Almost two decades after Persona 3 was released for the PlayStation 2, Atlus rewarded longtime fans of the beloved title with a faithful and flashy remake. Persona 3 Reload hit shelves on February 2 and sold one million copies in its first week, making it the company’s fastest-selling game to date. While many players applaud the title’s look and countless quality-of-life updates, some are disappointed in the absence of one particular character.
In Persona 3 Portable, released in 2009 for the PSP, players were given the option between a male and female protagonist. Choosing the latter would switch up some of the game’s major story beats, and would even influence the music players would hear as they explored. Unfortunately, it looks like the female protagonist won’t be appearing in Persona 3 Reload.
“The more we discussed it, the more unlikely it became,” said producer Kazuhisa Wada in an interview with the now-defunct Game Informer.
“The development time and costs would not have been manageable. P3R has just been released, and there is currently a lot of player interest, so if we are to do an additional release, it has to be now. But since it is not possible for us to release P3R with the female protagonist in this window, we just can’t do it. I’m really sorry to all of the fans who were holding out hope, but it is likely never going to happen.”
However, new content is still on the way. Scheduled to release on September 10, ‘Episode Aigis: The Answer’ will adapt the events of ‘The Answer’ from Persona 3 FES, the extended version of the original game first released worldwide in 2008. A new trailer shows off Metis, Aigis’ sister, who will journey along with her sibling through the Abyss of Time.
Persona 3 Reload is currently available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. It’s also available on Xbox Game Pass.
