Persona 3: Reload- Episode Aigis preview: the beginning of the end

Persona 3: Reload is one of the best games I’ve played this year so far, and a potential contender for my overall GOTY.

While I won’t know for sure until late December, I told myself that it’ll all hinge on how well Atlus handle the upcoming DLC Expansion, Episode Aigis, also known as The Answer.

See the trailer for Episode Aigis yourself below

In short, Episode Aigis is an epilogue of sorts to the main story of Persona 3: Reload. In it, you play as Aigis, the adorable robot companion whom you meet a few chapters into the main game. You once again partner up with the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, also known as S.E.E.S, with the whole voice cast returning as their respective characters.

Without going too heavy on the spoilers, the story picks up not long after Persona 3: Reload’s canon ending, with the gang getting ready to shelve their personas for good and live an ordinary life. This is promptly interrupted by the emergence of a new character called Metis, an odd individual who joins your team, but whether they’re a friend or foe is left up in the air.

After setting up the plot, my preview build took me into the meat and potatoes of the expansion, The Desert of Doors, also known as the Abyss Of Time.

Persona 3: Reload- Credit SEGA

The Abyss is essentially Tartarus from the base game, but rather than a skyscraper of terror that seemingly ascends forever, it is a vast, overwhelming desert that seemingly stretches out endlessly.

In practice, exploring it is exactly the same as Tartarus as you scour each level collecting items and battling shadows until you eventually exit to the next section. A small change is how Aigis interacts with the environment around her, as some new upgrades now allow the character to attack objects and field enemies at range.

The battle system has been left pretty much unchanged, though Aigis now has the same power Makoto did in the base game and can control multiple personas. She’s also had her default persona Athena changed to Makoto’s persona, Orpheus. New theurgy moves have been added to the mix as well, all of which are beautifully animated and absurdly powerful. Metis is also a solid addition to the roster, wielding her own persona and having special dialogue with Aigis during battle.

I’m sure fans will be pleased to hear that there are new music tracks, including additional battle themes, though in my opinion nothing can beat ‘It’s Going Down Now’.

My preview was around an hour long, so I didn’t get a chance to interact with the rest of the cast as much as I’d like to, but the full DLC is said to add new stories for the side characters as well as some more backstory for Aigis and her creation.

The expansion can be played independently from the main story, so you don’t need to have rolled credits in order to boot it up. Obviously, this only benefits those who’ve beaten the game before and don’t fancy replaying, or those who’ve moved to another platform.

Persona 3: Reload- Credit SEGA

In terms of my first thoughts, I liked what I played. I love Persona 3: Reload to death and knowing there’s a solid 30+ hours of new story ahead of me is a really exciting prospect. I wasn’t expecting many changes to the core gameplay but the changes that were present felt like nice touches, and some of them will even apply to the base game so I reckon a New Game+ run will be on the cards.

One aspect of the DLC I am worried about is what players will be able to do outside of combat and exploration of the Abyss. My preview session covered the first venture into the new location, and I was unfortunately unable to see what can be done in-between your expeditions.

While Tartarus and combat encounters were a large part of the base game, exploring Tatsumi Port Island, developing relationships with your Social Links and levelling up your stats played an equally important role in the game. If those aspects are missing and the expansion has devolved into purely combat and story exposition, it could lose some of the charm the base game offers.

Persona 3: Reload- Credit SEGA

It’s far too early to tell at the time of writing though, and I’ll be reserving my full judgement for when the full expansion drops and can measure how well it pairs with the base game. Don’t get me wrong though, my first impressions are positive and I’m hopeful this expansion will not only extend Persona 3: Reload, but uplift and compliment it as well.

Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis - The Answer releases for Xbox, PlayStation and PC platforms on 10 September later this year.