Highlights

  • Persona 3 Reload may include character cameos from Persona 5, but creative liberties may be taken due to the timeline gap between the two games.
  • Previous Persona games have featured character cameos, making it likely that Persona 5 characters will appear in Persona 3 Reload.
  • The ideal opportunity for a Persona 5 cameo in Persona 3 Reload could be during the school trip to Kyoto, possibly featuring Zenkichi Hasegawa from Persona 5 Strikers.

Persona 3 Reload is already set to include a lot of features from Persona 5, including the Shift system adapted from Baton Pass, as well as quality-of-life features like auto-recovery and dash. While these features lifted from Persona 5 will likely help Persona 3 Reload feel like a much more modernized version of the original, there are other elements of Persona 5 that could appear in the game as well. It's possible that Persona 3 Reload will directly reference Persona 5 using character cameos, but the game may have to take some creative liberties with how these cameos are implemented.

Character cameos and crossovers are nothing new for the Persona series, with several Persona spin-off games, like Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth and Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, featuring characters from multiple entries. However, there is a precedent for character cameos in the main Persona series as well, with Persona 4's Yukiko appearing as a younger version of herself in Persona 3 Portable, and Chihiro Fushimi from Persona 3 appearing in Persona 4 during the player's visit to Gekkoukan High School. These cameos make it likely that a Persona 5 character will appear in Person 3 Reload, but the timeline gap between games could complicate things.

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Persona 3 Reload Will Likely Feature a Cameo from an Adult Persona 5 Character

Persona 3 Reload is in a strange position when it comes to including a cameo from Persona 5 since the game takes place between 2009–2010, while Persona 5 takes place in 2016. This large gap in the timeline means that characters in Persona 5 are going to be 6–7 years younger than they would be in Persona 3 Reload, making it difficult to naturally work them into a cameo. As such, Persona 3 Reload will likely only feature a cameo from a character who was already an adult in Persona 5.

The Mainline Persona Series Timeline

Game

Year(s) It Takes Place In

Persona

1996

Persona 2: Innocent Sin

1999

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment

1999

Persona 3

2009–2010

Persona 4

2011–2012

Persona 5

2016–2017

In order to deal with this timeline disparity, Persona 3 Reload could offer fans a cameo from an older character in Persona 5 as a younger version of themselves. A great candidate for this type of cameo would be Persona 5's Sojiro since he is one of the game's main characters outside the Phantom Thieves and would still be an adult around the time Persona 3 Reload takes place. To go along with Sojiro, Wakaba Isshiki, Futaba's mother, could also appear in this cameo since she would still have been alive during the events of Persona 3 Reload.

Another potential cameo candidate is Persona 5's Sae Niijima, the older sister of Makoto and a crucial figure in the Phantom Thieves' activities. Sae is a young adult and public prosecutor of the Tokyo District Special Investigation Department in Persona 5's timeline, but she could still have been in high school during the events of Persona 3 Reload. Perhaps players will get to see a version of Sae that is around the same age as the SEES gang in Persona 3 Reload.

The perfect opportunity for a Persona 5 cameo in Persona 3 Reload would be during the school trip to Kyoto which occurs in November. School trips in the Persona series are typically where cameos are hidden, and the player's trip to Kyoto would be an ideal chance to feature a cameo for Persona 5 Strikers' Zenkichi Hasegawa. Although Zenkichi was a resident of Tokyo until the death of his wife, Aoi, three years before the events of the game, she is originally from Kyoto so it would make sense that Zenkichi could be in town visiting her family during Persona 3 Reload.