Since it was released initially in 2016, the world can’t seem to get enough ofPersona 5. For good reason, too: the JRPG makes a lot of bold changes to traditional genre tropes, both from a mechanical and story perspective, making it feel like a breath of fresh air for JRPG fans looking for something new. Atlus has clearly noticed the success of the game and it seems like the studio isn’t interested in droppingJoker and his crew of Phantom Thievesanytime soon; as expansions likePersona 5 Royaland spin-offs likePersona 5 Strikerscontinue to grow with the series' popularity.
If Atlus plans on continuing the story ofPersona 5, then it needs to address a problem that’s begun to arise in every subsequent spin-off: there are simply too many members of the Phantom Thieves. While it makes sense from a narrative perspective why the group might continue growing as its reach gets wider, for fans, it’s become too much to keep track of and balance in gameplay resulting in, at times, overwhelming experiences. As much as everyone seems to love the Phantom Thieves, the reality of the situation is that Altus will need to pare things down if it wants to keep making games about them moving forward.
Note:This article contains major plot spoilers forPersona 5,Persona 5 Royal, andPersona 5 Strikers.
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The Ever-Expanding Cast of the Phantom Thieves
It’s not a new sentiment that the Phantom Thieves might be a little too bloated. Even in the original release ofPersona 5, some fans were beginning to feel it as each new palace brought on a new member, soby the time Haru Okumura was introducedin what many agree to be a lull in the overall plot, it started to look like things would be getting too big from then on out. Luckily, Akechi was the only addition after that and he didn’t stick around for very long, so the group was finalized at a clean eight members, maybe a few too many, but not enough to be completely overwhelming.
Persona 5 RoyalandPersona 5 Strikers, however, continued adding to the cast; withSumire joining the crew for the final palacealongside Akechi’s return, rounding out the Phantom Thieves with 10 members total. By the time both characters are added to the group, the bloat can absolutely be felt as many players feel as if they need to use the newest additions for the final few hours of the game because of their narrative weight, and to simply try out the powers each of their personas have.
AlthoughPersona 5 Strikersdoesn’t follow the canon ofRoyal, meaning that neither Akechi nor Sumire make appearances, it too feels the bloat. One of the first major plot beats in the game is about adding Sophia to the group as another member.Persona 5 Strikers' third act sees the Phantom Thieves adoptthe pub-sec officer Zenkichito it as well, giving it a cast of 10 members once more.
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The ‘Phantom Thieves Problem’
Generally,each new character added to the Phantom Thievesis interesting in their own way. However, following the palace/jail associated with them, they typically get less interesting as their moment in the spotlight is over and their character growth completed. They then spend the rest of the game occasionally chiming in in agreement for group conversations, but otherwise become background characters in the story to make way for the next character to join the Phantom Thieves' ranks.
This becomes a problem when doing a proper narrative sequel likeStrikersbecause most characters don’t have very much to do. To remedy this issue, Atlus seems to be content with adding new characters to the group. However, the true damage of that has been seen inthe gameplay of bothRoyalandStrikers,as players struggle to remember which characters have which abilities and can do what.
If Atlus wants to keep usingthe Phantom Thieves in more spin-off games, then the stories need to contract, not expand.Persona 5’s cast is beloved by fans, and most would be satisfied if another title focused more on the interpersonal relationships within the Phantom Thieves, rather than needing to grow it to be able to meet the ever-growing might of antagonists within each game. A sequel game that follows up on the issues and problems that Joker helps solve forPersona 5’s main cast would be interesting as a sort of “where are they now?” instead of the general conversations about how everyone is doing fine at the start ofStrikers.
At the end of the day, it’s unclear what plans Atlus has for the cast ofPersona 5moving forward, and if there will ever even be another narrative sequel to the game. However, hopefully, Atlus can see the diminishing returns there are for constantly pushing new members into the Phantom Thieves without giving much thought to who’s already there.
If the studio does decide to revisitPersona 5’s story, it will have to overcome the hurdle that it’s made for itself by introducing too many characters to the group, whether it follows the continuity fromStrikersorRoyal. Even if there aren’t any morePersona 5spin-offs in the pipeline, Atlus can still learn from its previous mistakes by correcting them forthe upcomingPersona 6by keeping its cast in check and not adding more characters without good reason.
