Female MC Not Being Added As ‘Persona 3 Reload’ DLC, Devs Want To Focus On “New Projects”
In officially settling the debate as to whether the remake is the ‘truest’ way to experience the RPG classic, Atlus’ Persona series creative director Kazuhisa Wada has announced that in service of working on new projects, his team will not be adding the PSP-exclusive female MC story route to Personal 3 Reload.
Created for Persona 3 stage play and, save for a role in Persona Q2 and a handful of cameos, thus far relegated to the game’s 2009 Persona 3 Portable release, Kotone Shiomi’s story presents players with a slightly different SEES experience than the Makoto Yuki-led original, as marked by unique social links, routes, and even areas.
However, with Portable being an otherwise downgraded experience, fans were hoping that although it wasn’t included in the base release, Shiomi’s route would eventually be made available as DLC, paid or otherwise, for the recent Reload, thus making it near as complete of a Persona 3 experience as fans were gonna get (as its edited and censored scenario scripts are unlikely to ever be revisited).
Unfortunately, when pressed on her possible addition during a recent interview given to Japanese video game news outlet Denfamicogamer alongside the director of Reload‘s upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 port, Yoshihiro Komori, the aforementioned Wada unfortunately confirmed, “It’s really hard to say this…but unfortunately, I have to say the possibility is ‘No.'”
“Of course, we also considered the possibility of a female protagonist during planning,” he explained, as machine translated by DeepL. “However, we realized it would require several times the time and money we spent remaking Episode Aegis, which made it unrealistic.”
“Furthermore, we also have a mission to pursue various new projects. If asked what remains unfinished in Persona 3, this would be it. However, our entire staff is united in advancing various initiatives for future developments, so we sincerely hope for your understanding.”
Asked if they could provide any teasers as to what these “new projects” could entail, Komori, who also helped write Shin Megami Tensei III, Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army, as well as the lyrics to numerous songs through out the series, told their host, “I’ve been interested in psychology since I was young.”
“While the series title ‘Persona’ comes from Jungian psychology, I myself happened to read Jung’s book Types and Realities when I was 15. So, I was studying psychology completely separately from this game. I’m still interested in the world of psychology now, and I want to pursue it further.
I’ve been interested in psychology since I was young. While the series title ‘Persona’ comes from Jungian psychology, I myself happened to read Jung’s book Types and Realities when I was 15.
“So, I was studying psychology completely separately from this game. I’m still interested in the world of psychology now, and I want to pursue it further.
“I’m seriously studying modern psychology and other branches like transactional analysis. In the future, I want to apply this psychological knowledge to game development—reflecting human behavior and psychology to create more realistic depictions.
“Furthermore, since everyone has different ideals and desires, I want to create compelling works that fulfill those ideals.
“Beyond that, if possible, I’d love to create games that offer players some kind of insight or emotional impact through the work itself, games that could positively influence their lives, even just a little. That’s my natural desire. As much as possible. I want to shape that into a product in the form of a game.”
As for Wada, the Persona team lead simply asserted, “There are plenty of things outside of games too… but recently, I’ve felt a strong desire to elevate Atlas as a whole. Honestly, there’s just not enough of me to go around.”
As for the future of Persona 3 Reload, its Nintendo Switch 2 release is currently set to hit shelves on October 23rd.
