We now have an exciting rumor following the recent success of Persona 3 Reload.
As shared on reddit by user MuddiestMudkip, a reputable Atlus leaker in Japan named Midori has confirmed that Atlus is working on remakes for both Persona 2 and Persona 4. Midori has essentially revealed Atlus’ plans well in advance of their announcements, so fans generally regard his rumors to be as good as coming from Atlus themselves.
While Persona has existed as a franchise since 1996, much of the fandom has really revolved around Persona 3, 4, and 5, from 2006 onwards. That’s the generation of gamers playing on the PlayStation 2 and onward, with those fans becoming incredibly invested in the casts of those games, including playing the many remakes and spinoffs, as well as the wealth of media and merchandise, which includes, and I’m not exaggerating here, theater show adaptations.
So it’s credible that Atlus is planning a remake of Persona 4. This one in particular has a lot of spinoffs, but only one remake since the PlayStation 2 original: Persona 4 Golden. Persona 4 Golden was originally released on the PlayStation Vita in 2012, and Atlus decided to expand on the title after realizing the platform was good for it. Atlus rereleased this title to modern platforms in January 2023. That included Xbox, the Nintendo Switch, and even PC on Steam, reflecting the studio’s recent switch to a multiplatform approach.
Persona 3 Reload entered development in similar circumstances, with a rerelease of the last port also published across multiple platforms. The raison d’etre for this, as it turned out, was Atlus wanting to once again reinvent ideas in the game, to modernize it once again for newer audiences.
The surprise in this rumor, though, is Persona 2. To be clear, there are actually two Persona 2 games: Persona 2: Innocent Sin released on the PlayStation on 1999, and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment came a year later to the same platform. The two games have different playable characters, but Persona 2: Eternal Punishment is definitely the sequel to Persona 2: Innocent Sin.
While some elements of these games may need changing to fit modern tastes and attitudes, they were very accomplished titles in Atlus’ early history, that serve to demonstrate their particular narrative style, and was also a stepping stone to modern Persona game design.
It isn’t just that a generation of Persona fans never got to play these games. It’s also that these titles would also benefit from remakes that could better realize their ideas or potential.
So these are exciting titles to learn about, and Atlus fans should definitely look forward to when the studio makes them official.
