Persona 3 Reload will make big changes to social links

Now that Persona 3 Reload has been officially announced for a 2023 launch, the directors have clarified what will be different in this version. In case you missed it, here is the Persona 3 Reload announcement trailer:

Social change

We already know that the remake will not have various elements from its previous incarnations like Persona 3 FES and Persona 3 Portable. The most prominent change is that Reload won’t feature the female protagonist, canonically named Kotone Shiomi. Kotone is a fan favorite due to her vibrant personality and her witty exchanges with the other characters. In particular, she can pursue a romance with a male character or with the android Aigis. Her non-appearance in Reload has proven to be a sore point for some fans of the game.

While Reload won’t have a female main character, producer Ryota Niitsuma did state in an interview with Famitsu that “this doesn't mean that additions included in FES to the main story are not included in Reload." This brings hope that certain story content from FES will be featured in the remake.

In a separate interview with Japanese outlet 4Gamer, director Takuya Yamaguchi stated that players still won’t have social links with male NPCs, unlike other versions of Persona 3. Social links are an important part of Persona gameplay as stronger bonds with NPCs mean bigger experience bonuses when fusing Personas. Since there won’t be social links with male NPCS, the producers have promised they are adding new scenarios to compensate:

“In addition, there are new scenarios that dive deeper into the world and characters in other ways. For example, the male companion characters in the original game did not have Social Links, so we could not depict their relationship and interaction with the main character as we did with the male characters in Persona 4 and Persona 5.

Because we’re choosing to preserve the original, we can’t simply add them as Social Links. Still, we prepared something that portrays their relationship with the main character in a different way. I can’t discuss specifics yet, but I hope you stay tuned.”

One more important change in Reload is that the game will be re-recording its dialogue with an all-new voice cast that includes such artists as Allegra Clark, Aleks Le, Heather Gonzalez, Zeno Robinson, and more.

Persona 3 Reload arrives sometime in 2024 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. While we wait for a firm release date, keep an eye on our listings for a Persona 3 Reload PC key.