After several leaks and months of anticipation, Atlus has at long last, unveiled the remake of Persona 3. Dubbed, Persona 3 Reload, the remake was revealed during the Xbox Games Showcase 2023 and will feature revamped battle system, overhauled audio, and brand new voice acting. However, one of the biggest things that long time Persona 3 fans noticed was that something was missing from this presentation. In an interview with IGN, Producer Ryota Niitsuma and Chief Director Kazuhisa Wada confirmed the fan’s suspicions by revealing that Persona 3 Reload will only have the original content and experience of the original 2006 release and will have none of the FES or Portable content.
Niitsuma states that the ” basic concept of the Persona 3 remake was to remake the Persona 3, we don’t have the FES and Portable contents included. We wanted to really genuinely work on recreating the Persona 3 experience.” As we already mentioned, Persona 3 launched in 2006 for the PlayStation 2. Atlus followed up with an updated version, Persona 3 FES, which contained updates that came via an add-on disc.
Finally, the studio released Persona 3 Portable for the PlayStation Portable in 2009, which had what many consider to be some of the best changes. These changes included the option to play as a female protagonist, something that many fans have been calling Atlus to implement on all future Persona titles. They also added the ability to control characters besides the main protagonist, as well as a completely new open-world travel aspect that made it much more accessible.
While it’s unfrotunate that these desired assets will not be present in Persona 3 Reload, it also makes sense that Atlus took this approach in a literal sense, as they are recreating the original base title from 2006 from scratch. Niitsuma also added that the remake will have “we have new scenes and events,” so there’s more than likely going to be some major bells and whistles for those who want to experience the game for the first time, or for those who want to revisit the city of Iwatodai. Let’s also not forget that Atlus could also re-release the remake with the aforementioned content from FES and Portable, something that the company is all too familiar with when it comes to their franchises’ updates.
Persona 3 Reload will launch in early 2024 for the Xbox and PC, although it will more than likely be confirmed for other platforms very soon.