Persona 3 Reload will soon release its long awaited epilogue with Episode Aigis: The Answer. The Answer will provide closure to players and SEES alike, and is most definitely the game’s most ambitious DLC yet. In fact, it’s quite possible that Persona 3 Reload may be using its take on The Answer as a trial run for the future of the series and its release strategy.
The Persona series has long been known for putting out enhanced versions of its games years after their initial release. Persona 5 Royal is just the most recent example, but others such as Persona 4 Golden have been similarly successful. This has become a core part of Atlus’ brand strategy, even extending to other series with titles like Catherine: Full Body. Persona 3 Reload doesn’t fit into this category, and Episode Aigis: The Answer may signal that Atlus’ priorities have shifted.
Persona 3 Reload’s Strategy with The Answer DLC May Carry to Persona 6 and Beyond
Episode Aigis: The Answer is the Cherry on Top for Persona 3 Reload
While Persona 5 Royal and its peers are upgraded re-releases, Persona 3 Reload is a full scale remake. The series has experimented with a similar approach in the past with the original remakes of Persona 1 and Persona 2. However, the series has come a long way since, and this advancement helped quite a lot with Reload‘s ambition.
Persona 3 Reload will soon release its own take on The Answer, an epilogue which was first introduced in Persona 3 FES. FES was itself an expanded re-release of the original Persona 3, with many considering its version of The Answer to be the definitive version of the story. Persona 3 Reload has already excelled as a remake of the original, and Episode Aigis may turn out to be the cherry on top.
The Answer Outclasses Persona 3 Reload’s Other DLC
Episode Aigis is set to release September 10, and already looks to be one of the series’ most ambitious DLC yet. Many modern Persona games simply use their DLC to stack additional bells and whistles onto the game, such as costumes or extra Personas to fuse. There’s nothing wrong with this approach, but the change of pace shown by Persona 3 Reload may have bigger implications for Persona 6 and beyond.
If Episode Aigis is anything like the original version of The Answer, it may take more than thirty hours to complete. In fact, recent trailers have shown enough information to suggest that R eload‘s take on The Answer may have additional content. Whether or not Episode Aigis is longer than its predecessor or not, it’s still a massive edition to the base game. This makes it much more ambitious than other recent Persona DLC, and hopefully marks a bright future for the next Persona game.
Ambitious DLC Could Replace the Persona Series’ Enhanced Re-Releases
There’s already been plenty of speculation that Atlus will pursue more Persona remakes down the line. A remake of Persona 2 or even Persona 4 could be waiting in the wings, for example. However, it’s possible that Persona 3 Reload was hiding another path forward for the series this whole time. Persona 6 could ditch the re-release tradition, and follow in the footsteps of Reload‘s DLC.
The Answer will seemingly add a significant amount of content, enough that it could easily be compared to the content added by enhanced re-releases in the past. Rather than adding something through a re-release, as seen in Persona 5 Royal‘s third semester, future titles could instead add these final chapters through DLC. Of course, there are downsides to this perspective.
Although it wasn’t a part of the original game’s narrative, The Answer is now seen as essential, so much so that the decision to not include it in Reload at launch was cause for controversy. It would be a shame if future Persona games took a similar approach, and made players pay for a conclusion to the game’s story. In fairness, it wouldn’t be too dissimilar from the current re-release format, but DLC comes at a lower price point regardless. Furthermore, ambitious DLC would overall provide a more sustainable future for the Persona series.
