What Atlus can learn from the remake’s success 

By: Gabriel Acevedo

 An “all-out attack” featuring a few of the main characters of Persona 3 Reload. Junpei Iori (Giant Sword), Yukari Takeba (red bowtie), and the main protagonist (Blue hair)
Gabriel Acevedo, captured on PS Capture 

On February 2nd, 2024, Persona and Shin Megami Tensei fans were greeted by Persona 3 Reload. As a remake of the classic 2006 Playstation 2 game, Persona 3 Reload not only gave newer generations an opportunity to experience it, it proved to Atlus the demand for the Megaten(Shin Megami Tensei) franchise is high around the world As someone who has played Persona I was impressed with how the game has improved after 3 iterations. 

        What had Persona 3 Reload going was the use of the graphics and art style of Persona 5 Royal, another rerelease from the Persona franchise. Character models, CG cutscenes, and settings are all polished to resemble Royal’s art style while maintaining the artistic themes of the Playstation 2 game. This was intentional as developers wanted to not only give the game a new feel, but improve the looks to match up to more modern games.

           Persona 3 Reload’s combat was also an improvement from the original. Reload’s battles not only maintained the strategy the original required, but learned from its successors. For example, whereas the original Playstation 2 release did not let the player take control of other party members, reload has you control the characters, similar to Persona 3 Portable, another version of the game released last year for modern consoles. Reload also added the “shift” mechanic so players can pass attacks from one party member to another, similar to the “Baton Pass” mechanic in Persona 5. 

          It would be criminal to not highlight the social elements of Persona 3 Reload, as that mechanic assisted in putting the franchise on the map of many JRPG fans. While social links are intact from their incarnations in FES and the Original, Atlus also included “linked episodes”, which gives time dedicated to characters who didn’t receive one in the original release. 

          Despite missing popular elements such as an epilogue and the chance to play as the female protagonist, Persona 3 Reload is another successful entry in not only the Persona/Megaten franchise, but for Atlus’ sales. Gone are the days where Persona 3 was characterized as the game that says “suicide is cool” (g4 x-play review), as the gaming community crave for Tartarus exploration with beloved characters such as Fuuka Yamagishi, Akihiko Sanada, and Koromaru.  I could end this article here, but another factor I wish to talk about is how Reload can show Atlus that demand for the Megaten franchise is high. 

          Shin Megami Tensei (the franchise Persona is connected to) as a franchise has had problems with accessibility, as games are either scattered across different generations of consoles, or unreleased outside of Japan, giving the fanbase an incomplete experience. 

           What Persona 3 Reload tells Atlus is simple: fans want more available SMT games. In its first week, Persona 3 Reload sold 1 million copies worldwide, one of the fastest selling games in Atlus’ history. Nat, a diehard Megaten fan, showed excitement for this turnout. Nat not only sees this as a major victory for Atlus, but also for longtime fans invested in the series.

           “I’m very glad to see the success of Persona 3: Reload. Not only because it is a fantastic entry into the Persona and SMT series, but because it tells Atlus that people want accessibility.”

            Nat also highlights some other older games he wants remade.“Persona 1 and 2 Duology are locked behind old hardware, and looking even further back, SMT 2 and If are behind a language barrier. Give it a nice polish, and man that would print money.”

           Nat’s wishes were answered one way, as Shin Megami Tensei V, formerly a Nintendo Switch exclusive, will be rereleased with more content as Shin Megami Tensei V:Vengeance, across all gaming platforms. “I think that it is Atlus doing what it does best by releasing more content after initial release. Adds more to the story and gives players an extra reason to check out a previous title,” Nat states, “Fun enough given that SMT V is heavily influenced by SMT III, which also did this back in the PS2 era.”

             With this pattern, Nat and many other SMT fans hope this leads to more games being rereleased, and for Reload, according to Nat, “it gives hope for some story DLC for Reload to get it to that 100% experience mark.”