Persona 3 Reload Episode Aigis Preview
Image: Push Square

Recently, we were given early access to a preview build of Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis on PC. And if there's one thing that we've learned about the upcoming expansion, it's that, just like Reload itself, this will be another incredibly faithful remake. Those expecting any kind of deviation from the rather divisive original will likely be left very disappointed indeed.

We write 'divisive' because that's exactly what Persona 3 FES' epilogue continues to be, close to two decades after its initial PS2 release. Without spoiling anything specific, The Answer — as it was then called — dealt with the aftermath of Persona 3's main story. It further explored the Dark Hour and its impact on the core cast, while simultaneously spotlighting the party members that you had fought alongside throughout the game.

It's the epilogue's treatment of these largely beloved characters that can rub fans the wrong way. And again, we've been assured that Episode Aigis won't make any notable changes to the plot's overall flow. If The Answer pissed you off in the first place, you'll probably have a similar reaction to this reincarnation.

As its name implies, Episode Aigis has you play as Aigis, the humanoid, shadow-slaying weapon who grew so close to the protagonist during the base release. Essentially, some additional sh*t hits the fan, and the S.E.E.S. gang is pulled back into the fray, only this time, Aigis is leading the operation. She's handed the same persona-swapping powers as the protagonist, and you're quickly tasked with exploring an all-new dungeon with the help of a new, similarly mechanical ally named Metis.

Much like Tartarus, this dungeon has randomised elements and a procedural layout. It's also stuffed with shadows, and so combat is pushed to the forefront of the whole excursion. Generally speaking, Episode Aigis has the feel of an endgame escapade, but you won't be carrying over any progress from the base release. Instead, everyone's pushed back to level 30 or so, and you'll need to start identifying enemy weaknesses from scratch.

The expansion's asking a lot — especially if you've just spent 100-ish hours beating Reload — but structurally, it does stand apart from the main game. With no social links in sight, Episode Aigis is basically a dungeon crawler (another element that put a lot of people off the original), and it can be a demanding one at that. Even back on the PS2, The Answer could be cruel in a classic kind of Shin Megami Tensei sense, with enemies often taking full, brutal advantage of a missed attack.

Based on what we played, the remake seems to retain that difficulty on a fundamental level — but Reload's own, significantly overhauled combat system can obviously make things much more forgiving. As such, we're left wondering how the DLC's difficulty curve will pan out across its whole runtime, because the original FES version sported some infamously punishing opponents.

On one hand, we don't want Episode Aigis to lose that part of its identity. But on the other, The Answer had a bad habit of just being frustratingly cheap. For example, Persona's battles are all about striking an enemy's weakness in order to score extra turns. However, the epilogue boasts numerous foes — including bosses — that have a high chance of outright avoiding attacks that they're weak to. So, you can know exactly how to best an enemy, but actually hitting them boils down to the flip of a coin.

Much to our dismay, that design is still present in Episode Aigis, and it still feels like the game's actively wasting your time. Our hope, then, is that Reload's revamped combat — and dungeon exploration — will smooth out the rest of the experience, and the frustration won't be so prominent overall.

And that's really our big takeaway from our time with the preview build. Reload refined Persona 3's gameplay to a deeply impressive degree, and the same should apply to Episode Aigis. It's still going to divide opinion — of that we have no doubt — but at least in terms of the actual dungeon crawling, the grind should be much easier to stomach.


Are you looking forward to Episode Aigis? Did you play the original epilogue in Persona 3 FES? Vote in our poll, and then get ready to open that door in the comments section below.

Have you played the original Persona 3 FES epilogue? (303 votes)

  1. Yes, and I liked it14%
  2. Yeah, it was okay13%
  3. Yep, but I didn't like it11%
  4. No, I never played it62%