There’s also turn-based combat and a “synergy system” where players can form close ties with NPCs in the game.

There are also multiplayer elements, including guilds which allow “players to interact with one another in-game.” From the sounds of it, The Phantom X is an attempt to blend the single-player RPGs the franchise is known for with live-service mobile games designed to keep players coming back. It’s hard to say right now how well those two sides will gel together; it’s also not clear at the moment if the game will be free-to-play. Hopefully it still has curry.

Given it’s been nearly a decade since Persona 5 launched, Atlus releasing another spinoff will likely be a disappointment to some fans expecting any sign of life from Persona 6 (at least Metaphor: ReFantazio turned out well). Then again, The Phantom X at least looks the part, and might be a good way to fill in the time before the next major release.